Anti-China demonstration engulfs Hanoi

Hanoi: Several hundred Filipino and Vietnamese protesters united in a march in the Philippine capital on Friday, demanding that China stop oil drilling in disputed South China Sea waters. Filipino riot police blocked the entrance to a high-rise building that houses the Chinese consulate in Manila's financial district as around 200 protesters marched on the office.

The street action, which remained peaceful, came after deadly riots in Vietnam that Hanoi said were triggered by China’s deployment of a deep-sea oil rig in a part of the South China Sea.

The protesters, some wearing green cardboard cut-outs of turtle shells, carried placards that read “Vietnam-Philippines join hands to kick off China”,

Two Chinese citizens have been killed in the anti-China violence that has hit Vietnam and more than 100 injured, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

“The Chinese government pays high attention and expresses serious concern about the violence in Vietnam,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing. “We will continue to launch solemn representations through various channels”.

Also, a state-run Chinese newspaper backed the use of “non-peaceful” measures against Vietnam and the Philippines on Friday, as it considered the possibility of war in the strategically vital South China Sea.

“The South China Sea disputes should be settled in a peaceful manner, but that doesn’t mean China can't resort to non-peaceful measures in the face of provocation from Vietnam and the Philippines,” the Global Times newspaper, which often takes a nationalistic tone, wrote in an editorial.

“Many people believe that a forced war would convince some countries of China’s sincerely peaceful intentions,” the newspaper added.