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In a Jittery Vietnam, Protesters Slam China Amid Maritime Tensions Vietnam Fails to Rally Neighbors to Join in Outrage Over Chinese Rig
(about 7 hours later)
HANOI, Vietnam — Several hundred protesters demonstrated peacefully outside the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, on Sunday, criticizing the country’s giant northern neighbor amid heightened tensions over a maritime standoff in the South China Sea. HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam’s prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, accused China on Sunday of “dangerous and serious violations” in a territorial dispute that has raised anger toward China here to the highest levels in years.
Similar anti-China protests occur sporadically here, often in response to perceived Chinese maritime aggression, and the government grudgingly tolerates them before arresting or dispersing protesters using uniformed police officers and gangs of men in plain clothes with video cameras who are widely presumed to be security agents. Mr. Dung’s comments, which were carried in Vietnamese state media, were addressed to leaders of Southeast Asian countries attending a summit meeting in Myanmar. It was his strongest statement since China towed a huge oil rig into disputed waters off the coast of Vietnam this month.
But the Sunday morning protest, in sweltering humidity, occurred days after relations between the Communist-ruled countries hit their frostiest point in recent years after China parked an oil rig in waters near the Paracel Islands, which China controls and Vietnam claims. “This extremely dangerous action has been directly endangering peace, stability, security, and marine safety,” Mr. Dung was quoted as saying, adding that Vietnam had acted with “utmost restraint.”
The crowd on Sunday was larger than the several dozen people who usually turn up for such events, and the government took the rare step of permitting journalists from the state-controlled news media to cover the protest, where many signs displayed aggressive slogans like “Denounce the Chinese Invasion.” Mr. Dung’s comments were uncharacteristically spirited for the typically anodyne meetings of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but they failed to produce a collective public response. The leaders, who work by consensus, did not mention the dispute in their final statement on Sunday.
Their refusal to weigh in appeared to be a victory for China and underlines how there does not yet appear to be a willingness or ability to address the territorial disputes in the South China Sea collectively. At least five nations claim islands in the sea, a major shipping lane and potential flash point as China becomes more assertive and hungry for resources.
Murray Hiebert, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Vietnam and the Philippines, another vocal critic about Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea, “clearly wanted something a lot stronger” out of the meeting.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, has been unable in recent years to reach a common position on the South China Sea even as China’s claims have reached more than 1,000 miles southward from the Chinese mainland. A summit meeting in Cambodia two years ago failed to produce a final statement because leaders quarreled over the issue.
China is the region’s largest trade partner, and countries like Cambodia and Laos are large recipients of its aid.
“Within Asean, you have countries that really don’t want to rock the boat,” Mr. Hiebert said. “They are playing it pretty much down the middle.”
Foreign ministers at the meeting in Myanmar issued an oblique statement on Saturday citing “serious concerns over the ongoing developments in the South China Sea,” but did not mention China by name.
Several hundred protesters demonstrated peacefully outside the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi on Sunday, and Vietnam’s authoritarian government took the rare step of permitting journalists from the state-controlled news media to cover the protest. Signs displayed slogans like “Denounce the Chinese Invasion.”
“We don’t have a problem with Chinese people or their culture, but we resent their government conspiring against us,” Nguyen Xuan Pham, a literary critic, said as the protest swelled in a public park across from the embassy and a military museum.“We don’t have a problem with Chinese people or their culture, but we resent their government conspiring against us,” Nguyen Xuan Pham, a literary critic, said as the protest swelled in a public park across from the embassy and a military museum.
The maritime standoff with China, which has controlled the islands since 1974, has been a hot topic in Vietnam’s state-controlled news media and on Facebook, where the vast majority of the country’s urban middle class communicates. China towed the oil rig earlier this month to waters near the Paracel Islands, which China controls and Vietnam claims.
China is one of Vietnam’s major trading partners, and both countries have nominally socialist one-party governments. But Vietnamese officials sometimes appeal to a latent anti-China sentiment here that is bolstered by bitter memories of a 1979 border war with the Chinese. China’s state-controlled Xinhua news agency said Sunday that the oil rig was “completely within” China’s territorial waters. The rig is 140 miles off the coast of Vietnam.
The government is said to walk a fine line between wanting to appear strong against China and fearing that shared anti-China sentiment could unite disgruntled citizens who dislike the government’s foreign policies and have festering grievances over land grabs, religious persecution and other hot-button social issues. The maritime standoff with China, which has controlled the islands since 1974, has been widely discussed both in Vietnam’s state-controlled news media and on Facebook, which is very popular among the country’s urban middle class.
At the Hanoi event, protesters presumed to be plainclothes agents occasionally shoved and yelled at other protesters, but most uniformed security personnel sat by idly, chatting among themselves and checking their cellphones. China is one of Vietnam’s major trading partners, and both countries have nominally socialist one-party governments. But Vietnamese officials sometimes appeal to anti-China sentiments here that are never far from the surface and rooted in a history of conflict between the countries.
The Hanoi protesters mostly echoed indignant statements made last week by Vietnamese officials characterizing China’s action as a violation of Vietnamese sovereignty, but saying a military response would only be considered as a last resort. Rumors circulated in the crowd that some of the most vocal protesters had actually been sent by the government. The Vietnamese government is balancing a desire to appear strong against China with the fear that anti-China sentiment could unite disgruntled citizens who have festering grievances over land grabs, religious persecution and other hot-button social issues.
Several activists and dissident bloggers in Hanoi who have protested publicly over domestic issues in the past said Sunday’s event was more about showing a united front against China than anything else. There were reports circulating on Facebook on Sunday of a similar protest in Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s business capital and largest city. Protesters on Sunday presumed to be plainclothes agents occasionally shoved and yelled at other protesters, but most uniformed security personnel sat nearby and did not interfere.
But although many were adamant that China remove its oil rig, known as HD-981, from the disputed waters, some also criticized Vietnam’s handling of the dispute, saying the government should be more assertive. The Foreign Ministry has not issued any statements about the dispute on its website since Wednesday, when it held a high-profile news briefing in central Hanoi featuring senior officials and the chief executive of PetroVietnam, the state oil and gas monopoly. Many at the protest were adamant that China remove its oil rig, known as HD-981, from the disputed waters, but some also criticized Vietnam’s handling of the dispute, saying the government should be more assertive. The Foreign Ministry has not issued any statements about the dispute on its website since Wednesday, when it held a high-profile news briefing featuring senior officials and the chief executive of PetroVietnam, the state oil and gas monopoly.
“Vietnam’s top leaders should call a news conference, and top leaders should clearly demonstrate their attitude so that the Vietnamese people can know what they are thinking,” said Lan Le, 40, a Hanoi fashion designer. “Vietnam’s top leaders should call a news conference, and top leaders should clearly demonstrate their attitude so that the Vietnamese people can know what they are thinking,” said Lan Le, 40, a fashion designer in Hanoi. She spoke before the prime minister’s comments were published.
Later on Sunday, a Vietnamese newspaper reported that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who was attending an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Myanmar, had “lambasted” China for stationing an oil rig and ramming Vietnamese vessels in disputed waters of the East Sea, Vietnam’s term for the South China Sea.
“Vietnam resolutely protests those violations and will take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty and legitimate interests in the East Sea in accordance with international laws,” the Thanh Nien Newspaper quoted Mr. Dung as saying.
Tuong Vu, an expert on modern Vietnamese history and politics at the University of Oregon, said Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party was broadly divided between a conservative faction loyal to China and another that advocates systemic economic reforms and strengthened ties with the United States and other Western countries. He said there would be fierce debate within the party about how to respond to China’s action, fueled by concerns about the long-term economic and political implications of the standoff.Tuong Vu, an expert on modern Vietnamese history and politics at the University of Oregon, said Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party was broadly divided between a conservative faction loyal to China and another that advocates systemic economic reforms and strengthened ties with the United States and other Western countries. He said there would be fierce debate within the party about how to respond to China’s action, fueled by concerns about the long-term economic and political implications of the standoff.
The pro-China faction has held the upper hand since the 1990s, Mr. Vu added, and it would surely prefer to negotiate a solution to the current impasse through diplomatic back channels rather than by criticizing China too directly, partly out of fear that a further escalation would do more damage to the bilateral relationship and possibly embolden domestic criticism of the government. The pro-China faction has held the upper hand since the 1990s, Mr. Vu added, and it would surely prefer to negotiate a solution to the current impasse through diplomatic back channels rather than by criticizing China too directly. That is partly out of fear that a further escalation would do more damage to the bilateral relationship and possibly embolden domestic criticism of the government.
“They’ll just let the issue quiet down slowly and try to gradually return to the status quo,” Mr. Vu said. “But who knows? In the next week, the protests may occur on a much larger scale, and things may take a different direction.”“They’ll just let the issue quiet down slowly and try to gradually return to the status quo,” Mr. Vu said. “But who knows? In the next week, the protests may occur on a much larger scale, and things may take a different direction.”
Giap Van Duong, a commentator on Vietnamese current affairs in Hanoi, said wounds from decades of conflict had still not healed for many Vietnamese, and that there was scant public appetite here for another war. He said that Vietnam’s leaders should internationalize the dispute by pursuing broad multilateral negotiations over the sea with other countries. Mike Ives reported from Hanoi, and Thomas Fuller from Bangkok. Chau Doan contributed reporting from Hanoi, and Wai Moe from Yangon, Myanmar.
“Security in this sea is very important,” partly because it contains busy international shipping lanes, he said on Friday. ————————————————————————————————————————
Mr. Duong said the dispute would have short-term economic repercussions for Vietnam, but that he hoped it would also prompt the country to distance itself from the Chinese economic orbit by developing higher-value major exports beyond the current ones of seafood, agricultural products and raw materials. Chau Doan contributed reporting.
But Dinh Minh Quan, a technology entrepreneur in Ho Chi Minh City whose company, Dinh Vi So Corporation, manufactures tracking devices for vehicles, said he imported the equivalent of $500,000 a year in electronics from mainland China, and he feared a drawn-out dispute would force him to import the same material at higher cost from Singapore or Hong Kong.
“We need to have a plan” to find alternate suppliers, Mr. Quan said by telephone. “Otherwise it will be a serious problem.”