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Mobs set fire to foreign factories

Hanoi - Thousands of Vietnamese set fire to foreign factories and rampaged in industrial zones in the south of the country in an angry reaction to Chinese oil drilling in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam, officials said on Wednesday.

The brunt of Tuesday's violence, one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbours fought a brief border war in 1979, appears to have been borne by Taiwanese firms in the zones in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces that were mistaken for Chinese-owned companies.

A police official in Binh Duong province said about 200 people had been arrested.

Escalation

"We are working on other areas in the province ...we haven't seen any injuries," the official said.

Some Taiwanese firms had spray-painted messages on the road and across their gates saying "We Support Vietnam" in an effort to distinguish themselves from Chinese enterprises.

The row over the South China Sea and anti-China violence in tightly-controlled Vietnam have raised fears of an escalation in tensions between the Communist neighbours.

Tran van Nam, vice chair of the Binh Duong People's Committee, said around 6 000 workers initially held peaceful protests on Tuesday, but order broke down when numbers swelled to about 2 000.

Accused

Gates were smashed and rioters set 15 factories on fire, he said.

A Singapore foreign ministry spokesperson said the premises of several foreign firms were broken into and set on fire in two Vietnam-Singapore joint venture industrial parks in Binh Duong.

Dozens of ships from both countries are around the oil rig and the two sides have accused each other of intentional collisions, increasing the risk of open confrontation.

The spike in tensions over the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea comes two weeks after US President Barack Obama visited the region and expressed support for long-time allies Japan and the Philippines, both of which are locked in territorial disputes with China.

Vietnam is also stepping up ties with the United States.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, an area rich in energy deposits and an important passageway traversed each year by $5trn worth of ship-borne goods.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the area.


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