China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Leery as China’s Infamous Oil Rig Heads for Indian Ocean

Jan 5, 2015 | An Dien, Thanh Nien News
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Vietnamese agencies have kept a close eye on the path of a giant mobile oil rig since China Central Television announced it was setting off for the Indian Ocean on an “overseas assignment”.

According to local authorities on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, the Haiyang Shiyou 981 Rig (the same one that bedeviled Sino-Vietnamese relations last year) set began heading toward Singapore on January 1. The rig has been moving at around four nautical miles per hour in the East Sea, the Vietnamese term for the South China Sea.

The Vietnamese Directorate of Fisheries said the rig has been escorted by a small fleet of vessels. The Vietnamese Maritime Police Force said they have been kept a close tab on the rig to “brace for possible bad developments”.