Foxconn shuts down manufacturing sites in Vietnam due to protests

Foxconn’s six manufacturing sites in Vietnam won’t be assembling iPhones and iPads this weekend — or anything else, for that matter. The Taiwan-based electronics supplier, which manufactures gadgets for Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, and others, is suspending operations in Vietnam for at least three days due to violent anti-China protests, reports the Financial Times. China’s contentious oil drilling near the Paracel Islands spurred the protests in Vietnam. China controls the chain of islands in the South China Sea, but Vietnam and Taiwan have also claimed them as their own.

The Vietnamese protesters are angry about China’s deployment of an oil rig into waters that both countries claim as sovereign territory. Protesters were torching factories in a southern Vietnamese industrial park this week, with reports saying that Chinese firms were targeted but other foreign-owned businesses also suffered damage. Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer best known for producing Apple iPhones and iPads, confirmed that it would shut operations for the next three days. “Foxconn has taken measures to ensure the safety of our employees following recent developments in Vietnam,” the company said in a statement. Relations between China and Vietnam soured last week when a Chinese platform began drilling for oil near the Paracel Islands, which are also called the Xisha Islands by China.