China rushes to evacuate citizens from Vietnam

The Chinese ship "Wu Zhishan" leaves Vung Ang port in Vietnam's Ha Tinh Province, May 19, 2014. The ship "Wu Zhishan" arrived here on Monday morning to evacuate Chinese nationals. After about 1,000 Chinese nationals came aboard, the ship left for Xiuying port of southern Chinese city Haikou. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

The four ships dispatched by China to pull back its nationals affected by the recent violence in Vietnam have left a central Vietnamese port Monday with more than 3,500 evacuees.

The passenger vessels, Wuzhishan, Tongguling, Zijing 12 and Baishiling, are expected to arrive at the Xiuying port of southern Chinese city Haikou on Tuesday.

The four ships, with a capacity of 1,000 passengers each, are part of a massive evacuation operation launched in the immediate aftermath of the deadly riots in Vietnam.

Protests targeting foreign companies in central and southern Vietnamese provinces turned violent Tuesday, leaving at least two Chinese dead and more than 100 injured.

At a time when the safety and legitimate rights of the overseas Chinese are gravely threatened, the government is demonstrating decisiveness, efficiency and a growing capability to protect its people.

"FINALLY HOME"

"Finally home," many Chinese workers sighed upon boarding Tongguling, with apparent signs of relief on their faces.

Most of the evacuees aboard the four ships are workers from Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), a contractor in the construction of an iron and steel complex in Vietnam's Ha Tinh Province. The project, invested by Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group, was among the worst-hit in the riots.

"My workers are totally relaxed within 10 minutes after boarding the ship, which we feel like our floating national territory. Thank you, our great motherland!" Yan Guoliang, manager of a MCC construction site in Ha Tinh told Xinhua aboard Tongguling.

He recalled the horror among his workers after their construction site was attacked, and some of them were so terrified that they even held on to steel tubes during sleep.

But with the help of a Chinese trans-agency working group and the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, an evacuation plan was soon worked out for Yan and his colleagues.

Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao, who led the working group, told Xinhua that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to the safety of its nationals, which is Beijing's top priority in dealing with the aftermath of the violence in Vietnam.

The Chinese government deployed all resources at its disposal and acted promptly so that the operation was executed quickly and was concluded within a few days, Liu added.

According to him, the evacuation of the Chinese nationals in Ha Tinh was carried out in several ways. The injured Chinese citizens were already evacuated by chartered flights a few days ago and the rest of them are being ferried home by passenger ships because Ha Tinh is about 12 to 14 hours' drive from the airport in Hanoi.