China's apple exporters will have to come up with new, non-controversial packaging if they want to resume sending the fruit to Vietnam, authorities said Thursday.
"Importers will have to cancel those cartons if they want to want to import apples to Vietnam," Pham Trung Vinh, deputy customs director in Quang Ninh province, told dpa.
Authorities in the province, which borders China's Guangxi province, started refusing the Chinese apple shipments in late September after noticing that cartons were printed with the claim "Diaoyu Island belongs to China" in English and Chinese.
The East China Sea island is also claimed by Japan, which calls it Senkaku.
Vietnam also has a territorial dispute with China over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
The carton messages violate international and Vietnamese law, according to a statement on the official Vietnamese customs' website.
China's propaganda campaign, critics say, includes maps that assert a vast Chinese dominion over the South China Sea and imagery on official travel documents.
In addition to Vietnam and Japan, China's territorial claims are under protest from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Brunei.
