China today reportedly sought Indonesian mediation to help calm escalating tensions with Vietnam over the South China Sea dispute as thousands of angry Vietnamese torched several Chinese projects to protest attempts by a Chinese oil rig to drill in the disputed waters.
Anti-China protests turned violent in Binh Duong province, some 1,120 kms south of Vietnamese capital Hanoi with a number of foreign factories coming under attack, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported from Hanoi.
Thousands of protesters broke into foreign plants wrecking and looting the sites. Fifteen factories were burnt down while over 1,000 others were shut down, the report said.
Most of the factories belong to China's Taiwan-invested companies, the Xinhua report said.
The BBC quoted an official of the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) as saying that some of the factories were targeted after workers had left.
The violence was more widespread, with several factories targeted, the report said.
The protests broke out as scores of Vietnamese and Chinese naval vessels rammed into each other over attempts by the Chinese oil rig to drill in the waters of the South China Sea, claimed by both countries.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here today that Vietnamese vessels rammed into Chinese ships 169 times yesterday.
Beijing has lodged diplomatic protests over attacks on Chinese factories and initiated emergency measures to protect Chinese nationals working in Vietnam, she said.
She accused Vietnam of bringing mediapersons on ships to see Vietnamese vessels ramming into Chinese ships in order to hype up the tensions.
"This is an orchestrated campaign by Vietnamese side to hype up this issue," Hua said.
"We urge the Vietnamese side to come back to senses and stop disruptions and rallies," she said reiterating claims of sovereignty over the area.
She said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi today spoke to his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa over the phone explaining China's stand on the current round of tensions with Vietnam over the dispute.
Wang spoke to Natalegawa in the back drop of the ASEAN foreign ministers just concluded meeting in Myanmar where they called for easing of tensions in the South China Sea.
Indonesia, an influential member of the ASEAN which has no maritime disputes with China has played the role of mediator in the past between China and some of the countries from the bloc and could do so again this time, China's state-run CCTV reported.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, all members of ASEAN, have disputes with China which claims almost the entire South China Sea.
