A Vietnamese TV station has dropped a Chinese series partway through its run after several of the actors expressed support for China's stance in the South China Sea dispute, media reports said Tuesday, just days after Vietnamese gathered in Hanoi for an anti-China protest.

Interestingly, while the anti-China sentiment is on the rise, Vietnam and China are getting closer in terms of economic interaction. Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan said Tuesday that the total sum of investment agreements and contracts signed by Chinese firms to invest in Vietnam had passed the $10 billion mark by the end of May.

According to Gao, Vietnam became China's largest trading partner among ASEAN members in the first half year, while China continued to be Vietnam's biggest trade partner for a twelfth consecutive year.

Trade and economic relations between the two countries have expanded rapidly in recent years, but it has not resulted in a close relationship between Hanoi and Beijing. Some Vietnamese are wary of China's rising presence in the country, while the memory of the 1979 war with China adds to that unease. In addition, the recent discussions on the South China Sea arbitration have served as a catalyst to underpin the anti-China sentiment among some Vietnamese.

However, it is unfortunate that Vietnam's anti-China sentiment has become a cause for concern over the sustainability of the Sino-Vietnamese economic ties.

Even while Beijing and Hanoi remain in a quagmire over issues regarding the South China Sea, the territorial dispute should not dominate bilateral trade relations. Considering that, in the past, the two countries have resolved disputes over land border demarcation through peaceful consultations, why should this present maritime dispute between Vietnam and China not be settled through similar rational dialogue.

Anti-China sentiment is unlikely to be conductive to the disposal of the South China Sea issues, but does have the possibility of undermining economic cooperation between the two countries. In this regard, Vietnam's authorities must restrain its domestic nationalist sentiment, which has been agitated, to an appropriate level.

China and Vietnam both share a large potential for developing economic and trade cooperation. Vietnam has abundant cheap labor, and thus attracts Chinese investment at a time when China's labor cost advantage has shrunk considerably. Now a cross-border production and supply chain between the two countries is in the process of being formed.

The Sino-Vietnamese economic ties are mutually beneficial, and Vietnam would suffer if the anti-China sentiment can not be restrained and impacts that relationship.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn