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As China Looms, Vietnam Aims to Develop a More Modern, Skilled Navy

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI - A Vietnamese military official advocates developing a more
   modern, better skilled navy that can hold off complex threats, mainly
   what experts believe to be increasing pressure from China.

   A rear admiral and political commissar in Hanoi told the official Viet
   Nam News August 6 that the navy could not be "taken by surprise at any
   development.

   "In this complicated situation that poses many threats to the country's
   defense and security, given the Navy's role as the key defender of the
   country's sovereignty, the Viet Nam People's Navy must do more to build
   a strong, developed, skilled and modern naval force that can fulfill
   all assigned missions," said the commissar, Phạm VÄn Vững.

   The commissar's words follow the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel
   in March-- Vietnam says at the hands of China.

   More recently, Chinese coast guard boats have approached a Vietnamese
   undersea energy exploration site near Vanguard Bank in the South China
   Sea. China and Vietnam vie for sovereignty over tracts of the sea where
   these two incidents have occurred. These two upsets are just the latest
   between the territorial rivals dating back centuries.

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