21 KILLED IN VIETNAM ANTI-CHINA PROTEST

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - At least five Vietnamese people and 16 others described as Chinese have been killed in the latest incident of rioting, Reuters news agency has reported, as tension between Beijing and Vietnam escalates over the disputed territory in the South China Sea.

Wednesday night's violence comes hours after mobs burned and looted a number of foreign-owned factories at industrial parks near the capital Ho Chi Minh City.  

The protests by workers are against China's recent placement of an oil rig in the disputed Southeast Asian waters. 

Vietnam has sent ships to confront the rig which are engaged in a tense standoff with Chinese vessels protecting it.

At least 20,000 workers began rioting in Binh Duong province on Tuesday. Smaller groups of men attacked factories they believed were Chinese-run, but many were Taiwanese or South Korean, the provincial government said in a statement.

"Today we got as close as 12 km to the oil rig, and Chinese forces reacted with many ships and followed us closely. 

At one point, five Chinese ships surrounded one of ours to stop us from getting close to the oil rig that is operating illegally in our territories," Colonel Phan Duy Cuong of the Vietnamese Coast Guard said.

Vietnam reacted angrily after China towed a deep-sea oil rig on May 1 close to the Paracel Islands, which are controlled by China but claimed by Hanoi. It sent a flotilla of vessels to try to disrupt the oil rig. 

Some of the Vietnamese boats clashed with Chinese ships sent to protect the rig, raising fears of a possible conflict. China has shown no signs of backing down, and accused Vietnam on Wednesday of "hyping'' the issue.

Source: Al Jazeera