Vietnam protesters trash Chinese-owned firms amid South China Sea dispute

Anti-China mobs in Vietnam torched up to 15 Chinese-controlled factories and trashed many more in the southern part of Vietnam amid rising anger over China's recent placement of an oil rig in the disputed Southeast Asian waters.

The unrest at industrial parks established to attract foreign investors was the most serious outbreak of public disorder in the tightly controlled country in years. It points to the dangers for the government as it manages public anger at China and also protests itself against the Chinese actions in a part of the South China Sea it claims as its own.

The unrest began late on Tuesday at a Singapore-run industrial park and other establishments nearby, followed protests by up to 20,000 workers at the complexes in Binh Duong province.

Smaller groups attacked factories they believed were Chinese-run, but some were Taiwanese or South Korean, VnExpress website quoted Tran Van Nam, the deputy head of the province's people's committee, as saying.

This morning, groups of men on motorbikes remained on the streets and all the factories in the area were closed, said one park manager, who declined to give his name because of sensitivities of the developments. Riot police had been stationed around the area.

Another said many foreign-owned factories were putting banners on the gates of the factories saying, "We love Vietnam" and "Hoang Sa, Truong Sa - Vietnam," using Vietnamese terms for the Paracels and Spratlys Islands, island chains claimed by both Vietnam and China.

Nam said the protests Tuesday were initially peaceful but were hijacked by "extremists" who incited people to break into the factories. He said at least 15 factories were set alight and "hundreds" more vandalised or looted, while some security guards and unidentified "foreign experts" were assaulted.

China's foreign ministry has issued a travel advisory for Chinese citizens headed to or in Vietnam, asking them to "carefully consider travel plans and go with caution"; and for Chinese residents and organizations in Vietnam to "raise their risk awareness and strengthen security".

There are economic stakes for both countries if the standoff and tensions continue. China is Vietnam's biggest trading partner, exporting billions of dollars of raw materials each year for factories producing goods including clothes, shoes and smartphones as well as cheap consumer goods. Beijing is increasingly becoming an important investor in the country. In 2013 it invested $2.3 billion, a sharp rise on the previous year.