Experts said Vietnam's recent move to limit the broadcast of Chinese television programs is an attempt to restrain China's cultural influence amid rising disputes between the two sides over the South China Sea.

During a meeting on Thursday, Hoang Huu Luong, head of the press department of Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications, Thursday asked local radio and television stations to limit the broadcast of foreign TV series, especially those from the Chinese mainland and South Korea, according to the Ho Chi Minh City-based newspaper Tuoi Tre.

At the meeting, media representatives and publicity departments from 24 provinces and cities were also asked to reinforce Vietnam's sovereignty over the disputed islands during coverage of the issue.

The Global Times' correspondent in Vietnam discovered that China Central Television (CCTV) has not been available since the beginning of August.

Officials have offered no explanation for the move.

A Chinese entrepreneur,  who often travels to Vietnam, told the Global Times that some hotels had cut Chinese television programs offered by CCTV. The hotels also were unable to offer an explanation for the move.

Several five-star hotels in Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City told the Global Times that they only offered CCTV in Putonghua.

Meanwhile, the link to China Radio International's (CRI) Vietnamese-language channel was removed some 10 days ago from the website of Voice of Vietnam (VOV), Wu Zhao-

ying, the director at Vietnamese department of CRI, told the Global Times.

Wu said she did not know why the link was removed and wants to discuss the issue with her counterparts at VOV.

CRI's website includes a link to VOV's website.

"It's an important signal showing that the South China Sea dispute is causing tension between China and Vietnam," Liu Feng, a researcher at the Research Center for Oceans Law and Policy under the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times.

"Vietnam's government wants to block news broadcasts about the South China Sea from China, in case Vietnamese viewers might be influenced by the reports," Liu said Sunday.

The Vietnam National Assembly in June passed the "Vietnamese Law of the Sea," saying that China's Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea were under Vietnam's jurisdiction, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said Vietnam's action is illegal, invalid and detrimental to peace and stability in the South China Sea.

"It's stupid for government to limit movies and TV programs from China," a Vietnamese college student calling himself Duong Tri on Facebook told the Global Times, adding that a few TV programs won't change people's minds about the political dispute.