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Hundreds Arrested in Riots Targeting Foreign Factories in Vietnam China Targeted by Vietnamese in Fiery Riots
(about 9 hours later)
HANOI, Vietnam — More than 400 people were arrested after riots in which scores of foreign-owned factories were damaged or destroyed in an industrial area in southern Vietnam, the authorities said Wednesday. BINH DUONG PROVINCE, Vietnam — Dozens of foreign-owned factories near Ho Chi Minh City lay in charred ruins early Thursday after thousands of Vietnamese workers rampaged over China’s latest efforts to control the South China Sea, this time off Vietnam’s coast.
The upheaval on Tuesday was the worst public unrest in recent Vietnamese history, involving thousands of workers. It reportedly began as demonstrations against China’s stationing of an oil drilling rig in disputed waters off Vietnam’s coast. But the protests boiled over into widespread violence, as workers rampaged through a dense industrial area in a northern suburb of Ho Chi Minh City, once known as Saigon. The area has rows of cavernous buildings where thousands of mostly young workers stitch together sneakers and clothing for sale around the world. The riots marked a rare outpouring of popular outrage over China’s increasingly insistent claims to strategically important, resource-rich seas. But in their rage, the Vietnamese workers appeared to misdirect their anger, attacking businesses from countries that took the risk of investing in their nation.
“No one knows what really caused the riots — only initially did it seem to be about the Chinese,” Truong Huy San, an author and well-known blogger, said by telephone after touring the industrial zone. “These were totally uncontrolled crowds.” The explosion of violence reflected growing animosity in the region as China works to solidify its claims over vast parts of two seas that other nations have long considered their own.
The great majority of the affected factories and workshops were owned by Taiwanese or South Korean companies. On Wednesday, the conflict played out not only in Vietnam, but also in the Philippines, which said it lodged a formal protest with China over signs that it is reclaiming land at a contested coral reef. But so far, neither the Philippines nor Vietnam has gotten much backing among other Southeast Asian nations, some of which count on China for investment and aid.
“There was quite a lot of damage,” said Chen Bor-show, the director-general for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which functions as Taiwan’s de facto consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. Mr. Chen said that around 200 Taiwanese companies were affected. The recent moves by China — covering an area that stretches from Indonesia north to Japan — are part of what analysts see as an effort to create “facts” in the waters that leave China’s less powerful neighbors with few good options for pushing back. Taken together, the actions escalate a longstanding battle that has only deepened with China’s military and economic rise.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said 50 Korean-owned factories were damaged in the riots, and one South Korean citizen was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening. In Vietnam, the focus of anger was China’s decision to deploy an oil rig escorted by a flotilla of coast guard and other ships off the Vietnamese coast despite promises to settle territorial disputes by diplomacy.
Mr. San, the blogger, who uses the pen name Huy Duc, said that some of the workshops were very severely damaged. “It’s kind of a disaster zone,” he said. “Everyone is scared. There are hundred of factories that will have to close for weeks or months.” “It’s just this witches brew of aggrievement and nationalism,” Jonathan D. Pollack, who focuses on Asia at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said of the increasingly dangerous contests for control of the South China and East China Seas. “The only option is some sort of move toward shared development, but no one seems to be in the mood for that.”
Mr. San said the riots were a signal to Vietnam’s authoritarian government that workers needed avenues to express their grievances. Independent unions are banned in Vietnam. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the center of those conflicts was the factories in the gritty suburbs north of Ho Chi Minh City, where thousands of poor Vietnamese stitch name-brand sneakers and clothing for sale around the world. Vietnam’s blue-collar workers have expressed discontent over wages and conditions in the past, but in this case the spark was political.
“I don’t know whether the government recognizes the very important message that was sent from this province,” he said. “The government needs to do something to change their thinking and policy.” The plants, part of an influx of international investment in recent years, have contributed to more than two decades of uneven, but at times rapid economic growth.
Tran Van Nam, the vice chairman of Binh Duong Province, where the violence occurred, was quoted by a Vietnamese online news site, VNExpress, saying that around 19,000 workers were involved in the protests on Tuesday. Early Thursday, Nguyen Van Thong, a worker at an electronics plant he said was American-owned, said his fellow workers had been “angry over China’s invasion” when they began driving motorbikes through the streets, hurling gasoline-soaked rags into buildings. His electronics factory was spared, he said, only when guards trying to fend off an angry crowd pointed to the Vietnamese and American flags flying overhead.
Another provincial official, Tran Xuan Nam, said in a telephone interview late Wednesday that the situation there was “stable” and that 447 suspects had been detained. “We will restore order as soon as possible,” he said. Although Vietnam has been vehement in its opposition to the drilling rig and has in the past loosened tethers on anti-China sentiments, the protests appeared to rattle the authoritarian government, which is wary of unrest that could veer into calls for democracy. Initial press reports of the violence were scrubbed from the Internet hours later, leaving in their place articles that cited only peaceful protests.
Mr. Nam said that 20 factories had been “seriously destroyed.” He attributed the riots to “extremism,” but did not elaborate. The country’s leaders face difficult choices in how to respond to China’s latest challenge. Unlike Japan and the Philippines, Vietnam does not have a defense treaty with the United States, which has said it will stand by its allies. It is also more exposed to China’s growing assertiveness; a war, or even heightened conflict, could jeopardize the gains Vietnam has made in recent years after decades of occupation and fighting.
The Chinese Embassy in Hanoi issued a warning on Wednesday to Chinese citizens in Vietnam, urging them to “minimize unnecessary outings.” The Hong Kong government posted a travel alert, warning residents to “avoid protests and large gatherings of people.” But so far its efforts at diplomacy have failed. Vietnam tried bilateral negotiations with China, but the talk of sharing riches seemed hollow after China dispatched the oil rig without a warning. And Vietnam’s attempts to rally support among its fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations last weekend fell mostly flat, with the nine other countries in the regional bloc offering only a vague call for diplomacy in place of unilateral action.
The business effects of the riots were not immediately clear. The lack of good choices for holding off China might have contributed to the pent-up frustration released this week.
Yue Yuen, a Taiwan-based company that manufactures shoes for Nike, Adidas and other brands, said that it had given its workers in Vietnam the day off on Wednesday, and had not yet decided whether to reopen on Thursday, even though its factories were not damaged and none of its workers were injured. Jerry Shum, the company’s head of investor relations, said that Yue Yuen expected calm to return quickly to industrial districts in the country, and believed that it could still meet its monthly production targets. The marauding crowds appeared to take their greatest toll on Taiwanese and South Korean factories. The few workers and guards who remained in the streets, where the acrid odor of burned plastic lingered early Thursday, said they assumed rioters were at first confused about the factories’ ownership, then got caught up in indiscriminate looting.
Even so, the company’s shares, listed on the Hong Kong stock market, fell 4.95 percent in heavy trading on Wednesday. At one Taiwanese factory that had tried to ward off attack, a banner outside the ruined building read “No Chinese working here.” And in a stretch of the Vietnam Singapore industrial park, which includes investors from many countries, companies that hung signs in Chinese were destroyed or damaged, while nearby plants flying flags of other countries were mainly untouched.
As a measure of the scale of production in Vietnam and its importance to global trade, Yue Yuen made 313 million pairs of shoes last year, a third of them in Vietnam. “There was quite a lot of damage,” said Chen Bor-show, the director-general for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which functions as Taiwan’s de facto consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. Mr. Chen said that around 200 Taiwanese companies were affected. The South Korean Foreign Ministry said 50 Korean-owned factories were damaged in the riots, and one South Korean citizen was hospitalized.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the rioting and called on the demonstrators to “exercise self-control, don’t behave irrationally, damage Taiwanese factory equipment or threaten the safety of Taiwanese business people.” Further damage, the statement said, “could harm Taiwan’s willingness to invest, and harm the longstanding friendly relations between the people of Taiwan and Vietnam.” Tran Van Nam, the vice chairman of Binh Duong Province, where the violence occurred, was quoted by a Vietnamese online news site, VnExpress, saying that around 19,000 workers were involved in the protests.
Protests against China began on Monday along roads in the industrial suburb, according to a statement by the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park, one of the affected areas. It said that the protesters then singled out companies that were owned or managed by Chinese companies or Chinese expatriates. Mr. Nam said in a telephone interview late Wednesday that the situation was “stable” and that 447 suspects had been detained. “We will restore order as soon as possible,” he said.
A Vietnamese official said that some of the rioters had circulated through the industrial area on motorcycles. The Chinese Embassy in Hanoi issued a warning to Chinese citizens in Vietnam, urging them to “minimize unnecessary outings.”
The maritime dispute between China and Vietnam, the ostensible spark for the protests, began in early May when China towed a huge drilling rig to a spot in the South China Sea 140 miles off the coast of Vietnam and about 17 miles from a small coral atoll that is claimed by both countries. Each side sent ships and boats to the area, and there were several confrontations and collisions last week, with each side blaming the other. Yue Yuen, a Taiwan-based company that manufactures shoes for Nike, Adidas and other brands, said that it had given its workers the day off on Wednesday, and had not yet decided whether to reopen on Thursday, even though its factories were not damaged.
The war of words over the drilling rig continued on Wednesday. The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, criticized Vietnam for “dispatching a large number of ships to forcibly intervene and brutally ram” Chinese ships, and insisted that the drilling project was nothing new. “This operation was started 10 years ago,” Mr. Wang was quoted as saying in a statement posted online by the foreign ministry. Jerry Shum, the company’s head of investor relations, said that Yue Yuen believed that it could still meet its monthly production targets. Even so, the company’s shares, listed on the Hong Kong stock market, fell 4.95 percent in heavy trading on Wednesday.
As a measure of the scale of production in Vietnam, Yue Yuen made 313 million pairs of shoes last year, a third of them in Vietnam.
While Taiwanese, South Korean and other international companies have flocked to Vietnam for its relatively cheap labor, Chinese firms have been able to meet most of those needs at home.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the rioting and called on the demonstrators to “exercise self-control, don’t behave irrationally, damage Taiwanese factory equipment or threaten the safety of Taiwanese business people.”
The war of words between Vietnam and China continued on Wednesday. The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, criticized Vietnam for “dispatching a large number of ships to forcibly intervene and brutally ram” Chinese ships around the rig. Vietnam earlier accused Chinese ships of ramming the small armada it sent out to try to stop the rig, and photos showed Chinese coast guard ships training water cannons at Vietnamese vessels.
Workers at the Vietnam Singapore industrial park on Thursday seemed shocked by how quickly the protests had spiraled out of control.
One of them, a 23-year-old man, was slumped on the side of a road, covered in soot and bruised from what he described as police attempts to stop the violence and looting. He said was not involved, but was swept along by a crowd of about 150 workers on motorbikes who were shouting patriotic slogans.
As the police approached brandishing clubs, he said he frantically searched for a place to hide. He found one in one of the many factories that had been gutted by fire.