Vietnam Riots Timeline of Vietnam and China tensions

by **Cals** Fri 16 May 2014, 02:20

Vietnam Riots Timeline of Vietnam and China tensions

Business & Markets 2014

Written by AFP

Thursday, 15 May 2014 20:13

HANOI (May 15): A boiling over of tensions between Hanoi and neighbouring giant China has left at least one Chinese worker dead in the worst anti-Beijing riots in decades in Vietnam.

The countries' longstanding territorial disputes over the South China Sea have been peppered by tit-for-tat barbs and occasional clashes.

Key dates over the years:
1974
January: China invades the Paracel Islands held by Washington-backed South Vietnam. Dozens of Vietnamese troops are left dead.

1975
April: Reunification of South and North Vietnam.

1979
February-March: The Sino-Vietnamese Border War breaks out after Hanoi invades neighbouring Cambodia and ousts the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge. Tens of thousands of lives are lost on both sides.

1988
March: Vietnam and China fight a naval battle on Johnson Reef in the Spratly Islands which killed around 70 Vietnamese.

1991
November: The two countries officially normalise ties

1999
December: A land boundary pact is inked

2000
December: Hanoi and Beijing sign a maritime boundary accord known as the Tonkin Gulf agreement

2011
June: Vietnam holds a live-fire drill in the South China Sea

2012
June: Hanoi passes a law claiming sovereignty over Paracel and Spratly islands, dismissing China's protests as "absurd". At around the same time, Beijing creates the administrative Sansha city in the Paracels, known in China as the Xisha islands.

2012
December: Anti-Beijing protests erupt in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City after claims that China had sabotaged a Vietnamese boat. Beginning in 2011, rallies were initially tolerated by Hanoi but later clamped down upon.

2012
November: Vietnamese immigration officers refuse to to stamp entry visas into new Chinese passports featuring a map laying claim to almost all of the South China Sea.

2013
March: China defends taking action against boats that enter its waters, after Hanoi accuses a Chinese vessel of attacking a Vietnamese fishing boat.

2014
May: Beijing deploys a deep-water drilling rig, along with a reported 70 vessels, into contested waters.

May: Hanoi accuses China of colliding with ships and firing water cannon. China in turn accuses Vietnam of ramming vessels.

May: The worst anti-Beijing riots erupt in decades in Vietnam, leaving at least one Chinese worker dead as China accuses Hanoi of acting in concert with protesters.