VietNamNet would like to give our readers a panorama of the East Sea tensions in the last two months, since China began deploying its HD-981 oil rig in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, through the following video clip.

 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an international press conference in Hanoi on June 16 to clarify China’s wrongful, groundless allegations of the current situation in the East Sea made on June 13 and provided fresh developments.

 The legal ramifications and motivation for China’s illegal placement of its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 in the East Sea was the topic that captured major attention of international and Vietnamese scholars.

 A Vietnam Fishing Surveillance Department ship was deliberately rammed and seriously damaged by two Chinese ships illegally operating in Vietnamese waters on June 23.

 The so-called “U-shaped” line China has drawn by itself in the East Sea as well as its recent moves are the main causes of the complicated and tense situation in the region.

 Professor Carlyle Thayer from the Australian University of New South Wales has suggested that China’s illegal placement of Haiyang Shiyou-981 inside Vietnam’s territorial waters should be referred to the UN Security Council for discussion.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese media can and should effectively expose China's territorial claims in the East Sea and its placement of an oil rig in Vietnamese waters as blatantly illegal acts, a senior official said on June 21.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Engineers have warned against the use of Chinese-made engines in steel fishing boats that are to be built under a VND10 trillion national program.

On the sidelines of the international conference on Hoang Sa (Paracel), Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands in Da Nang on June 20-21, domestic and foreign scholars expressed their concerns over China's deployment of more oil rigs in the East Sea.

 Hundreds of Vietnamese nationals, students and international friends marched along the streets of the Swiss capital Bern, on June 21, opposing China’s escalating violations in the East Sea.

 The domestic media has done a good job of covering the latest developments in the East Sea, especially since China towed its illegal oil rig Haiyang Shiyou – 981 in Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone in early May.

 Professor Renato DeCastro from Manila-based De La Salle University has said that by deploying the second oil rig [Nanhai 9] to the East Sea, China has put the Philippines and Vietnam in the same boat.

 VietNamNet Bridge – China's act of locating its oil rig in waters near the Paracels is more than a dispute over sovereignty, it is also a dispute about the international law of the sea.

Professor Carlyle A. Thayer – a renowned expert on the East Sea from the Australian Defence Force Academy – stands in staunch opposition to the recent claims by two purported Chinese scholars that China’s sovereignty claims are legitimate.

 VietNamNet Bridge – National Assembly (NA) deputy Truong Trong Nghia on Thursday requested the NA to issue, on behalf of the Vietnamese people, a separate resolution on the East Sea situation.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The "oil rig" crisis in the East Sea has had the world concerned by daily footage of clashes and confrontation between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels.

 The Mexico-Vietnam Cooperation and Friendship Institute (ICAMV) has called on China to fully commit to agreements it signed with Vietnam and international organisations, in order to settle the East Sea dispute peacefully.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam should sue China for misinterpreting and misusing the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, using force to possess another country’s territory, and violating the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnam.

Viet Nam and regional countries should raise world alarm about China's nine-dash claim to much of the East Sea, retired French general Daniel Schaeffer told reporters yesterday.

China's illegal placement of its oil rig in Vietnam's waters is raising world indignation. President Truong Tan Sang has quoted an ancient Vietnamese King's words as an indication that the nation will never ease up on the issue.