CHINA denounced Wednesday reports that a Vietnam border agent wrote the f-word on the pages of a Chinese national’s passport which indicated the nine-dash line, calling it a “cowardly conduct” and that it hurt Chinese dignity.

    China’s Consulate General in the Vietnamese capital of Ho Chi Minh City urged the country’s foreign affairs authorities to investigate and seriously deal with the person who wrote the word on the passport, and to prevent similar incidents, chinanews.com reported.

    A Chinese national surnamed Zhong from Guangdong Province said that a border agent in Ho Chi Minh City wrote the f-word on pages 8 and 24 of her passport July 23, chinanews.com reported Tuesday.

    China issued a new version of the passport in 2012 featuring China’s map, including the nine-dash line in the South China Sea on pages 8, 24 and 46.

    Zhong told chinanews.com that she felt insulted and was disappointed with the Vietnamese civil servant.

    The consulate said Tuesday that it has contacted Zhong to protect her, and has started gathering information on the incident.

    “Some Vietnamese nationalists are pretty upset with the Hague ruling on the South China Sea case, which has little influence on China and no consensus has been reached among ASEAN countries on the issue. Some of them vent their disappointment in such provocative ways,” Ji Qiufeng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, said Tuesday.

    Ji said that Vietnamese authorities should keep nationalist sentiment to an appropriate level, and that China should also be generous in dealing with such issues.

    Vietnamese border officials refuse to stamp new Chinese passports, and holders of this version are issued a separate arrival visa to avoid inadvertently recognizing China’s claim, according to a report by Vietnamese media Tuoi Tre News.

    A provincial Vietnamese TV channel has dropped a Chinese drama series after several Chinese actors condemned The Hague ruling July 12, Reuters reported.

    (Global Times)