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.

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 enforcement ships, violating United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. More than ever before, 90 million Vietnamese people and over four 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 about Chinese illegal actions.

Many students have expressed 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 update information about the oil rig, so I understand this really well," Tuan shares. "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 questions quite well. Most of them liked the East Sea question.

Many students said that they did not feel surprised at the East Sea question as this is currently a matter of concern. They also said 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 with peaceful measures and should be careful with the Chinese tricks.

More than 900,000 high school students nationwide started the national graduation exams today, 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.