Growth in the Vietnamese economy could slow in part because investors are growing wary of tensions surrounding a Chinese oil rig, an economic report said.
China National Offshore Oil Co. in early May dispatched a drilling rig to contested waters about 120 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam. Tempers flared with both sides accusing the other of acting provocatively in response to the deployment
A Chinese worker died in an attack on a Taiwanese-owned steel mill in Vietnam in mid-May, and 150 others were injured during anti-Chinese demonstrations.
An annual report published Thursday by the Vietnam Center for Economic and Policy Research finds Vietnam's economy is at risk from the oil rig tensions.
Vietnam's economy, which relies heavily on China, grew last year by 5.42 percent, though it could slow to around 4.2 percent because of the row, the report said.
"We must have short-, medium- and long-term solutions to deal with the situation," Nguyen Duc Thanh, policy director at the research center, said Thursday from Hanoi.
China says it's operating within its territory, a claim contested by the Vietnamese government.
The U.S. government has weighed in by saying it has no stance on sovereign claims to the region, but views Beijing as the aggressor.
