The on-going tension on the East Sea following China's illegal placement of an oil rig inside Vietnam's exclusive economic zone has been included into this year’s high school graduation literature exam. An insight by the English-language news website dtinews.vn.

In the reading and comprehension part of the test, there was a small paragraph taken from a newspaper's article, which can be literally translated as follows:

"Since early May, China has illegally placed an oil rig inside Vietnam's exclusive economic zone. China has even sent many ships to block Vietnamese law enforcement ships, violating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. More than ever before, 90 million Vietnamese people and over 4 million Vietnamese overseas turn towards the East Sea for the updated information around the oil rig. Vietnam has strongly opposed the Chinese incursions and affirmed the determination for the national sovereignty protection."

Besides a grammatical question, students are requested to write a short paragraph to express their attitude about Chinese illegal actions.

Many students have said that this question is very interesting and they could do it very easily.

Student Le Tuan Tu from Ham Rong High School in Thanh Hoa province said that he likes the literature test of this kind very much. "Everyday, I watch TV for updated information about the oil rig, so I understand this really well," Tuan said. "I did the test quite well."

Another student named Le Van Tuan from Ly Thuong Kiet High School said that many students can do this question easily as it is a really hot issue.

After the 120-minute literature test, many students in Nghe An province felt very excited as they completed the answers quite well. Most of them liked the East Sea question.

Many students said they did not feel surprised at the East Sea question as this is currently a matter of public concern, and that students should show their patriotism in a proper way.

Hoang Ngoc Anh from Viet-Duc High School in Hanoi said in his answer he called on Vietnamese people to be patient, take peaceful measures and be careful with the Chinese tricks.

More than 900,000 high school students nationwide started the national graduation exams on June 2.

The two-and-a-half-day exams, which mark the completion of the students' 12 years of education, focus on four subjects. Two are compulsory (maths and literature) and students can choose among physics, chemistry, history, geography and foreign languages for the other two.

At the beginning of May, China illegally dispatched the rig and a large fleet of armed vessels, military ships and aircraft, to Vietnam’s waters and positioned it at 15 degrees 29 minutes 58 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 12 minutes 6 seconds east longitude. The location was 80 miles deep inside Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

Ever since, Chinese ships have continuously encircled, constrained and driven away Vietnamese fishing boats and even injured Vietnamese fishermen, threatening their lives.

On May 27, China moved the rig to 15 degrees 33 minutes 22 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 34 minutes 36 seconds east longitude. The new location is 25 nautical miles from Tri Ton Island in Vietnam’s Hoang Sa archipelago and 23 nautical miles east-northeast from the old location, still completely within Vietnam’s continental shelf. With the move, China has kept on violating Vietnam’s sovereign right and jurisdiction.-VNA