Vietnamese at home and overseas took to the streets protesting the Chinese for violating the borders of Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone. China and Vietnam have been at loggerheads since the Chinese installed an oil platform and began drilling on May 981 near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, in an area Vietnam considers its Exclusive Economic Zone. Clashes with water cannons and water cannons took place between the Chinese ships and the Vietnamese patrol boats sent to the site, but there are also reports of ramming of which some Vietnamese boats would have been victims. The platform - called HD 30 - has a tonnage of 12 tons and is capable of extracting oil up to 500 meters below the seabed. The Chinese government, which does not recognize Vietnam's sovereignty over that area, has said it is conducting exploration under the seabed, but the suspicion is that it wants to exploit a huge oil field that the PetroVietnam company has allegedly discovered in that area. Some countries (Taiwan, the Philippines and Malaysia) have sided with Vietnam, worried by the aggressive Chinese policy. Meanwhile, after the demonstrations at home, Vietnamese living abroad have also mobilized. More than 5 students gathered at Aoyama Park in Tokyo, brandishing anti-Chinese banners written in Vietnamese, Japanese and English. Even more impressive was the protest that took place in Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, which saw the participation of XNUMX people. Speaking in front of the crowd, Le Hong Cuong, the chief organizer of the rally, denounced China's violation of the Vietnamese Economic Zone, as well as the damage to Vietnam coast guard vessels rammed by Chinese vessels. He also stressed that the Vietnamese love peace and believe in the need to maintain good relations with the people of the Asian region. However, he added, Vietnam will not stand by as its sovereignty is unjustly undermined. Similar demonstrations were also held in France and Singapore. The Vietnamese government, for its part, has expressed its intention to bring the matter to the attention of ASEAN, the association of Southeast Asian states of which Vietnam is a member together with nine other countries.
http://vietnamnews.vn/politics-laws/254738/overseas-vietnamese-protest-chinas-violations-of-sovereignty.html
