Vietnam Coast Guard 8003, South China Sea (CNN) -- To be at the front line of a "cold war" is, these days, a rare thing -- particularly when that front line is a remote chain of islands in the South China Sea, hundreds of kilometers from the nearest landfall. The waters around the Paracel Islands, a largely unpopulated archipelago administered by China but claimed by Vietnam, have become the "battleground" in an increasingly volatile territorial dispute between the two communist neighbors. Taking advantage of a rare opportunity to witness the spat up close, CNN traveled to the area with the Vietnamese Coast Guard.
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China and Vietnam at odds over a chain of largely uninhabited islands in the South China Sea
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Recent oil drilling operations by China near the Paracel Islands, which they administer, have irked Hanoi
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CNN traveled with Vietnamese coast guard to see how this conflict has become so volatile
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Vietnam says Chinese vessels are being highly aggressive, often using water cannon
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The @placeholder fishing boats are draped in red banners, which urge the Chinese to leave their territory.
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We are, however, woken early one morning to see what the captain said was a Chinese coast guard vessel using water cannon on a @placeholder fisheries surveillance vessel.