Associated Press, Hanoi, Vietnam | World | Fri, 06/22/2012 11:52 AM

Vietnam has rejected China’s protest over a new Vietnamese law that reasserts territorial claims over two South China Sea island groups China and other countries consider their own.

The Chinese accusations that Vietnam’s law was illegal and invalid were groundless, Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website late Thursday.

Vietnam’s National Assembly overwhelmingly passed the new maritime law Thursday asserting Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Spratlys and Paracels, and Nghi said this was a “normal lawmaking activity” and Chinese opposition to it was regrettable.

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