Friday, May 16, 2014

Filipinos Join Vietnamese Anti-China Protests


Filipino activists and Vietnamese nationals display placards and chant anti-China slogans as they march outside the
Chinese Consulate in Manila's Makati financial district, May 16, 2014.

Filipinos and Vietnamese residents in the Philippines have staged a joint protest against China's incursions into South China Sea territories claimed by their countries.

More than 100 protesters picketed the Chinese consulate Friday in the capital, Manila, demanding that China stop oil drilling in waters claimed by Vietnam.

Chinese and Vietnamese ships have been locked in a standoff since China deployed an oil rig last month in a part of the South China Sea that Vietnam claims is within its exclusive economic zone. The two sides have attacked each other with water cannons, raising fears of an armed military clash.

Manila is protesting Chinese land reclamation on a reef that it says is Philippine territory.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told the Chinese military's chief of staff, General Fang Fenghui, in Washington Thursday that Beijing's actions in the South China Sea are dangerous and provocative. Biden told Fang that China must not undermine security and peace.

The dispute has led to anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam, including a riot at a Taiwanese steel plant that killed a Chinese worker and injured 149 other people.

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