Politburo member Le Hong Anh's visit to China today is aimed at preventing a repeat of the tense East Sea incidents earlier this year, Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Le Hai Binh said yesterday.

VietNamNet columnist Viet Lam spoke with Prof. James Dale Bindenagel, former US Ambassador to Germany, and Dr. Nguyen Hong Son, Deputy Director of the Institute for the East Sea Studies, about China’s rise and Vietnam’s choices.

 Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh has slammed China’s recent decision to publish a book on its unjustifiable ‘nine-dotted line’ claim in the East Sea, declaring it illegal and null and void.

Vietnamese enterprises that export rice to China across the border have said that China, as expected, has prohibited rice imports from Vietnam through unofficial channels. However, they say this will not affect the domestic market.

 Vietnam has repeatedly asserted its undisputable sovereignty over the two archipelagoes-Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly).

 Almost 600 people are now known to have died in the earthquake that hit Yunnan province on Sunday, officials say.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Many Japanese investors are now leaving China due to political problems, which is seen as a golden opportunity for Vietnam to grab them, economists say.

 China has sent 2,500 soldiers to the southwest province of Yunnan after an earthquake killed hundreds of people.

 VietNamNet Bridge - There are five scenarios for the East Sea dispute in the next 10 years.

Under international law, the fact that the Nguyen Dynasty or the French colonialists did not regularly or positively exercise sovereignty in Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) does not mean that Vietnam gives up its sovereignty over this archipelago.

 VietNamNet Bridge – World-famous shoe and handbag brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma and Timberland are transferring the bulk of their orders to Vietnam to avoid risks in China.

 The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) has severe reservations about China's actions which have adversely impacted the international situation, said IADL President Jeanne Mirer on a recent working visit to Vietnam.

 In this article, we provides readers with historical and legal evidence of Vietnam ’s sovereignty over the two archipelagoes as well as the true nature of China ’s so-called ‘proof’.

 VietNamNet Bridge – As a large country, China has used coercion and made threats to use force to wage war against a small country, according to Lawyer Le Thanh Son.

Travel agencies have re-started chartered flights to transport travelers from China to the central coast city of Danang after months of interruption due to tensions in the East Sea sparked by China’s illegal deployment of a giant oil rig

 Chinese branches of fast food chains, including McDonald's and KFC, have stopped using meat from a supplier in Shanghai following allegations it sold them out of date meat.

 VietNamNet Bridge – After one day and one night running at full speed, without any GPS devices, 13 fishermen from the central provinces of Quang Binh and Quang Ngai on July 16 returned to their homeland safely.

VietNamNet would like to introduce to our readers an article about conflicts in the South and East China Sea by the former U.S. Ambassador to Germany James D. Bindenagel, published on the US-based Boston Global Forum.

 The US welcomes China's declaration on its removal of the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 from the position near Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago to an area near China’s Hainan Island.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), responding to the public’s severe criticism about electricity imports from China, said that the purchases were needed to ensure domestic demand.