In pictures: Vietnam-China rig row
- Published

Anti-China tensions have been running high in Vietnam over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

The row began when China moved a drilling rig (seen here in an image from May 2012) into disputed waters west of the Paracel Islands, which Beijing and Hanoi both say belong to them.

Government ships from the two nations then collided on multiple occasions and exchanged water cannon fire amid efforts by Vietnam to block the installation of the rig.

Following the clashes at sea, hundreds of Vietnamese people joined anti-China protests in Hanoi in May.

The protests turned violent, spreading to two industrial parks in southern Vietnam, where angry demonstrators burnt at least 15 factories and damaged hundreds more.

No casualties were reported but officials said several hundred people were arrested.

A day later, protests spread to a Taiwan-owned steel mill in central Vietnam. At least two people died and almost 150 others were injured as protesters attacked the plant.

Following the protests, China called on Vietnamese authorities to protect its citizens, but some Chinese nationals left the country to escape the violence. This picture shows Chinese nationals at Tan Son Nhat airport waiting to depart Ho Chi Minh City in May.

Despite the protests, China said it would continue its drilling work and could not "afford to lose an inch" of territory in the South China Sea.

But in mid-July, however, China said that its rig had finished drilling work and would be removed. Vietnamese officials then confirmed the rig was moving out of the area towards China's Hainan island.
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