|
(Continued from page 23)
On high seas, Vietnam and China ships square off in front on hulking oil rig
• ABOARD VIETNAMESE COAST GUARD SHIP 4033 (AP) -- Each day the Vietnamese ships tried to get close to the rig. And each day they were driven back by the much larger Chinese ships.
• But before they sped away, laboring engines spewing black smoke, the Vietnamese delivered a message: "Attention! Attention! We are warning you about your provocative act," blasted out a recording from a loudspeaker in Vietnamese, Chinese and English. "We demand you respect Vietnam's sovereignty. Please immediately halt your activities and leave Vietnamese waters."
• Occasionally colliding with or firing water cannons at each other, Vietnamese and Chinese ships have been shadow boxing in a sun-dazzled patch of the South China Sea since May 1, when Beijing parked a hulking, $1 billion deep sea oil rig, drawing a furious response from Vietnam.
• Vietnam, ten times smaller than its northern neighbor and dependent on it economically, needs all the help it can get in the dispute. Its leaders believe international opinion is on their side. This week they invited foreign journalists to get a closer look at the standoff, the most serious escalation between the countries in years over their overlapping claims.
• Vietnam is determined to defend what it regards as its sovereign territory against China, which insists that most of the South China Sea -- including the Paracel Islands it took from U.S.-backed South Vietnam in 1974 -- belongs to it. But Hanoi lacks options in dealing with Beijing, as China uses it burgeoning economic and military might to press its claims in the seas.
• ___
$35M government fine closes one chapter of GM recall saga, but lawsuits, DOJ probe still loom
• DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors' agreement to pay a $35 million federal fine for concealing defects in small-car ignition switches and to give the government greater oversight of its safety procedures closes one chapter of the automaker's recall saga. But it's far from over.
• Besides agreeing to pay the penalty -- the largest ever assessed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- GM admitted that it broke the law by failing (Continued on page 25)
|
|
