In Vietnam protests against the Chinese government have escalated. Attackers looted and set fire to numerous factories. Trigger is the conflict between Hanoi and Beijing to archipelagos in the South China Sea.

Vietnam witnessed the most serious unrest in years. Protesters have looted several factories in the south of the country and set on fire. Apparently the attackers were assumed that the industrial plants were Chinese owners – in fact most of them are Taiwanese and South Koreans are.

Cause of the unrest is the dispute between Vietnam and China to possession claims in the South China Sea. Beijing has a deep sea drilling rig moved 120 nautical miles off the Vietnamese coast. The government claimed the sea area near the Paracel and Spratly islands for themselves and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the oil rig.
Hanoi sent ships to the area that were there attacked and driven by its own account of Chinese ships. China threw its part, the Vietnamese ships to have his ships rammed dozens of times.

Now the conflict has reached the mainland. According to foreign diplomats, up to 20,000 people are said to have participated in the anti-China protests in Vietnam. The riots focused on industrial parks in Binh Duong province, which had been built in recent years by the communist leadership in Hanoi to attract foreign investors.

Vietnam-China Dispute:Beijing lays claim to nearly the entire South China Sea

A total of 15 factories on fire and have been looted hundreds more, said Tran Van Nam, deputy head of the Popular Committee in the troubled province. Security guards and foreign employees were attacked. Extremists incited the initially peaceful protests and escalate the situation so, Nam said.

In many other industrial plants quiet work. To prevent new attacks, to other foreign industrialists have attached to their factory gates banners with slogans such as “We love Vietnam” and “Hoang Sa, Truong Sa – Vietnam”. Hoang Sa and Truong Sa are the Vietnamese name for the Paracel and Spratly Islands.

In authoritarian Vietnam public protests are an exception. The government had given the rare permission for demonstrations against China at the weekend. The state-controlled media had reported enthusiastically about the rallies.

Both Hanoi and Beijing are communist governments in power. In the past, the state leadership had their disputes usually take place behind the scenes. Since the laying of the deep sea drilling platform has become the Chinese but changed.

The government in Beijing lays claim to nearly the entire South China Sea, where under the seabed great mineral wealth are suspected. The Philippines has accused China to promote the construction of a runway at the Johnson South Reef. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday that China had carried in the past few weeks machinery and earth to the reef, which is one of the Spratly islands.

The U.S. has accused Beijing provocative behavior. The government in Washington has “serious concerns” because the Chinese approach, Secretary of State John Kerry said his counterpart Wang Yi in a phone call.

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