Thanh said the situation in the South China Sea region was “getting worse” with militarisation. The major advances in night vision technology, including equipment for individual soldiers, armored vehicles and aircraft, give the US the advantage to see and fight in the dark.
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“It is within our legitimate right to self-defense to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory”.
In line with New Delhi’s “Act East Policy”, economic and defence relations will be the focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Vietnam next month on his way to China for the G-20 summit from September 4 to 5.
In June, Vietnam’s Deputy Defense Minister said the country had no such launchers or weapons in the Spratly Islands.
Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnam’s military at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said the deployment showed the seriousness of Vietnam’s determination to militarily deter China. “If India wants China to be more generous in terms of tariff reduction, it would be unwise for the country to let its relationship with China deteriorate further at this moment”, it said.
After the collapse of Soviet Union, Russia needed a new market for reviving their economy while China wanted high technology military equipment after Europe and the United States imposed arms embargoes in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Prior to the upgrades, the Shenzen served as Beijing’s flagship in the South China Sea, but it remains uncertain whether it will now remain in the position of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s command ship. China advanced a narrative that it had historic rights to almost all of the South China Sea (SCS) and that it could prevent states like the Philippines and Vietnam from fishing in their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and drilling for oil near their coasts.
Vietnam said at the time 64 soldiers had been killed as they tried to protect a flag on South Johnson reef in an incident still acutely felt in Hanoi.
China took its first Spratlys possessions after a sea battle against Vietnam’s then weak navy in 1988. Vietnam said it “threatens peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and flight”. EXTRA rounds are often equipped with warheads packed with powerful explosives and are capable of being used to engage multiple targets simultaneously.
Significant upgrades to what was already China’s most lethal destroyer come as Beijing faces increasing pressure to relax its claims over oil rich South China Sea territories, through which some 40% of the world’s shipborne commerce travels each day.
The missiles would be in a position to threaten China’s fast developing military potential on the seven reclaimed islands it has built on once partially submerged reefs and shoals in the same area.
Shortly after an worldwide tribunal awarded the Philippines a sweeping victory in its legal case against China’s actions and claims in the South China Sea, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signaled his willingness to seek bilateral talks with Beijing on the issue.
Manila: Japan and the Philippines joined forces on Thursday to call on China to observe the rule of law in resolving maritime disputes after an global tribunal rejected Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea.
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Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English based on Reuters news report. Hai Do was the editor.
