AppleInsider Staff
Apple's chief manufacturing partner, Foxconn, has been forced to shut down its operations in Vietnam for three days due to anti-China protests over oil drilling.
China recently started drilling for oil near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, a chain of islands controlled by the People's Republic of China, but claimed by Vietnam as well as Taiwan. Dispute over ownership of the islands has prompted protesters in Vietnam to ransack factories near Ho Chi Minh City.
Violence already forced manufacturers associated with shoemakers Nike and Adidas, as well as Walmart, to halt productions. And now, as a cautionary measure, Foxconn has done the same, according to the Financial Times.
In a statement, Foxconn said it has done so to "ensure the safety" of its employees. Foxconn workers in Vietnam have been instructed to take a three-day leave of absence starting Saturday.
At least 21 people are said to have been killed thus far in the violence.
Foxconn is Apple's chief supplier and assembler, responsible for the lion's share of production of devices like the iPhone and iPad. It's unknown how much of Foxconn's Apple-related production is accomplished in Vietnam.
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Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
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36 Comments
China needs to get the h*ll out of Vietnam! How dare they invade Vietnam's waters and steal Vietnam's property. I don't support violence, but what's happening in the past decade where China decides to steal the paracel islands from Vietnam had prompted many Vietnamese from both the homeland and overseas to protest. I'm glad the citizens are finally doing something about it. It's time the Chinese get their greedy rear end out of Vietnam and leave its people alone.
Please help the people of this small country protect its territory... https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/put-sanctions-china-invading-vietnam-territory-deployment-oil-rig-haiyang-981/p2b7Rnnv
Wow, I could see this one coming. Just knew that the ugly head of politics, and not without bias, would find its way into the comments. "Please help the people of this small country protect its territory... " The Americans have already tragically heeded a similar plea for help once before, and at great cost, beginning in the early 1960s. Part of me wants to say, "not this time".
Shouldn't the last sentence read, "It's unknown IF ANY of Foxconn's Apple-related production is accomplished in Vietnam." As written it's deceptively implying that at least some production for Apple is affected by this factory closure which isn't publicly known at all.
This is protests about oil drilling -- and it likely spilled over to disrupt more than FoxConn.
FoxConn has .9 million workers and they manufacture electronics for almost everyone. How does Apple own everything that is going down in that country now?
The next Flu virus will of course be involved with the iPhone 6. When will Apple stop?