Posted on 23 Jul 2014
Vietnamese officials have ordered a
Taiwanese company to stop building a shrine at an economic zone in central
Vietnam to honour workers killed during riots in May, an official said
yesterday.
Several Chinese workers at Formosa Ha Tinh
Steel, a division ofTaiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, were killed
during the riots, which erupted following nationwide protests over the
deployment of a Chinese oil rig in waters Vietnam also claims.
More than 100 factories were damaged and
looted. The company is building a giant steel mill in Ha Tinh province.
"We have asked Formosa to halt the
construction of the shrine," said Vu Ngoc Thanh, a spokesman for the
management board of Ha TinhEconomic Zone.
The company received permission from the
management board of Ha TinhEconomic Zone on July 3 to build a shrine to pray
for the souls ofthe dead workers, newspaper Thanh Nien reported.
However, following a "public
outcry" over the decision, the provincial People's Committee last week
ordered construction to stop, thenewspaper said, quoting an official from the
committee.
In Vietnam shrines are usually built to
honour celebrated figures rom history or people deemed to have made important
contributions to the community.Thanh did not comment on why the board at first
gave permission for the shrine to be built.
