A group of Chinese tourists were asked to change their T-shirts after authorities in the central coastal city of Nha Trang complained they displayed the illicit ‘nine-dash line’ map that suggests Chinese territorial claims in the East Vietnam Sea on them.

A group of Chinese tourists wear T-shirts with the illicit ‘nine-dash line’ map.

Head of the Security Police Department at Cam Ranh International Airport, Nguyen Van Quan, said that the tourists arrived at the airport on the evening of May 13.

"After completing immigration procedures, the tourists went out to wait for buses to Nha Trang," Quan said. 

"They took off their coats and only wore the T-shirts. And we saw the T-shirts. We immediately asked them to change their clothes and confiscated all their T-shirts."

The Chinese tourists were travelling to Vietnam on a tour operated by Aladdin Co. Ltd.

A representative from the tour company said it was not until the Chinese tourists had passed immigration that the company’s tour guide realised their clothes featured the map.

“We asked them to get changed and confiscated all the T-shirts at the airport to be handed over to the authorities,” Aladdin's representative said.

Quan said they were working closely with officers from the Khanh Hoa police department and security personnel at the airport to 'investigate' the incident.

The 'nine-dash line,' is a widely-rejected cow tongue-shaped line illegally created by China to claim its sovereignty over about 80 percent of the East Vietnam Sea, including the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos.

Dtinews