Washington: In the wake of recent deadly anti-Chinese violence in Vietnam, China has reportedly evacuated more than 3,000 of its citizens from the neighbouring country and is sending ships to bring back more of them.
Two Chinese citizens were killed and more than 100 others were injured in the violence that erupted last week over a territorial dispute between the two countries.
According to CNN and as reported by the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, the Ministry of Transport said that five Chinese ships will travel to Vietnam to help with the evacuation and one of the ships has already set off from the southern island province of Hainan.
Meanwhile, sixteen Chinese citizens, who were critically injured during the unrest triggered by Chinese oil drilling in disputed waters, were flown out of Vietnam on Sunday morning on a chartered medical plane organized by Chinese authorities.
After the protests turned deadly, the Vietnamese government started sending out a series of text messages to cell-phone users saying that prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung was urging people not to participate in illegal protests that cause public disorder and harm social safety.
As Chinese officials have repeatedly called on Vietnam to take action over the riots and protect Chinese citizens, the Vietnamese authorities have arrested hundreds of suspects and started legal proceedings against several of them, the report adds.
