STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 16 May 2014

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7. U.S. warns China its actions in sea disputes are straining relations

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/16/uk-vietnam-china-idUKKBN0DW03F20140516

(Reuters) - Anti-China violence subsided in Vietnam on Friday after the prime minister called for calm, but the United States said China's "provocative" actions in maritime disputes were dangerous and had to stop.

Thousands of people attacked businesses and factories in Vietnam's industrial parks earlier in the week, targeting Chinese workers and Chinese-owned businesses after Beijing parked an oil rig in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Hanoi. Many Taiwanese-owned firms bore the brunt because the crowds believed they were owned by mainland Chinese.

The riots risk derailing a major driver of the country's economic growth - industrial parks account for more than 30 percent of Vietnam's exports and have attracted around $110 billion in foreign direct investment.

The Vietnamese government has said one person was killed in the rioting on Tuesday and Wednesday night, but a doctor at a hospital near one area of clashes said he had seen 21 dead bodies and that at least 100 people were wounded.