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And Now for Something Completely Different, Part II

In recent news, China and Vietnam entered into what was the most outwardly aggressive tussle in the last 13 years. If you didn't catch it, you can read more here. I wrote about the conflict between China and its Asian neighbors before, but I wanted to revisit the issue, this time with more of a focus on Vietnam. The situation is a lot less tense now, but feelings are still hot around the city.

A Chinese Coast Guard ship using a water cannon to spray a Vietnamese police boat. The Chinese initially denied such actions, but later claimed responsibility. 
A Chinese coast guard vessel (R) rams a Vietnamese marine police boat to protect an oil rig China towed into Vietnam's territorial waters in the South China Sea. Credit: Tuoi Tre
I took a trip to Mui Ne recently and saw this little guy moored in a marina close by my friend's house. Note the covered machine gun mounted on the bow of the ship.
The kids here are exposed to propaganda-like signs regarding the ownership of the island pretty early on. This sign is mounted in the quad of one of the primary schools that I teach at. The irony of it is that this sign calls for people to make donations to the cause by texting the number on the board.
I saw this sign on the way back from Mui Ne. I don't understand the logic of reminding people that the Paracel and Spratley Islands are Vietnam's on a dirt road people use to travel home from vacation.
There was, of course, an explosion of posts on Facebook in response to the event. On the more subtle and conservative side, people were encouraging Vietnamese patriotism.
Others on Facebook called for action. As you might guess, this sign calls for the boycotting of goods made in China.
I saw this picture a lot as people's profile pictures. This is another subtle patriotic picture that can roughly be translated as, "look towards the Eastern Sea."
Others were a lot less subtle in their response to China's actions.
There was plenty of derogatory and racist language being used in the comment sections.

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