BBC Online :
Several factories have been set on fire amid anti-China protests at an industrial park in southern Vietnam, amid tensions over the South China Sea.
The park’s management said three factories were set on fire on Tuesday, but other reports put the figure as high as 15.
No casualties have been reported but officials said many arrests were made.
The protests came after China moved a drilling rig into waters claimed by Vietnam earlier this month.
In a daily press briefing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Vietnam was a “provocateur” and that Beijing had expressed concern to Hanoi.
Amid reports that Taiwanese factories in the park had sustained damage, Taiwan strongly condemned the protest and summoned the Vietnamese envoy to Taipei to express serious concern, according to state media.
The management of the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) said that protesters gathered on Monday in Thuan An town, in the southern Binh Duong province.
Nationalist sentiment of this intensity has not been seen in Vietnam for many years.
Tuesday’s protests in Binh Duong confirmed the government’s worst fear, that nationalism could easily get out of hand, posing a great risk not only to the business environment but also to domestic political stability.
The Vietnamese authorities were quick to condemn the anti-China violence and arrested some people they called “agitators”.
But critics say that other contributing factors such as social discontent and limited labour rights cannot be overlooked.
On Tuesday they moved on to VSIP’s two industrial parks nearby and targeted factories owned or managed by the Chinese and Chinese expatriates.
A spokesman for VSIP told the BBC the three factories were set on fire on Tuesday evening after workers had gone home.
Not all of the tenants of the three factories were Chinese companies, she said. Some Taiwanese companies had been affected.
