Vietnam held live-fire naval exercises on Monday in the wake of clashes with China in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. Its foreign ministry said the "routine" drills were being held about 40 kilometers offshore the central province of Quang Nam, outside the disputed area. But they come less than a week after the most recent maritime encounter with China, and are being viewed by Beijing as an act of belligerence. TheGlobal Times, the main English-language newspaper published by China's Communist Party, described them as "a military show of force to defy Beijing."
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