Police in Vietnam detained more than a dozen protesters in the capital city of Hanoi on Sunday and halted demonstrations in other cities against plans for new special economic zones (SEZs) that the protesters fear would be dominated by Chinese investors. The protesters suspect that the communist government will award Chinese investors 99-year leases in the three economic zones in the north-east, south-east and south-west of the country, and that this would be a pretext for Chinese control over the island of Van Don near their shared border. The Vietnamese government has requested the National Assembly to postpone passing a draft law on SEZ saying it needed more time to ensure that it meets the aspirations of both legislators and the public.