In pictures: Vietnam-China rig row

Workers hold banners, which read, "Please protest in the right way" and "We are looking at soldiers on islands, and the Paracels and the Spratlys belong to Vietnam", during a protest in an industrial zone in Binh Duong province on 14 May, 2014 — Image caption,
Anti-China tensions have been running high in Vietnam over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

In this file photo taken on 7 May, 2012 and released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Haiyang Shiyou 981 owned by China's state-run CNOOC oil company, is pictured at 320 km (200 miles) southeast of Hong Kong 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.

A Chinese coastguard vessel (L) uses water cannon on a Vietnamese Sea Guard ship on the South China Sea near the Paracels islands, in this handout photo taken on 4 May, 2014 and released by Vietnam Marine Guard on 8 May, 2014

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.

Protesters hold anti-China placards while marching in an anti-China protest on a street in Hanoi on 11 May, 2014

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

People gather around fire fighters working at the main entrance of Tan Than Industries as the Taiwanese bicycle factory burns in Di An Town, Binh Duong province, Vietnam, on Wednesday, 14 May, 2014

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

Commuters drive past as riot police stand guard outside a burning factory building in the Vietnamese southern province of Binh Duong on 14 May, 2014

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

Damaged motorcycles are seen on the road near a Formosa steel mill in Ha Tinh province on 15 May, 2014

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.

Chinese nationals wait for departure at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on 15 May, 2014

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.

People's Liberation Army of China Chief of the General Staff Gen. Fang Fenghui speaks at a joint press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey following a bilateral meeting at the Pentagon on 15 May, 2014 in Arlington, Virginia

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.

Crewmen aboard Vietnam coastguard ship 8003 look at a Chinese navy frigate on a screen, in disputed waters close to the Haiyang Shiyou 981, known in Vietnam as HD-981, oil rig in the South China Sea on 15 July, 2014

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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