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On July 28 Taiwanese media reported that Vietnam had allowed the display of the Taiwanese flag in one of its industrial zones.  Kaiser 1 Furniture Industry, a Taiwanese-owned company based in My Phuoc industrial park , in southern Vietnam's Binh Duong province, had allegedly received permission from local authorities to fly the flag of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) to distinguish itself from Chinese businesses.  After violent anti-China protests broke out in Vietnam in 2014, Taiwanese businesses were attacked by demonstrators, who mistook them for Chinese. In order to protect themselves in case of riots, Taiwanese firms requested to be allowed to fly their own flag. Last month Luo Tzu-wen, chairman of Kaiser Furniture, told Taiwanese media that he had been permitted to fly the Taiwanese flag.  Embed from Getty Images At a press conference held on July 30 Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for China 's Foreign Ministry, objected to Vietnam's move. "Ther...

In 2014 anti-China riots erupted in Vietnam , resulting in over a dozen casualties. Thousands of demonstrators burnt and ransacked factories which they believed to be Chinese property.  The protests were sparked by a diplomatic incident following Beijing 's announcement on May 3 that it was planning to move its first deep-water drilling rig into a location 240 kilometers (150 miles) off Vietnam’s coast, an area which both countries claim as part of their territory. On May 4 a spokesperson for Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry criticized the move, saying that the oil rig was within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. “All activities of foreign countries in Vietnam’s waters without Vietnam’s permission are illegal and worthless," he stated.  Embed from Getty Images Many Vietnamese were furious about what they perceived as Chinese aggression. Both China and Vietnam are Communist dictatorships. However, in the wake of market-oriented reforms nation...