China shocked by riots in Vietnam. Vietnam asks for removal of offshore rig

Vietnam has, through an official telephone call, asked China again to remove its semi-submersible drilling rig from the disputed part of the South China Sea.

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister, FM Pham Binh Minh asked for China’s serious consideration and positive response to Vietnam’s demands “after China illegally placed Haiyang Shiyou – 981 drilling rig and deployed as many as 99 vessels in Vietnam’s waters,” during his phone call to Chinese FM Wang Yi on Thursday.

With regards to the riots taking place in Vietnam, in which many foreign factories were destroyed earlier this week, the Deputy PM said those were spontaneous acts by some protestors to damage production facilities owned by both Vietnamese and foreign investors and affirmed that these acts were made by some individuals who made corrupt use of the situation to cause social disorder.

One person has been reported killed during the anti-China protests on Tuesday and Wednesday, but according to Reuters the number could go as high as twenty one dead and a hundred wounded.

“The Vietnamese Government has taken measures to resolutely prevent and strictly deal with violations in accordance with legal regulations,” Deputy PM, FM said.

He affirmed that Vietnam will try its best to create favorable conditions and absolutely ensure the safety of foreign individuals, enterprises and agencies, including Chinese nationals and businesses, in line with Vietnam’s law and its international commitments.

China’s response

“We are shocked at and seriously concerned about relevant incidents. Now Chinese officials from the embassy in Vietnam are racing against the time to reach the scene which is located in very remote areas and verify relevant reports. Leading officials of the Chinese Foreign Ministry have summoned the Vietnamese ambassador to China to lodge solemn representations and demanded the Vietnamese side to take all necessary and effective measures possible to protect the safety of Chinese citizens and the property of Chinese enterprises and organizations in Vietnam,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference on May 15, 2014.

She said that the Vietnamese side has “an inescapable responsibility for the beating, smashing, looting and burning targeted at China and other countries.”

“We have learned that enterprises from Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan China, Singapore and ROK have also sustained damages and threats to various degrees. That also points to the graveness of the current situation. Again, we urge the Vietnamese side to immediately take all necessary and effective measures possible to protect the safety of foreign citizens and enterprises in Vietnam, including those from China, and provide a decent working environment for foreign enterprises doing normal business there,” Chyung concluded.

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