Vietnamese protesters hit Chinese factories

Thousands of anti-China protesters in Vietnam targeted and trashed foreign factories in southern region of the country over China's recent installment of an oil rig at the South China Sea.

So far, over 1,000 factories have shut down and over 15 factories have been burnt down by the protesters. Most of the factories hit were Taiwan-invested companies, said local Chinese.

The Vietnamese government has confirmed the move was illegal. Tran Van Nam, vice chairman of Binh Duong Province People's Committee, said in a interview on Wednesday that Binh Duong is determined to suppress those who force others to take illegal actions.

Tran Van Nam said the province concentrates quickly stabilizing the situation and protecting legitimate rights and interest of investors and labors, while local people told Xinhua the violent situation there are still not settled on Wednesday morning.

Nam made the remark to local VNExpress online newspaper on Wednesday, noting that "the province will strictly handle those who took advantage of the situation to provoke, disturb and cause damage to assets of people, companies and the state." According to the official, some 19,000 workers took part in a demonstration to protest China.

Initially, the protest was a mild one. However, later several extremists provoked the crowd, destroying gates of factories, and attracting more workers to join the protest, said the report.

Many foreign companies must ask their workers to go home early in fear of the crowd getting into their offices and factories. Several extremists used the messy situation to steal asset, burn factories as well as beating security guards and experts, said Nam on VNExpress.

China on last Friday urged Vietnam to respect China's sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea and stop provocative actions.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular press briefing. She reiterated that the Xisha Islands are the inherent territory of China and there are no disputes in this area.

The waters of China's drilling operations are only 17 nautical miles from China's Xisha Islands, she said, adding that the operations are about 150 nautical miles from Vietnam.

The operations of Chinese companies in waters off the Xisha Islands fall completely within China's sovereignty, she said, noting that it is untenable for any country to make irresponsible remarks or impede China's normal oil drilling in its territorial waters.

From May 3 to 7, Vietnam dispatched 36 vessels, which rammed Chinese vessels up to 171 times.