About 200 protesters brought parts of central Hanoi to a brief halt yesterday in the third rally this month against Beijing’s perceived territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea.
Demonstrators shouting “Down with China’s aggression” brought traffic around Hoan Kiem Lake in the center of the Vietnamese capital to a standstill as they marched toward the Chinese embassy.
They were prevented from getting close to the mission building by security forces — who broke up similar rallies last year — but no arrests were made, according to witnesses.
REGIONAL TENSIONS
The protests come at a time of rising regional tensions over the South China Sea, which is believed to contain vast oil and gas deposits and is the subject of a web of competing claims between Beijing and its neighbors.
On Friday, Southeast Asian nations vowed to work toward a “code of conduct” in the disputed waters, a week after divisions over the territorial issues marred a regional ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh.
Vietnam and the Philippines have recently accused Beijing of increasingly aggressive behavior in the South China Sea.
Hanoi and Beijing have a long-standing territorial dispute over the Spratly (Nansha Islands, 南沙島) and Paracel Islands (西沙群島), that both countries claim and frequently trade diplomatic barbs over oil exploration and fishing rights.
SOURING RELATIONS
Relations between the pair have soured recently, with Vietnam attracting China’s ire last month after it adopted a law that places the Spratlys under Hanoi’s sovereignty.
China’s state-backed China National Offshore Oil Corp also said it was seeking bids for exploration of oil blocks in disputed waters — a move slammed by Vietnam.
Protests are rare in authoritarian Vietnam. Anti-China rallies last year were allowed to go ahead without interference initially, but authorities later clamped down, briefly detaining dozens of people after talks between Hanoi and Beijing. China says it has sovereign rights to the whole South China Sea, which also has major international shipping routes. The sea is also subject to overlapping claims by Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
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