Hundreds of people in Vietnam have joined a protest against China's move in a sea dispute involving the two countries. This is by far the biggest rally of this kind in the country.

The rallyists in Hanoi sang patriotic songs and waved their placards in a protest held in front of the Chinese embassy, according to BBC News.

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Relations between the two countries have been strung up after Vietnamese ships had an encounter with Chinese vessels that guarded an oil exploration area in the disputed part of the South China Sea.

These rallies seem to have been approved by the Vietnamese government.

In the past, the communist country has broken up protests against China for fear of being hijacked by activists in favor of democracy, BBC Asia Pacific editor Charles Scanlon explained. He said Hanoi has now used these rallies to express its anger over Beijing's seeming infringement of the country's sovereignty.

Students and war veterans participated in the protests across the Chinese embassy on Sunday.

War veteran Dang Quang Thang told the AFP that this is the biggest anti-China rally he has seen in the capital and that they want to communicate their desire to protect their territory and nation. Protesters in other cities have also staged similar events.

In early May, the two countries' ships collided in an area near a Chinese oil rig in the South China Sea. China has already issued a warning for Vietnam to vacate the area off the Paracel Islands that it says it owns.

Vietnam, on the other hand, also claims a portion of that area. The country has accused China of sending 80 ships to back an oil drilling project. It has also released a video clip supporting its accusation of China's ships ramming their vessels.

The US has entered the picture accusing China of provoking Vietnam and said this issue could cause destabilization in the region.

The sea dispute became the center of the discussions by the 10 Southeast Asian foreign ministers who attended the ASEAN summit in Myanmar.