Tensions Rise Over South China Sea Islands
2007.12.13
Radio Free Asia
HONG KONG—A war of words between China and Vietnam over a disputed chain of islands in the South China Sea has intensified, with Beijing’s announcement that an anti-China protest in Hanoi had damaged bilateral ties.
A witness in Hanoi sent to RFA this video footage of a rare public demonstration, last Sunday, near the Chinese Embassy.
“Things happened in Vietnam recently which damaged the relationship between the two countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters after the weekend demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi and consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.
“We hope the Vietnam government takes effective measures to control the situation in order to avoid damaging the relationship,” he said.
Several hundred Vietnamese staged a rare public demonstration Sunday near the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi to protest China’s claim over the uninhabited but potentially resource-rich Spratly and Paracel islands.
China’s legislature recently ratified a plan to create a symbolic administrative region called Sansha to manage three archipelagos, including the Paracels and the Spratlys.
“We want to send a message first to China: that the Vietnamese people are brave and undaunted,” the event’s organizer, who declined to be identified, told RFA’s Vietnamese service.
Call for more information
Nguyen Thanh Tai, leader of the Communist Party Youth League in Hanoi, met with protesters and told them that there was “no doubt” that the Spratlys and Paracels belonged to Vietnam.
“You have shown your heart to the country,” he told them, adding that he would order the Youth League to “form a group” to join with them in the demonstrations.
The protest sparked a flurry of online postings from visitors to RFA’s Vietnamese Web site.
“When will Vietnam, my homeland, have peace, and the Vietnamese people have freedom? When will China stop bullying Vietnam?” wrote a commentator identified as Tao Khang.
Another, called Long, said: “As China is invading Spratly and Paracel islands of Vietnam, [this] is the time when all Vietnamese should come together and fight against the invader.”
One commentator said the call to join the 9 a.m. protest outside the embassy had been sent around on the Skype online messaging service.
“As a Vietnamese, I would like to call on all Vietnamese from around the world, regardless of your age, religion, political opinion, education, or gender to come together to protect our homeland,” another person identified as Pham Hung Vy from Hanoi wrote.
The commentators were reacting to an interview on RFA’s Vietnamese service with a Vietnamese student.
The demonstrators, mostly university students, chanted “Down with China” and “Long Live Vietnam.” Police let the protest continue for about an hour before breaking it up.
The protesters were supporting the government’s position that Vietnam has sovereignty over the islands, a contentious issue between Vietnam and China for years.
The waters around the Spratlys, which are also claimed all or in part by Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei, are believed to hide large oil and natural gas reserves. They are strategically placed in major shipping lanes and contain rich fishing grounds.
Sino-Vietnamese ties have improved in recent years following a brief but brutal border war in 1979.
Original reporting in Vietnamese by Khanh Nguyen. Translated by Khiem Le and Khanh Nguyen. Additional reporting by Richard Finney. Vietnamese service director: Diem Nguyen. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written and produced for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
A witness in Hanoi sent to RFA this video footage of a rare public demonstration, last Sunday, near the Chinese Embassy.
“Things happened in Vietnam recently which damaged the relationship between the two countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters after the weekend demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi and consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.
“We hope the Vietnam government takes effective measures to control the situation in order to avoid damaging the relationship,” he said.
Several hundred Vietnamese staged a rare public demonstration Sunday near the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi to protest China’s claim over the uninhabited but potentially resource-rich Spratly and Paracel islands.
China’s legislature recently ratified a plan to create a symbolic administrative region called Sansha to manage three archipelagos, including the Paracels and the Spratlys.
“We want to send a message first to China: that the Vietnamese people are brave and undaunted,” the event’s organizer, who declined to be identified, told RFA’s Vietnamese service.
Call for more information
"We want to send a message first to China: that the Vietnamese people are brave and undaunted." - Demonstration organizer“Second, we want to tell our own government that it must share information with the Vietnamese people. We found out about this most recent dispute with China over the Spratlys and Paracels only through overseas media,” he said.
Nguyen Thanh Tai, leader of the Communist Party Youth League in Hanoi, met with protesters and told them that there was “no doubt” that the Spratlys and Paracels belonged to Vietnam.
“You have shown your heart to the country,” he told them, adding that he would order the Youth League to “form a group” to join with them in the demonstrations.
The protest sparked a flurry of online postings from visitors to RFA’s Vietnamese Web site.
“When will Vietnam, my homeland, have peace, and the Vietnamese people have freedom? When will China stop bullying Vietnam?” wrote a commentator identified as Tao Khang.
Another, called Long, said: “As China is invading Spratly and Paracel islands of Vietnam, [this] is the time when all Vietnamese should come together and fight against the invader.”
One commentator said the call to join the 9 a.m. protest outside the embassy had been sent around on the Skype online messaging service.
“As a Vietnamese, I would like to call on all Vietnamese from around the world, regardless of your age, religion, political opinion, education, or gender to come together to protect our homeland,” another person identified as Pham Hung Vy from Hanoi wrote.
The commentators were reacting to an interview on RFA’s Vietnamese service with a Vietnamese student.
The demonstrators, mostly university students, chanted “Down with China” and “Long Live Vietnam.” Police let the protest continue for about an hour before breaking it up.
The protesters were supporting the government’s position that Vietnam has sovereignty over the islands, a contentious issue between Vietnam and China for years.
The waters around the Spratlys, which are also claimed all or in part by Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei, are believed to hide large oil and natural gas reserves. They are strategically placed in major shipping lanes and contain rich fishing grounds.
Sino-Vietnamese ties have improved in recent years following a brief but brutal border war in 1979.
Original reporting in Vietnamese by Khanh Nguyen. Translated by Khiem Le and Khanh Nguyen. Additional reporting by Richard Finney. Vietnamese service director: Diem Nguyen. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written and produced for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
19 comments:
I suggest all Khmers learn from the Vietnamese. They are willing to die and fight for their land, and so must Khmers. They have taken our land one by one, WHEN WILL WE HAVE FREEDOM AND PEACE FROM VIETNAM? They are hypocrites.
Why do you want Khmer to learn from ah you communist? Khmer must learn from Khmer. What Khmer must do is to vote down this CPP or Cummunist Puppet Party. I want China to drop a bomb in Hanoi to to revenge what Ah youn did to Khmer during Koh bram or k-5 in the 1980's and continue to kill Khmer everyday. Let China teach Youn a lesson. What goes around comes around.
Chheam Khmer
To all Patriot Khmer please"SOUM META" SHMEAM SHNART"OR Quiet NOV REUNG NING TOV.
Quiet for what?
China needs to capture that island. ah youn deserve jack shit.
I am so happy to see the youn communist with headache. Thank god there is some justice. But, we need more.
No ,i want the whole world to nuke china and vietnam all together. They are bad for khmer.
This is critical issue. The tension is going to more serous as giant China will not stop their heading. But what we are worrying now is Japan who come to support Indochina countries to oppose China.
Go away Japan from your joint development plan in Indochina.
KY
Don't propose Khmer to fight. We did from 1975-1979, then we lost, except we killed all Vietnamese in Cambodia including Khmer.
We are underestimate the power of Vietnam. Without the strong support from China and Burma we will not be mature enough to fight. Laos is not in good position to fight any of them.
If our King, join US fight Vietnam then we win, but our stupid King does not know how to play in POLITICS. He just loved YOURN and help them to grap our land.
I can see why Hun Sen is approaching China and Burma. He is not stupid though sometimes violent happen in the country. I'm sure he love his own country. Vietnam has gratually lost lot of power inside Cambodia since 1979. This is how we play this game.
Time is a key point.
Chineses never disturb Cambodia, they are our friends.
Good luck China, you ill win against the devil country vietnam.
China needs to make ah youn taste its own medicine.
Long live China!! I am all the way with you.
I think this a control political protest by the Vietnamese government with crated words to send a message to China. They will not wage war with China I know it for sure. They are trying to appear tough but not really. The Vietnamese is in the crucial moment in their history as well to whether continue their hard line with wars or continue with their economic development and bring peace to their people and nation for the first time in their history. What Vietnam is experiencing right now is what Cambodia has been experiencing for the past 3 decades bullying, border encroaching, political interfering by the Vietnamese government when they know Cambodia is at its weak. Cambodians should not be detered by the oppression and aggression of the Vietnamese government toward our nation and people; whether it is in the government or civilian level. We must unite for our common goal. We must continue to brave and undaunted for our total independence free from Vietnam subtle invasion.
At this point in time, Cambodian government is better to remain neural to either party. We don't want any enemies. Let them settle their problems; we have enough on our plate.
the next Vietnamese protest, Cambodian students should coincide a protest at the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh to say "Down with Vietnam Long live Cambodia, Koh Trah is ours!"
That is real taste of their own medicine. An embarrassment and a realization to the fact that what Vietnam have are just stolen properties.
First of all, those islands were originally belonging to the Chinese. Ah YOUN barbarians didn't ever occupy those islands. Everything is traced back to the Chinese. The Chinese are simply protecting their ancestral isalands. So Ah YOUN savages should shut their stinking mouths. In addition, ah YOUNs should get the hell out of all the Khmer Islands and territory.
So what Ah YOUNs are brave, the Chinese are much cooler and more dominant than Ah YOUN can ever be. The Chinese will always be well-composed and imposing on Ah YOUN shorty azzes anytime. F*ck you all Ah YOUNs. Get off all the ancestral Cambodian island and territory. Stop claiming what does not belong to you, Ah YOUN savages. Give back to China what belongs to the Chinese, and give back to Cambodians what belong to the Cambodians, you barbaric YOUN thieves. Remember ah YOUNs, the Chinese will always RESERVE the right to TEACH YOU lessons. If you YOUNs ever act up again and refuse to give up the Chinese ancestral possession, then bear the Chinese wrath. It won't be pretty. If the Chinese can be that cruel to their very blood and flesh, then they certainly do not care about your YOUNs, especially when you are immorally low and thieves like that. China RULES. Cambodia STANDS proud. Vietnam just shut the f*ck up.
“When will Vietnam, my homeland, have peace, and the Vietnamese people have freedom? When will China stop bullying Vietnam?”
“As a Vietnamese, I would like to call on all Vietnamese from around the world, regardless of your age, religion, political opinion, education, or gender to come together to protect our homeland,”
“As China is invading Spratly and Paracel islands of Vietnam, [this] is the time when all Vietnamese should come together and fight against the invader.”
The YUON mentality - "The Yuon pee on your legs and they tell you it's raining"
How is pathetic with these barbaric people!
Based on the map shown, Hanoi can't claim the Spratly island belongs to them because these islands are located at the adjacent of Kampuchea Krom (Cambodia country). Hanoi needs to return Spratly, and other two islands plus kampuchea krom back to cambodia.
We need to take Hanoi and Hun Sen to UN for trial against kampuchea krom and human right abuse.
The YOUN invader from 10:53 AM called Khmer barbaric. How ironic. Now you will feel the wrath of China for raping and pillaging Cambodian lands and Islands for generations and cause the suffering of her people. It's a curse that will never be undone for as long as you continue to hurt other. You will never have peace and your Vietcong land will be no more once China and global warming finish with you. The Chinese will teach you another lesson for being arrogantly rude to the master. It'slong overdue and well deserve. You will all end up in little saigon in California.
I just want to said"Heaven and hell are watching you".
The Chinese People Army needs to crash Hanoi Vietcong for good. Wipe them out and take over Vietnam to make them under Chinese colony. Teach them a lesson not to grab Khmer land.
Hanoi formed these youth to protest the Chinese by hiding their faces and make China think these Communist youths are acting out of their own frustration. But, actually Hanoi are all behind these demonstration. We all know your tactic, Ah Youn Hanoi.
WIPE OUT THE VIETCONG TO TELL THEM WHOSE IS THE BOSS IN INDOCHINA.
If those little cock-sucking vietnamese dare to make a first move, the Chinese will bury them assholes 6 feet under!
Yeah, including those god damn mother fxxking viet shits living in Westminster!!
And listen up you assholes, that is called Westminster of Orange County, it's neither the big nor little saigan - a.k.a. the hell hole of vietnam!!!
Post a Comment