Google Links Web Attacks to Vietnam Mine Dispute

I've been following this matter closely over the past year. Words on the street is that Vietnam is in deep economic trouble with rising inflation and they need/got a bailout from China. Many high ranking officials voice their opposition but somehow China still won many mining contracts.

There has been a ramp up in suppressing free speech and government policy in Vietnam over the last few months. Many key activists were imprisoned and websites/blogs that criticize the Communist Party were hacked or ddos attacked. An admin from one of those forums told me at the peak during the trials of those activists they got 20k hits/s, the majority of those came from machines in Vietnam or China. Some sites that do not have the expertise or resource to counter the attacks were forced to completely shut down