A few years ago, products with "Made-in-China" labels were avoided in foreign countries where these cheap items were exported after lead poisoning scandals led to recalls of a lot of consumer products.

In a California community called Little Saigon, many residents here who are Vietnamese migrants are similarly avoiding products manufactured in China, from toys to food and even services such as travels to the Asian giant.

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Their beef is not over health concerns, but the repercussion of the territorial dispute between Vietnam and China over some islands in the South China Sea.

Actually, it is not just the two Asian nations that are claiming rights to the Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands, but other Asian countries as well, and the dispute has reached an international court.

Vietnamese migrants who currently reside in Orange County go beyond checking the source country of the products they are buying or services they are patronizing, according to an exclusive article in the Los Angeles Times by Anh Do.

They take part in protest rallies in front of China's consulate in Los Angeles, raise money to support Vietnam's effort to resist Beijing and even march on Little Saigon's streets to make known their dislike, nay, contempt for the Asian giant.

The dislike for each other goes a long way back by about a thousand years when China once occupied Vietnam and imposed its tongue, customs and religion on inhabitants.

Memories of that Chinese occupation still haunt Vietnamese migrants that one elderly migrant, Hoang Tran of Santa Ana, asked LA Times, "They are so powerful while Vietnam is so tiny - we must speak up for our rights. What happens if they try to take other land?"

A history expert shares the migrants' jaded view of China. University of California history professor Jeffrey Wasserstorm agrees with the Vietnamese grandfather's sentiments and commented further that the country that Asian neighbors must worry about the most is China because "It seems to never be satisfied with the power it wields."

But it seems that among Chinese migrants in California, the passion about the South China Sea islands are not as high compared to their Vietnamese counterparts.

Wayne Wang, a Chinese migrant, explains the different approach in that while he follows what's happening in the news, he doesn't find it necessary to shout his voice hoarse over some island dispute between Beijing and Hanoi happening thousands of miles away from their life in the U.S.

"We keep our culture but we don't get involved in how the country is managed ... We leave what's happening in China - in China," Wang rationalized.

TagsParacel Islands, little saigon, vietnamese migrants