Chinese ships evacuate 3,500 from Vietnam
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More than 3,500 Chinese citizens were evacuated from riot-hit Vietnam by sea as Hanoi stifled fresh protests over a territorial dispute and foreign investors counted the cost.
Passenger ships Wuzhishan, Tongguling, Zijing 12, and Baishiling collected a total of 3,553 Chinese nationals and headed home, China’s official news agency Xinhua reported.
The vessels, each with a capacity of about 1,000 people, had left the central Vietnamese port of Vung Ang and headed to the southern Chinese port city of Haikou, Xinhua added.
Relations between the communist neighbours have plummeted following Beijing’s move earlier this month to send a deep-water drilling rig into contested waters.
Two Chinese nationals were killed and about 140 injured when enraged mobs torched or damaged hundreds of foreign-owned businesses in Vietnam last week.
More than 3,000 Chinese have already returned home from Vietnam by sea and air, reports said at the weekend.
Authorities deployed hundreds of security personnel on Sunday to quell the violence and more than 300 suspected perpetrators are being prosecuted, Vietnamese officials said.
There were no reports of any further disturbances in Vietnam and Hanoi was calm, with authorities scaling back the heavy security presence that had blocked access to the Chinese embassy and other key points in the city.
Economist Nguyen Quang A said the government must move swiftly and decisively to restore confidence among foreign investors already complaining about corruption, bureaucracy, a lack of legal and regulatory transparency and other issues.
