Vietnam government slams 'plot' against state amid sea spat

Jul 7, 2011, 11:46 GMT

Hanoi - The Vietnamese government on Thursday accused the banned political group Viet Tan of 'taking advantage' of a dispute with China to 'plot' against the state.

'Viet Tan always takes advantage of arising situations to disrupt the great unity of Vietnam,' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said, adding 'all their plots and actions have failed.'

Tensions with China rose after Vietnam accused its neighbour of harassing the crew of seismic survey ships and fishing boats in a contested area of the South China Sea, including the potentially mineral-rich Spratly islands.

Nga lauded the 'spirit of responsibility of the press' regarding a report published Saturday in Saigon Giai Phong, a newspaper run by the Communist Party in Ho Chi Minh City, which accused Viet Tan of playing 'the China card' to cause unrest.

The report said a member of the group, Tran Thi Thuy, was given banners and t-shirts with the slogan 'Truong Sa [Spratly]- Hoang Sa [Paracel]- Vietnam' to use in demonstrations.

Thuy, a land rights activist, was given an eight-year jail term in May for 'attempting to overthrow the government'.

In a recent interview with the German Press Agency dpa, Viet Tan member and US citizen Nguyen Quoc Quan said the dispute with China shone a useful light on the government's shortcomings.

'The issue of China is a good opportunity to see clearer the government is unfit to lead the country,' he said.

In the face of strong public anti-China sentiment at home, the government has allowed small protests to take place outside the Chinese embassy in the capital for five consecutive weekends.

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