China has urged Vietnam to halt unilateral oil and gas development in the two countries' overlapping waters in the South China Sea. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the comments in response to remarks by his Vietnamese counterpart.

On Wednesday, Vietnam criticized China for violating its sovereignty after accusing Chinese ships of cutting cables belonging to Vietnamese survey vessels.

Hong Lei, Spokesman， Chinese Foreign Ministry, said, "What the Vietnamese side said is not in accordance with the facts. The waters mentioned by the Vietnamese side are situated near the Beibu Gulf in an area where China and Vietnam have made overlapping claims. Chinese ships conducted routine fishing activity in the waters, but were driven away by Vietnamese military vessels."

Hong Lei said the two countries are negotiating the demarcation and joint development of the waters. He called on the Vietnamese side to stop disturbing Chinese fishing ships so as to create a more favorable negotiating atmosphere.

Earlier on Monday, Vietnam state oil and gas company, Petrovietnam, accused Chinese boats of sabotaging an exploration operation by cutting a seismic cable being towed behind a Vietnamese boat. But one day later, the CEO of the company said the "cable cutting" was only an accident.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam government is reportedly setting up civilian-led patrols, backed by marine police and a border force. Starting from January 25th, the deployment will be charged with stopping foreign vessels that violate Vietnam's fishing laws in its waters.