A maritime dispute between China and Vietnam has inspired protests in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. From BBC:
Hundreds of Vietnamese gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi on Sunday despite the blazing summer heat.
Wearing T-shirts with the red and yellow Vietnamese flag, they carried banners reading: “Down with China” and “Stop China’s invasion of Vietnam’s islands”.
The number of people joining the rally was even greater in Ho Chi Minh, where witnesses said numbers had exceeded 1,000.
[…] Vietnam has accused China of sending surveillance ships to harass and damage a Vietnamese oil exploration vessel “operating deep inside Vietnamese waters” on 26 May.
The Vietnamese government, criticised for a long time by the public for being passive and weak before China, responded strongly to the confrontation, calling it a “serious violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty”.
China blamed Vietnam, saying its oil and gas operations “undermined China’s interests and jurisdictional rights”.
Bloomberg reports on the role played by social media in organizing the protests, despite heavy Internet censorship in Vietnam:
The protests, announced on Facebook, blogs and chat forums, highlight growing tensions in the South China Sea as Vietnam, the Philippines and China are unable to agree on renewing joint exploration in the disputed area.
For the Vietnamese demonstrators, it was an unusual public opportunity to engage politically. Most said they heard about the protest on Facebook, which is routinely blocked in Vietnam. The marchers were often flanked by security police.
