Interior Ministry Spokesman Khieu Sopheak told the Anadolu Agency on Thursday that nearly 600 Chinese citizens had left Vietnam through the Bavet border crossing on Wednesday.
Bavet is on the main road between Vietnam's largest city Ho Chi Minh, and Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
The number of crossings represented a noticeable uptick, Sopheak added.
The riots come in the wake of violent attacks on factories in Vietnam's south amid international furore over China's placing of an oil rig in South China Sea waters claimed by both countries. Anti-China protests escalated Wednesday, when one person died and 128 people were injured after workers attacked a steel mill.
Mam Yoy, the deputy chief of immigration police in Bavet, confirmed to AA that the Chinese appeared to be leaving because of violence in Vietnam.
“They came here because there is a problem in Vietnam... If the situation remains tense, more people will come,” he warned.
Yoy said that in addition to the 600 people who crossed the border Wednesday, a further 200 Chinese had crossed Thursday.
Vietnamese Embassy spokesman Tran Van Thong told AA that he had learned from local media reports that Chinese were fleeing Vietnam via Cambodia, but had no official information.
He did emphasize, however, that the protests in Vietnam were not specifically targeting Chinese citizens, rather taking place to illustrate objection to Chinese foreign policy.
“The Vietnamese did not protest against Chinese people or investors—they protested against China because it invaded Vietnamese territory,” he said.
- China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even though it overlaps with the sovereign jurisdiction of Southeast Asian neighbors the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
At the most recent Asean meeting on May 10 and 11, Southeast Asian foreign ministers issued a joint statement expressing “serious concerns over the ongoing developments in the South China Sea, which have increased tensions in the area.”
Outside of the placing of the rig, a series of surveillance photographs released by the Philippine government Thursday claimed to illustrate that China was attempting to develop a reef in the South China Sea that Manila says is its own.
[aa.com.tr]
15/5/14
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China-Vietnam tensions: Beijing vows to continue drilling...
ReplyDeleteChina says its oil rig will continue drilling in contested waters in the South China Sea, despite deadly anti-Beijing riots in Vietnam.
Top General Fang Fenghui said Beijing could not "afford to lose an inch" of territory, blaming Hanoi for stirring up trouble in the region.
Speaking in the US, he also warned that America's efforts to increase its focus on Asia were fuelling tensions.
A Chinese worker died in an attack on a steel mill in Vietnam on Wednesday.
Almost 150 other people were injured as protesters targeted the Taiwanese mill in the central Ha Tinh province.
On Tuesday, at least 15 foreign-owned factories were set on fire at industrial parks in Binh Duong province, and hundreds more attacked. No casualties were reported....................http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27434945
16/5/14
The Chinese government has evacuated more than 3,000 of its nationals from Vietnam following a wave of anti-Chinese riots, Chinese media report....
ReplyDeleteState-run Xinhua news agency says Beijing is arranging charter flights and ships to help more people to leave.
At least two Chinese nationals have been killed and 100 injured in recent unrest in Vietnam over a Chinese oil rig drilling in disputed waters.
On Saturday the Vietnamese government called for an end to the protests.
Officials said "illegal acts" would be stopped as they could damage national stability. However, dissident groups have urged people to rally again in major cities on Sunday.
In recent days crowds have set fire to at least 15 foreign-owned factories - including Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean businesses - in several Vietnamese industrial parks.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27458866
17/5/14