HANOI — Anti-China demonstrators set more than a dozen factories on fire in Vietnam, state media said yesterday, in an escalating backlash against Beijing’s deployment of an oil rig in contested waters.
Workers looted goods and attacked offices in a rare outburst of public unrest Tuesday in the authoritarian communist nation, which allowed mass anti-China rallies around Vietnam at the weekend.
The activists targeted manufacturing companies that are owned or managed by Chinese as well as Chinese workers in Binh Duong province, the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park said in a statement.
There were no reports of casualties.
Tens of thousands of workers poured onto the streets Tuesday and a small number of them began looting and attacking security guards and factory management before setting fire to at least 15 factories, the state-run VNExpress website reported.
Videos and images posted on dissident blogs showed thousands of workers, many waving the Vietnamese flag, destroying factory gates and pouring into compounds and causing widespread destruction of property.
A number of Taiwanese, Japanese and South Korean businesses have shut their plants for the day, giving workers the day off, and have hung Vietnamese flags outside their business in a bid to deter looters, VNExpress added.
Hanoi’s Ministry of Public Security has deployed rapid-response riot police to the area to reinforce local security staff and prevent further unrest, VNExpress said.
“There will be serious punishment for those who abused the situation to instigate unrest,” local official Tran Van Nam was quoted as saying.
Taiwan condemned the violence and said it had urged Vietnam to guarantee the safety of Taiwanese nationals in the area.
“We urge the Vietnamese people to exercise restraint and not to take violent and non-rational actions as this would affect Taiwanese businessmen’s willingness to invest,” Foreign Minister David Lin said.
Vietnamese police and officials contacted by AFP repeatedly refused to comment.
China and Vietnam are locked in long-standing territorial disputes in the South China Sea over the Paracel and Spratly islands, which both claim. –AFP
June 2025
Philippine Environment Month!
“Action for Nature, for the Future!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
1 Jun – World Day of Parents
5 Jun – World Environment Day
7 Jun – World Food Safety Day
8 Jun – World Oceans Day
12 Jun – World Day Against Child Labour
15 Jun – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
16 Jun – International Day of Family Remittances
17 Jun – World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
20 Jun – World Refugee Day
25 Jun – Day of the Seafarer
27 Jun – Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day
Daily Observances:
June 6: Migrant Workers Day
June 19: Filipino Youth Day
June 25: Day of the Filipino Seafarer
