China has urged Vietnam to investigate reports that a Chinese citizen's passport was handed back with obscene language written on its pages.

It all started when state media released pictures showing the words 'f-k you' written across maps of the disputed South China Sea region on two pages of a Chinese woman's passport. The report claimed that an immigration official at Ho Chi Minh airport allegedly scribbled the obscenities, according to BBC News.

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In the wake of the reports, the Chinese consulate in the Southern Vietnamese city has issued a statement strongly condemning the "shamless and cowardly" act and has asked authorities to conduct an investigation and penalize the individual responsible for defacing the passport.

Earlier this month, Chinese news outlets reported that Vietnamese immigration officials refused to stamp Chinese passports that contained the dotted "nine-dash line," which represents China's territorial claims in the maritime region and instead issued separate visas-on-arrival to those passport holders, according to The Straits Times.

Vietnam has reportedly been using such measures to avoid recognition of China's claims since 2012, when China first issued the passports featuring the dotted line.

China is at loggerheads with Vietnam and several other South Asian countries, including Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei over the maritime territory with Beijing claiming nearly 90 percent of the resource-rich South China Sea as its own.

Philippines took the dispute to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, which ruled against China earlier this month. However, China has refused to accept the UN-backed tribunal's decision stating that the court has no jurisdiction in the matter.

Tagschina, Vietnam, Passport, South China Sea, South China Sea Dispute