China/Vietnam: China Insists It Has Right to Put Rig off Vietnam

May 8, 2014 | Fuel Fix
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BEIJING — China insisted Thursday it had every right to drill for oil off Vietnam’s coast and warned its neighbor to leave the area around the deep-sea rig where Chinese and Vietnamese ships are engaged in a tense standoff.

With the ships jostling each other since China deployed the rig last weekend in disputed South China Sea waters, the United States warned both sides to de-escalate tensions and urged China to clarify its claims to the territory.