A riot at a Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), steel plant in Vietnam left one Chinese worker dead and more than 100 others injured, officials said yesterday, as an angry Beijing accused Hanoi of “connivance” in the worst anti-China unrest to hit the country in decades.
Long-simmering enmity between the communist neighbors boiled over in Vietnam this week, with protests in major cities and mobs torching foreign-owned factories after China moved an oil drilling rig by the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea, which are claimed by Taipei, Hanoi and Beijing.
Worker demonstrations have spread to 22 of Vietnam’s 63 provinces, Hanoi said, calling for “tough measures” to bring the situation under control before alarmed foreign investors pull out of the country.
Hundreds of Chinese have fled into Cambodia, police there said, amid fears that a wave of patriotic fervor initially encouraged by Hanoi is out of control.
Wary of public gatherings that could threaten its rule, Vietnam’s government has alternated between tolerating anti-China rallies and violently breaking them up.
Experts say Hanoi has allowed some public protests to go ahead recently as a means of expressing extreme discontent with Beijing.
There have been repeated skirmishes near the controversial oil rig in recent days involving vessels from the two countries, with collisions and the use of water cannon.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung described the situation as “very serious” and said in an official statement that while the recent groundswell of patriotism was “correct,” instigators who broke the law would be punished.
One Chinese worker was killed and at least 149 others injured in the violence, local official Dang Quoc Khanh said.
The riots had “a direct link with the Vietnamese side’s indulgence and connivance in recent days with some domestic anti-China forces and lawbreakers,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said..
Xinhua news agency said that about 10 Chinese were unaccounted for after rioters attacked four China-run firms in Ha Tinh Province, citing a Chinese manager.
Beijing has issued a warning to tourists to Vietnam, telling them to “carefully consider” their plans.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
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