Police in Vietnam reportedly arrested hundreds of people after nationalist rampages against factories in Ho Chi Minh City’s industrial tracts and in an adjacent province.  The rioting grew out of a massive protest against China’s efforts to wrest control of the South China Sea from Vietnam and its neighbors. 

But in their rage, the Vietnamese workers attacked factories that weren’t owned by Chinese investors.  In one stunningly ironic case, one factory was spared only when it flew the American and Vietnamese flags outside to tell protesters that Beijing couldn’t be found inside.

According to Binh Duong provincial police, the offices of more than 460 local companies had been vandalized.  Dozens of factories were torches, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage and threatening the jobs of the employees.  Almost 600 people were arrested there, according to a General quoted in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thanh Nien Newspaper.  100 more were arrested in Dong Nai Province.

The Vietnamese are upset over China’s unilateral decision to claim exclusive rights to the South China Sea, most of which isn’t even near China’s coastline.  China deployed an oilrig with a coast guard escort off the Vietnamese coast, despite promises to settle territorial disputes by diplomacy.

Vietnam and the Philippines have sought to organize their neighbors against Beijing’s expansionist moves.  But they’re not finding much support, as some of thpse countries welcome Chinese investment or economic aid.