Hong Kong (CNN) -- China is using photocopied pages from a geography textbook for Vietnamese ninth-graders published 40 years ago to help win international support for its claim to the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. The pages were among documents sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, with a request that they be circulated among the General Assembly's 193 members. It's the latest attempt by the Chinese to prove its ownership of an area that Vietnam also claims as its own, as ships from both countries allegedly jostle each other miles from land in the South China Sea.
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China sends documents to the United Nations backing claim to Paracel Islands
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Vietnam also claims the region and is angry about alleged incursion into its territory
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Tensions flared after China sent an oil rig into disputed waters
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Both sides have accused the other of ramming their ships
"Most objective, independent, international observers agree that China's case for sovereignty over the Paracels is better than Vietnam's for the very reasons that China has now set out in its submission to the @placeholder," Bateman said.
At the time, China said the vessel had been "harassing" a @placeholder fishing boat.