At their protest marches launched on Monday, thousands of people in the two southern provinces of Can Tho and Binh Duong and in central Da Nang City have expressed their strong opposition to the illicit operation of a Chinese oil rig in Vietnam’s waters.

>> Haiyang 981, get out of Vietnam now>> Chinese vessels keep firing water at Vietnamese ships in Vietnam's seas >> Vietnamese ship hits back at 15 Chinese vessels with water cannon At 5:00 pm on May 12, despite a heavy rain, around 2,000 people gathered at Luu Huu Phuoc Park in Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City to join a demonstration and parade to protest China’s deployment of drilling rig Haiyang 981 in an area within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. The protesters raised a special banner issued by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that read: “Remove your oil rig from Vietnam now, China!” and other message that read: “China’s oil rig deployment in Vietnam’s waters violates Vietnam’s sovereignty, sovereignty rights and jurisdiction,” and “Help protect Vietnam’s sovereignty over its sea and islands.” The demonstrators also chanted slogans to object to China’s violation of Vietnam’s territorial waters. At the demonstration, Nguyen Trung Hieu, deputy chairman of the Can Tho City Fatherland Front Committee, Tran Thanh Nghiep, chairman of the city War Veteran's Association, and the representatives of some religious organizations and of local students delivered their speeches strongly opposing China’s infringement and demanding that China remove its rig and all escort ships from Vietnam’s waters immediately. In their speeches, they also requested that China not repeat similar acts in the future and hold talks to settle differences around the issue. The same day, Colonel Tran Hung, deputy chairman of the Can Tho City War Veteran's Association, arrived at Tuoi Tre newspaper’s representative office in the Hau River delta to donate VND20 million (US$950) to the “Join hands to protect Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Vietnam Sea” program launched bythe paper. Also on Monday, hundreds of workers from a number of companies in Binh Duong Province joined a protest march expressing their opposition to the illegal operation of the Chinese oil rig in Vietnam’s waters. The event kicked off at 4:45 pm, as workers left their offices. The protesters gathered on DT743 Street and began marching toward the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park 1 and then moved on to other streets, including Doc Lap Avenue. The demonstrators raised banners that read: “Hoang Sa (Paracels) and Truong Sa (Spratlys) belong to Vietnam,” and “Oppose China’s illegal deployment of the oil rig in Vietnamese waters.”

A heavy rain that began to fall during the protest did not prevent the demonstrators from continuing their march. Meanwhile in the central city of Da Nang, the city Science and History Association, the Union of Friendship Organization, and the Fisheries Association jointly conducted a gathering to demand that China withdraw its oil rig from Vietnamese waters. The rig has been stationed at 15°29’58’’ North latitude and 111°12’06’’ East longitude in the East Vietnam Sea, within the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Southeast Asian country, since May 1. Specifically, the platform is located about 119 nautical miles (221 km) from Ly Son Island off the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai and 18 nautical miles south of Tri Ton Island off Vietnam's Hoang Sa archipelago. The rig has been guarded by about 80 Chinese vessels including warships, which have rammed or fired water cannons at Vietnam’s fisheries surveillance ships and Coast Guard vessels, causing damage to them and injuring nine fisheries surveillance officers.  Addressing the 24th Southeast Asian summit in Myanmar on Sunday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that China is threatening peace, stability, and freedom of navigation by illegally deploying the oil rig in Vietnam’s waters. “This extremely dangerous action has been and is directly threatening peace, stability, and maritime security and safety in the East [Vietnam] Sea,” the premier asserted.

On May 6, during a phone call with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi regarding the illegal operation of the oil rig, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said, “Vietnam cannot accept and resolutely opposes China’s act, and demands that China move the drilling rig and escort vessels out of the area before holding talks to resolve differences around the issue.” 

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!