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By Ho Binh Minh HANOI (Reuters) - China's top diplomat began a round of meetings with Vietnamese officials in Hanoi on Wednesday as the two countries try to repair a rupture in ties over China's positioning of an oil rig in disputed waters early last month. Among the challenges likely to come up in talks: The continued presence of the rig in South China Sea waters claimed by both countries as well as Beijing's demand for compensation in the wake of anti-Chinese riots that erupted in Vietnam in the days after the drilling platform was deployed. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who outranks the foreign minister, first met Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. Yang will later hold talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as well as the head of Vietnam's ruling communist party before attending a dinner hosted by Minh.More...