From ABC Radio Australia
Protesters have staged one of Vietnam’s largest anti-China demonstrations, decrying Beijing’s deployment of a deep-water drilling rig in contested waters of the South China Sea.
Protesters march with a banner which reads, “Request China to have respect for international rule on islands and sea” (top) during an anti-China protest on a street in Hanoi May 11, 2014. (Credit: Reuters)
Some 1,000 people shouted slogans and sang patriotic songs in a park opposite the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi.
“Our patience has limits,” said war veteran Dang Quang Thang, 74.
“We are here to express the will of the Vietnamese people to defend our territory at all costs. We are ready to die to protect our nation.”
Hundreds of plain clothes and uniformed police set up barricades to prevent protesters approaching the Chinese Embassy compound but made no move to break up the rowdy demonstration.
Dozens of anti-China demonstrations have been held in Vietnam since 2007 to protest Beijing’s perceived aggression over territory.
The two countries are locked in long-standing territorial disputes over the Paracel and Spratly islands, which both claim, and often trade diplomatic barbs over oil exploration and fishing rights in the contested waters.
Tensions between the communist neighbours have risen sharply since China unilaterally announced in early May it would move a deep-water drilling rig into disputed waters – a move the United States has described as “provocative”
Read the full story from ABC Radio Australia.
