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By Minh Nguyen HANOI (Reuters) - Hundreds rallied on Sunday in Vietnam's biggest cities to denounce China's setting up of a giant oil rig in the South China Sea, a rare protest likely to prolong a tense standoff between the two communist neighbors. At least 300 people massed in front of China's embassy in Hanoi and a few hundred more at its consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, witnesses said, chanting \"Down with China\" in protests that expose the underlying cracks in relations between the two political and economic allies. China's parking of the rig in contested waters a week ago was one of its most provocative moves in years and followed U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to allies such as Japan and the Philippines, which are among the countries locked in disputes at sea with an increasingly assertive Beijing. Protests are rare in Vietnam and often thwarted by the authorities in what analysts say are attempts to contain domestic dissent as discontent brews over land grabs, graft, the economy and relations with China.More...