MOFA condemns protests against China in Vietnam
Thu, May 15, 2014
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The government yesterday condemned the violent anti-China
protests in Vietnam over Hanoi’s ongoing territorial dispute with Beijing,
demanding that the Vietnamese government get the situation under control after
the factories and offices of Taiwanese businesses in the country’s southeast
were damaged during what it called “acts of rioting” by the protesters.
Speaking at a hastily convened press
conference yesterday morning, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) was still trying to
gather information on the factories damaged in the unrest in Binh Duong and
Dong Nai provinces that ensued after an anti-Chinese protest devolved into a
violent attack against foreign businesses on Tuesday afternoon.
The mass demonstration was launched
over the weekend to denounce Beijing’s installation of an oil rig close to the
Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South
China Sea, which are claimed by Taiwan, China and Vietnam. The three also claim
sovereignty over all or part of the sea, as do Brunei ,
the Philippines and Malaysia
The protest intensified on Tuesday and
participants started damaging any factory with Chinese-language signs,
including those owned by Taiwanese companies.
“We condemn the violent acts, but we
believe the situation is calming down since the Vietnamese government has
deployed military and police forces to the area,” Lin said.
No deaths were reported, despite rumors
said that two Chinese workers at a Taiwan-owned factory were killed, but a
Taiwanese businessman was confirmed injured and received three stitches, while
reports of another injury case have yet to be verified, according to Lin.
The minister said he has summoned
Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei Director Bui Trong Van and
demanded that Hanoi take every measure necessary
to protect Taiwanese businesspeople and their families in Vietnam
The ministry elevated the travel alert
level for the two provinces where the violence occurred to “orange,” the
second-highest threat level on the ministry’s four-color system, and revised
the alert for Ho Chi Minh City
Lin said the ministry has contacted
China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) and EVA Airaways Corp (長榮航空) to arrange
additional flights for Taiwanese who want to leave Vietnam, but that it did not
think an evacuation was necessary.
Asked if the situation warranted a
statement from the government reasserting Taiwan ’s
sovereignty and status as a country separate from China
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Vanessa Shih (史亞萍) said that the relationship between Taiwan and China was
not relevant to the cause of the unrest, adding that the Vietnamese protesters
“could not tell Taiwanese businesspeople from Chinese businesspeople.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) issued a four-point statement urging the government to prepare
evacuation plans for Taiwanese in Vietnam
DPP Policy Research Committee executive
director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told a press conference that the political implications
behind the protests deserve more attention, since President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has yet to comment on Beijing’s dispatch of the
oil rig, despite the US having done so.
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After reading this report, I think Vietnamese should calm down at first.
回覆刪除They should't be so impetuous that hurt so many innocent people.
Although Chinese may have done something wrong, the way Vietnamese treated them was not suitable.
Knowing this news, I think Chinese may be wrong, Vietnam government still should calm down to solve their problem.
回覆刪除I also think that Taiwan government should come up with some effective ways to protect the Taiwanese in Vietnam.
After reading this news, I consider that Vietnamese should calm down to solve this problem and they shouldn't take the blows and damage companies.
回覆刪除Taiwan government should come up with some methods to solve this problem.