China
Urges Vietnam To Crack Down On Rioting, Issues Travel Advice
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[May 17, 2014]
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's public
security chief urged Vietnam on Saturday to take tough measures to stem
anti-China violence and punish rioters following deadly attacks there
earlier this week, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.
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The Vietnamese government has said one person was killed in the
rioting on Tuesday and Wednesday night, but a doctor at a hospital
near one area of clashes said he had seen 21 dead bodies and that at
least 100 people were wounded.
"The Vietnamese government should be accountable for the violent
attacks on Chinese companies and staff," China's Public Security
Minister Guo Shengkun was quoted saying in a telephone call with
Vietnam's minister of public security Tran Dai Quang.
"We are strongly dissatisfied by the Vietnamese side failure to
respond effectively to curb an escalation of the situation," he
said, adding that there had been large numbers of casualties.
Thousands of Vietnamese attacked businesses and factories on Monday
and Tuesday in the country's industrial parks, targeting Chinese
workers and Chinese-owned businesses. Many Taiwanese-owned firms
bore the brunt because the crowds believed they were owned by
mainland Chinese, and Hong Kong firms were also hit.
China's Foreign Ministry advised Chinese nationals to hold off from
travelling to Vietnam and told Chinese citizens in Vietnam to avoid
leaving their premises, according to a statement posted on the
ministry's website on Saturday.
According to Xinhua, Tran assured Guo that Hanoi has mobilized large
numbers of police to restore calm and suspects had been arrested.
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Vietnamese anger erupted after China parked an oil rig in a part of
the South China Sea claimed by Hanoi. It is the worst breakdown in
ties between the two Communist neighbors since a brief but bloody
border war in 1979.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told Reuters that China's "provocative" actions in
maritime disputes were dangerous and had to stop, and China's
relations with its neighbors were straining ties with the United
States.
(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Niu Shuping; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore)
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