Fwd: Vietnam

'At least 21 people were killed and nearly 100 injured in Vietnam on Thursday during violent protests against China in one of the deadliest confrontations between the two neighbours since 1979.

 

Crowds set fire to industrial parks and factories, hunted down Chinese workers and attacked police during the riots, which have spread from the south to the central part of the country following the start of the protests on Tuesday.

 

The violence has been sparked by the dispute concerning China stationing an oil rig in an area of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam. The two nations have been fighting out a maritime battle over sovereignty and that battle has now seemingly come ashore.

 

Early Thursday morning a 1,000-strong mob stormed a giant Taiwanese steel mill in Ha Tinh province, central Vietnam, where they set buildings ablaze and chased out Chinese employees…

 

"There were about 100 people sent to the hospital last night. Many were Chinese. More are being sent to the hospital this morning," the doctor said.'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/15/vietnam-anti-china-protests-oil-rig-dead-injured

 

'More than 600 Chinese business people and tourists have crossed Vietnamese border into Cambodia to escape anti-China riots in Vietnam, Cambodian National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith confirmed Thursday.'

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/8628515.html

 

'Smoldering nationalist anger in Vietnam exploded into frenzied violence in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City this week as thousands of rioters swept through industrial parks north of the city's commercial hub, razing any factory believed to be Chinese owned. After more than two decades of peace, Beijing and Hanoi are at odds again.

More

Anti-China Riots in Vietnam Leave at Least 21 DeadVietnamese Protesters Torch Factories in Anti-China UnrestVA Docs Defied Opiate Rules in Treating Vets, Audit Finds NBC NewsMen Charged With Toppling Ancient Rock Formation Avoid Jail Time Huffington PostComet Outlives Predictions Weather.com

 

China's decision earlier this month to deploy a colossal, state-owned oil rig in fiercely contested waters off the Vietnamese coast appears to have succeeded in derailing the delicate relations between the countries.

 

The Chinese state press lashed out publicly at its southern neighbor on the heels of several maritime skirmishes last week, with one hawkish editorial calling on Beijing to teach Vietnam the "lesson it deserves." The language closely resembled Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping's 1978 vow to teach Hanoi a "lesson" — and the echo is most unfortunate, because on that occasion the result was tens of thousands of deaths…

 

In the winter of 1978, when Deng Xiaoping made his threat of a "lesson," more than 80,000 Chinese troops were sent across the border into Vietnam. Chinese Deputy Defense Minister Su Yu boasted of being able to take Hanoi in a week, but the untested and under-equipped People's Liberation Army (PLA) met fierce resistance from battle hardened Vietnamese forces deployed across the frontier's limestone karsts. The Chinese were slaughtered by local militia from positions that had been utilized for centuries against invaders from the north.

 

"More Chinese soldiers were getting killed because they were fighting like it was the old times," says Vietnamese veteran Nguyen Huu Hung, who witnessed the PLA's human waves being mown down near the city of Lang Son. "They were in lines and just keep moving ahead … they didn't run away."

 

It would take just six weeks for Beijing to call off its "self-defensive counteroffensive." Teaching the Vietnamese a lesson turned out to be a costly affair. Official casualty statistics have never been released by either Beijing or Hanoi; however, analysts have estimate that as many as 50,000 soldiers died during the confrontation.'

http://time.com/100417/china-vietnam-sino-vietnamese-war-south-china-sea/