VietNamNet Bridge – Not only saying “no” to Chinese goods, Vietnamese have refused to serve Chinese clients and canceled tours to China to lodge their protests against the Chinese administration provoking activities on the East Sea.

“We will not serve Chinese until the Chinese government moves the HD-981 oil rig out of Vietnam’s sea,” a signboard at the reception desk at a 3-star hotel in the sea city of NhaTrang reads.

At a bar that serves mostly foreigners in NhaTrang, visitors can also see a similar notice board, saying that Chinese are not welcomed there, in Vietnamese, Chinese and English.

The owner of a painting shop on Hang Bac Street in Hanoi, where foreign travelers always come when visiting Hanoi, also said she has asked the salesmen not to serve Chinese.

A lawyer said on Giao Duc Vietnam that the service providers are not violating current laws, because they have the right to refuse to serve clients they don’t like.

On social networks, members have called on others to say “no” to “everything related to Chinese”: no low-cost Chinese smartphones, no Chinese clothes, electronics or household appliances, no Chinese films.

Tuoi Tre has reported a wave of Vietnamese cancelling tours to China. It quoted the director of a HCM City-based travel firm as saying that the “number of travelers booking tours to China has dropped dramatically”, while the firm is receiving clients’ calls for tour cancelations everyday.

Others did not cancel tours, but did not turn up at the airport to check in for the flights to Chinese cities.

However, observers have warned that many Vietnamese are going to extremes. “You can show your patriotism and your protest against the Chinese activities on the East Sea, but please do not fall into narrow-minded nationalism,” a Facebooker wrote. “Most of Chinese people love peace and have sympathy with Vietnam”.

A Chinese person who was seen at a demonstration on May 11 to protest the Chinese action of deploying the oil rig in Vietnamese waters said he feels sorry about the action, while calling on the Chinese administration to respect Vietnamese sovereignty.

Lao Dong reported that thousands of workers at Taiwanese- and Chinese-invested enterprises in Thuan An Town in Binh Duong Province have stayed off work to go on a protest march against China’s illegal actions.

Trade unions at the enterprises have called on the workers to calm down and act in a reasonable way. Chinese and Taiwanese investors in Vietnam are businessmen, not politicians. Once the factories cannot run, the investors will suffer. Moreover, the investors’ losses will bring losses to Vietnam’s economy and the workers themselves, because they would lose their jobs.

Commenting about the “Say no to Chinese goods” movement, Cao Sy Kiem, a well-known economist, said this is not the Vietnamese Communist Party’s nor the state’s policy, emphasizing that this is a movement spontaneously kindled by some groups of Vietnamese consumers.

The representative of a home appliance center has affirmed that the movement “Say no to Chinese goods” will in no way affect its business, because it does not sell Chinese goods.

“Chinese goods have low quality, therefore they are not available here,” he said.

Compiled by C. V