Thousands of Chinese cross Vietnam borders

Thousands of Chinese nationals have crossed Vietnamese borders to China or Cambodia after anti-China riots in central and southern Vietnam killed two Chinese and injured more than 100.

Huang Cong, a publicity official from Pingxiang government in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, told the Global Times Monday that about 11,000 Chinese nationals returned from May 13 to May 17 via Youyiguan, a land port on the Sino-Vietnamese border.

"Most of them came from northern Vietnam and no injuries have been reported so far," Huang said, adding that local authorities have set up several working teams to assist those who returned in clinical services and transportation.

In Dongxing, another border crossing in Guangxi, some 2,000 Chinese nationals have returned since Sunday, and many shops run by Chinese citizens along the Vietnamese side of the border have been closed. "Those living close to the border have returned and many Vietnamese workers in Guangdong Province are going back home," local sources told the Global Times.

Buses and trains from Nanning, capital city of Guangxi, to Hanoi are still operating, but many Chinese passengers have asked for ticket refunds and only one or two Chinese passengers could be spotted en route to Hanoi.

"I came back by boat on May 15 as the protest outside our factory turned violent and irrational. We may be asked to go back later," an anonymous Chinese employee, who worked at a Japanese factory in northern Vietnam, told the Global Times Monday.

Hong Lei, the ministry's spokesperson, told a regular press briefing Monday that some Chinese citizens headed to Cambodia in recent days to seek safety. "China appreciates the Cambodian side for offering convenience and assistance to those Chinese citizens," said Hong.

Another 4,000 Chinese affected in the violence were heading home by sea. Four ships, each with an accommodation capacity of some 1,000 passengers, set sail back to China Monday, according to China's foreign ministry.

Most passengers are workers for China Metallurgical Group Corporation (CMGC), a contractor for the construction of an iron and steel complex in Central Vietnam's Ha Tinh.

On Sunday, chartered planes brought more than 300 Chinese CMGC employees to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, including more than 100 injured.

Tan Bo from the People's Hospital of Sichuan Province, one of the two local hospitals taking in injured Chinese, said that most suffered from concussion and soft tissue injuries, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

The riots in industrial zones came amid rising tensions between the two sides over territorial disputes in the South China Sea following the arrival of an oil rig in the waters of the Xisha Islands, an action which Vietnam condemned.

An anonymous Chinese businessman in Ho Chin Minh City said that he would restart his business on Tuesday as the situation has calmed down after the arrest of thousands of protesters by the Vietnamese authorities.

Truong Minh Tuan, Vietnamese deputy minister of information and communications said at a Monday press conference that security and order were strengthened and extremists who seriously violated laws were arrested and prosecuted.