HANOI, Vietnam – Hundreds of Vietnamese have launched protests against China for the third straight week amid escalating tensions in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, where both countries recently conducted live-fire military drills.
About 300 people gathered Sunday near the Chinese Embassy in the capital, Hanoi, and marched through the streets yelling “Down with China,” demanding that their powerful northern neighbor stay out of Vietnam’s territory.
Protests are rare in Vietnam and are typically quashed quickly by security forces, but Hanoi has allowed the demonstrations to go on for the past three Sundays.
Relations between the communist neighbors have hit a low point after two incidents in the past month involving clashes between Chinese and Vietnamese boats in the South China Sea.