Vietman asks China to remove oil rig
UNITED NATIONS – Vietnam’s U.N. ambassador urged China on Tuesday to withdraw its oil rig and more than 100 ships from the South China Sea to create “an environment” for negotiations on the disputed waters.
But Ambassador Le Hoai Trung said in an interview with The Associated Press that Beijing refuses to engage in dialogue and insists there is no dispute, claiming the area around the rig belongs to China.
The escalation in tensions is the most serious in years between Vietnam and its massive northern neighbor, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea.
China sent the rig into the disputed waters May 1, provoking a confrontation with Vietnamese ships, complaints from Hanoi and street protests that turned into bloody anti-Chinese riots.
Chile rejects proposal to build new dams
SANTIAGO, Chile – Chile’s government rejected an $8 billion proposal to dam Patagonian rivers to meet the country’s growing energy demands, handing a victory to environmentalists who praised Tuesday’s ruling as a landmark moment.
A ministerial commission rejected the HidroAysen plan, which would have tamed two of the world’s wildest rivers and built more than 1,000 miles of power lines to supply energy to central Chile.
After a three-hour meeting, Chile’s ministers of agriculture, energy, mining, economy and health voted unanimously to reject the project.
The project would have built five dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers in Aysen, a mostly roadless region of southern Patagonia.
Associated Press
