THE VIETNAMESE AUTHORITIES ARE GOING to great lengths to contain the economic fallout from the violent rampages in the country two weeks ago.
The increasingly aggressive and dangerous acts of Vietnamese vessels against Chinese oil drilling in the South China Sea resulted in an unfortunate accident on Monday, which bode ill for the already tense situation.
Chinese governments since ancient times have never given up the exericise of its jurisdiction over South China Sea islands
Thousands of Vietnamese protesters have gone on the rampage, setting fire to foreign-funded factories, including a huge foreign steel plant in Ha Tinh, as anti-China riots spread from the southern to the central parts of Vietnam. This has endangered the lives and property of not only Chinese citizens and enterprises, including those from Taiwan, but also seriously affected enterprises from Singapore and Japan, the Beijing News said in an editorial.
In recent days, the Vietnamese authorities have dispatched a large number of vessels, including some naval vessels, to the waters off Zhongjian Island, forcibly disturbing the normal drilling operations of a Chinese oil rig and ramming China's civilian escort ships.
Relations between China and Vietnam have undergone a subtle change following a series of provocative activities by Hanoi intended to disturb the normal drilling operations of a Chinese oil rig in the waters off China's Xisha Islands, also known as the Paracel Islands.
Vietnamese vessels have repeatedly disrupted China's drilling activities in the South China Sea ever since Beijing placed its deep-sea oil rig, HD-981, in the waters south of Xisha Islands on May 2. And the deadly anti-China protests across Vietnam amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Hanoi have severely endangered the safety of Chinese nationals and damaged Chinese enterprises' property in Vietnam.
Chinese ships arrived in Vietnam on Monday to evacuate thousands of Chinese nationals from the Southeast Asian country after the anti-foreign violence resulted in many Chinese casualties last week. The evacuation is an emergency response to the security situation in Vietnam and a non-confidence vote in Vietnam's investment environment.
From disrupting a Chinese company's oil drilling operations to violence against foreign investors that has left two Chinese nationals dead, Vietnam has gone too far in its unfounded nationalism.
Tensions between China and Vietnam over sovereignty issues in the South China Sea flared up again on May 2, 2014 when China positioned an oil rig in waters off the disputed Xisha Islands. Vietnam protested this action and sent vessels to disrupt the rig's operations. China responded by sending more ships to protect the rig. Inevitably with the numbers of opposing vessels in the area, a violent clash occurred on May 7 injuring some Vietnamese personnel and damaging some vessels.
An Australian expert told Xinhua Sunday that China owns sovereignty over the location of its drilling operations that stoked Vietnam's opposition and anti-China violence.
Tensions between China and Vietnam over sovereignty issues in the South China Sea flared up again on May 2, 2014 when China positioned an oil rig in waters off the disputed Xisha Islands. Vietnam protested this action and sent vessels to disrupt the rig's operations. China responded by sending more ships to protect the rig. Inevitably with the numbers of opposing vessels in the area, a violent clash occurred on May 7 injuring some Vietnamese personnel and damaging some vessels.