According to an announcement by the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration of China, the drilling work of the Hai Yang Shi You 981 would last from May 2 to August 15, 2014.

The standoff is regarded by analysts as the most serious development in the territorial disputes between the two countries ever since the Johnson South Reef Skirmish in 1988 in which 64 Vietnamese soldiers were killed.

The Vietnamese have claimed to had knowledge of the Hoang Sa Islands long before Westerners arrived to the South China Sea and publicised the name of "Paracels" internationally.

[8] Since the normalisation of Sino-Vietnamese relations in 1991, China and Vietnam have improved mechanisms to manage border disputes, which should be seen as a progressive move in the region.

[10] The oil rig moved several more times, but in general stayed 17 nautical miles south of the Paracels, within the two countries' overlapping exclusive economic zones.

On May 26, a Vietnamese fishing boat sank near the oil rig after being rammed by a Chinese vessel; the incident was shown by a video footage from Vietnam a week later.

[7] Businesses owned by foreign investors from China, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and South Korea were subjected to vandalism and looting due to the confusion by protesters who believed the establishments to be Chinese.

[14][15] However, the scale and extent to which the riots played out have also caused commenters to highlight the contributing factor of growing discontent among Vietnam's rapidly-growing industrial workforce.

Analysts have suggested that the riots, which occurred predominantly in industrial parks and have targeted both Chinese and non-Chinese factories, were influenced by several factors.

[11]: 3  Following which, other foreign plants belonging to American, German, Taiwan and South Korean companies were also vandalised and attacked, with several factories burnt down overnight.

Consequently, other foreign factories in these industrial zones were forced to close, resulting in a significant drop in profits and a decline of investor confidence in Vietnam's international image and the government's ability to ensure domestic stability.

In the case of the industrial riots in Vietnam, anti-China sentiment was also conflated with grievances among Vietnamese workers, who believe that they were exploited and subjected to harsh working conditions imposed by their foreign employers.

These grievances have fueled a growing divide between the Vietnamese state and the general public, further eroding the people's trust and confidence in the government.

Vietnamese leaders have hailed the early withdrawal of the Chinese oil rig as a victory and thanked the international community for its support.

[19] The oil rig crisis has called into question the efficacy of dispute management strategies with respect to the South China Sea.

Furthermore, while China withdrew the oil rig one month earlier than its planned date, Beijing's statement on the completion of the drilling operation has suggested that the decision was not a result of effective Sino-Vietnamese engagement.

[60] The oil rig crisis has surfaced cracks in the public's confidence towards the Vietnamese government's ability to take a hard line approach in its policy towards China.