{"id":125984,"date":"2011-08-07T23:55:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T06:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=123072"},"modified":"2011-08-07T23:55:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T06:55:17","slug":"anti-china-protests-continue-in-vietnam-despite-police-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/08\/anti-china-protests-continue-in-vietnam-despite-police-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-China Protests Continue in Vietnam, Despite Police Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"
With tension lingering over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Vietnamese authorities issue defiant warnings on one hand while trying to contain public anti-Chinese sentiment on the other. Reuters reports on the police response to persistent anti-China protests<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n Up to 200 people singing patriotic songs, carrying banners and flags and chanting slogans drew stares from bemused tourists and honks of approval from motorists as they filed around Hoan Kiem Lake.<\/p>\n How much longer protesters will be allowed to hold rallies on a sensitive issue – accusations that China violates Vietnam’s sovereignty in the South China Sea – is unclear.<\/p>\n Demonstrations are rare and normally snuffed out swiftly in Vietnam. Similar anti-China protests in Ho Chi Minh City, which drew more than 1,000 people, were shut down by police in June ….<\/p>\n The apparent attempt by police to forcibly end the demonstrations backfired when video on YouTube of a demonstrator being kicked in the face by an undercover policeman while being hauled onto a bus sparked an outcry online.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, the defence minister offered a pointed reminder of the navy’s 2009 order for six Russian submarines<\/a>, intended to bolster Vietnam’s presence in the South China Sea<\/strong><\/a>. From the AFP:<\/p>\n “In the coming five to six years, we will have a submarine brigade with six Kilo 636-Class subs,” Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh was quoted as saying by the state-controlled Tuoi Tre newspaper.<\/p>\n Thanh said the fleet was “definitely not meant as a menace to regional nations,” according to the report.<\/p>\n “Buying submarines, missiles, fighter jets and other equipment is for self-defence,” he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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