Vietnam Steps Up Efforts to Protect Fishing Fleet

Aug 23, 2014 | Foreign Policy Association
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In a time of heightened tensions between Asian nations with claims to the waters of the East and South China Seas, the deployment of an offshore oil rig back in May by Beijing in disputed waters with Vietnam was not going to be an event without ramifications. The rig’s deployment by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) in waters just 120 nautical miles (222km) off Vietnam’s coast set off a nationalistic furor in Vietnam, provoking anti-Chinese protests and riots across Vietnam, destroying factories, and resulting in the deaths of at least four workers. With the removal of the rig ahead of schedule on July 16, diplomats of neighboring nations may breathing sighs of relief, but Vietnamese authorities are not letting their guard down and are busy making contingency plans to maintain their sovereign waters and prepare for any further aggression from China.