December 15, 2007
They urged the Vietnamese government to stand up for their people
WESTMINSTER – About 200 people crowded the sidewalk at a busy intersection in Little Saigon today protesting the actions of the Chinese and Vietnamese governments involving a decades-long debate over who owns a cluster of islands in the South China Sea.
Several Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, claim ownership over the Paracel and Spratly Islands – a cluster of more than 200 islands said to be rich in oil and gas deposits.
A recent move by the Chinese government to include three of these islands to form a Chinese county has sparked protest here and in Vietnam, said Dung Tran, Southern California Chairman of the Vietnam Reform Party.
The three islands China has “taken” have historically belonged to Vietnam although it has been a subject of debate for decades, he said.
“The Communist government in Vietnam is subordinating itself to China and not looking out for the interests of the people of Vietnam,” Tran said.
However, the Associated Press reports that Vietnam’s Communist party criticized China’s military exercises on the Paracel Islands last month through its newspaper Nhan Dan.
On Saturday, protesters on Bolsa Avenue burned Chinese and Communist flags.
Mai Nguyen, who fled the communist regime in 1975, said the recent developments are saddening.
“Vietnam is a piece of our heart and when someone invades our soil, we have to show how we feel about that,” she said.
This afternoon, protesters are expected to leave in buses from Little Saigon to continue the protest outside the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, organizers said.
Similar protests are also planned in San Francisco.
By DEEPA BHARATH
http://www.ocregister.com/news/vietnam-chinese-islands-1943406-china-communist