Hundreds of demonstrators in Hanoi, Vietnam protested China’s claim to offshore oil blocks in the South China Sea. Vietnam is also protesting China’s invitation to oil firms to bid on blocks in areas that Vietnam also claims as their territory.
The Vietnamese government rarely allows demonstrations and police have also released a warning prior to the protest. This time, the Vietnamese police did not make an attempt to arrest anybody in the rally, nor did they try to disperse the crowd of demonstrators.
The demonstrators were holding up banners and anti-China posters along Hanoi’s streets. They were chanting anti-Chinese slogans while standing at a war martyr’s monument in Hanoi. A protester said “We want to raise people’s awareness of China’s wrongful moves recently, and we have received applause from people in the streets.”
Vietnamese officials have tolerated a series of demonstrations against China’s claim in a number of islands in the South China Sea that are known to hold large oil and gas reserves. Vietnam claims part of this group of islands that include the Spratley Islands and the Paracels Islands which are mostly uninhabited.
CNOOC, a subsidiary of New York and Hong Kong listed CNOOC Ltd, issued a tender last Saturday that invites foreign corporations to develop 9 blocks in the western part of the South China Sea. Vietnam calls the move illegal since they and other neighboring countries also lay claim to these territories.
China has recently made more assertions of its unfounded and illegal claims of the whole East Sea (South China Sea/ West Philippines Sea) such as.
by creating a new city level Sansha to administer the whole South China Sea. It is laughable that “the new-born city is China’s biggest by size and least populated, with 13 square kilometers of islands area and over 200 square kilometers of waters where around 3,500 people live permanently and 25,000 are afloating population,” according to the Legal Evening News.
by putting up the off-shore oil blocks within Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone for auctions.
by sending more patrol ships in “combat ready” in East Sea.
Vietnamese netizens and patriots launched a call for rallies held on Sunday in protest of China’s aggression despite the fear of the Vietnamese authorities to crack down the patriotic protest. Prior to the Sunday’s rallies, there had been numerous debates on the net if demonstrations should be taken place by the Vietnamese citizens in fear of the authorities’ reprisals.
Vietnamese protest against China’s aggression in spite of authorities’ intimidation.
http://eyedrd.org/2012/07/vietnamese-protest-against-chinas-aggression-in-spite-of-authorities-intimidation.html
Before the unification of our country, we always admitted that that Spratley Islands and the Paracels Islands belong to China. And also, China provided large help to us to unifify our country. I really don’t understand why should we against China about the Spratley Islands and the Paracels Islands .
-David Nguyen
So, David N.
Do you think we should give up the sovereignty of VN to China and be one province of China like Tibet?
We stop using, trading and coporation with China. Because it is leading to the war. China is richer and richer. The hight demand and supply will increase by over population. How much we provide the energy to develop china with 1trillion30billion population. So that china need expand firstly to around neightbour country by their own law. Secondly to the world. We should think and avoid the risky to peaceful in the world. Please send to this messege to next reader. We protect the world and the human right.
There needs to be a united front against Communist China’s hegemonistic and racist policies. Cut all contact with the Mainland, boycott their products. They will soon collapse.