Vietnam Defence Forum

[Viet]

Asia & Pacific
Japan, Vietnam to bolster maritime security cooperation

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, left, and his wife Tran Nguyet Thu, right, meet with Japanese Emperor Akihoto, third from left, and Empress Michiko, third rom right, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on, Tuesday, June 6, 2017. Phuc is in Japan on a five-day official visit. (Imperial Household Agency/Pool Photo via AP) (Associated Press)

By Associated Press
June 6 at 8:36 AM

TOKYO — Japan and Vietnam have agreed to bolster their security ties through Japanese-funded projects including the upgrading of Vietnamese coastal patrol capabilities, defense equipment and technology transfer amid concerns about China’s increasingly assertive activity in regional seas.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, held talks in Tokyo on Tuesday and shared “deep concern over the complex developments” involving China in the South China Sea. They urged China — without referring to it by name — to avoid taking actions to change the status quo and escalate regional tensions.

Japan and Vietnam signed more than a dozen agreements, including Japan’s provision of 38 billion yen ($350 million) in development aid to upgrade Vietnamese coast guard vessels and their patrol capability.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press

 

[sinait]

Czech Republic
The other country that recognizes Vietnamese as ethnic minority is surprisingly...China. The Chinese call them the "Jing" people, derived from the Vietnamese word "Kinh".

I am not surprised, considering the long association between both your countries. What I am surprised is the Vietnamese in Czech.
I got this from Wiki.
"
According to the 2001 census, there were 17,462 ethnic Vietnamese in the Czech Republic.[4] The Vietnamese population has grown very rapidly since then, with the Czech Statistics Office estimating that there were 61,012 Vietnamese residing in the Czech Republic in October 2009.[1] Nguyen, the most common Vietnamese surname, is now the 9th most common surname in the entire country.
"
Life there must be good for them. It is also noted that the Vietnamese there are well known for something else other than high levels of educational attainment.
While posting this, I reflect over the long way that your country have come since the daily F-111 bombing missions from their Thailand base.
.

 

[Carlosa]

US taking stronger stance in South China Sea – Vietnamese expert
By: Niña P. Calleja - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 02:37 PM June 06, 2017
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/15...r-stance-in-south-china-sea-vietnamese-expert


Mischief Reef. (Photo from the Center for Strategic and International Studies)

HO CHI MINH CITY — The United States seems to be taking a stronger stance against China’s activities in the South China Sea, according to Dr. Ha Anh Tuan, director of the Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies (IFPSS) of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

Among the indications this, Ha pointed out, are the recently implemented Freedom of Investigation Operation (Fonop) implemented by the United States and the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on May 31.

On May 25, the USS Dewey, a guided missile destroyer of the US Navy, sailed within 12 nautical miles (22.22 kilometers) of Mischief Reef (Panganiban Reef) in the Spratly Islands, where China has built one of its man-made islands. The reef is being claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, and China.

Fonop is meant to counter China’s assertion of de facto control over the South China China, where it has nearly finished building artificial islands and military bases.

“In the first month since Trump came into office, the US strategy towards the South China Sea was not clear,” Ha said in an email interview with the Inquirer. “The latest US Freedom of Navigation Operation campaign in May 2017, however, suggests that Trump’s position towards the South China Sea could be even stronger than the one adopted by Obama administration.”

Ha said the delivery of the six coastal patrol vessels to Vietnam, followed by the meeting between Trump and Nguyen on May 31, showed a stronger support of the US against China’s occupation in the South China Sea.

“All are signs of a US commitment, which Vietnam had feared was waning under President Donald Trump,” he said.

Nguyen went to the US for a three-day official visit from May 29 to May 31, which culminated in his first meeting with Trump at the White House. He is the first head of state in Southeast Asia to meet Trump since the latter’s inauguration this year.

Visiting to the US on Trump’s official invitation, the Vietnamese leader also hoped to boost relationship with the US, Vietnam’s top trading partner despite its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, the trade treaty which an export-oriented Vietnam would have likely benefited from.

Since diplomatic ties between Vietnam and US normalized 20 years ago, bilateral trade has flourished – reaching $36.3 billion in 2014 and $45 billion in 2016.

But the South China Sea was also on the Southeast Asian leader’s agenda. In a joint statement issued after their meeting, Nguyen and Trump called on all parties to “refrain from actions that would escalate tensions, such as the militarization of disputed features.”

In the same statement, Trump assured Vietnam that US would continue to “fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows.”

Ha noted that the land reclamation of China in the South China Sea was completed well before Trump’s presidency. This, he said, left the the US with “virtually no option to change that reality.”

China, meanwhile, condemned the US operation, saying the US ship did not ask permission to enter what it claimed to be its territorial waters.

But other claimants in the South China Sea, like Vietnam, were hoping to see more of the US presence in the region “as a way to maintain regional peace, stability and security,” Ha said.

Vietnam and the Philippines, along Malaysia and Brunei, have competing claims with China over the South China Sea.

After his US trip, the Vietnamese prime minister would go next to Japan for an official visit from June 4 to 8 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

A meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Trump is also in the offing, as the US president had invited the Philippine leader to visit the White House.

Trump is also expected to visit Vietnam in November for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held there in Danang. /atm

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/15...uth-china-sea-vietnamese-expert#ixzz4jEsoKlle

Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

 

[Viet]

I am not surprised, considering the long association between both your countries. What I am surprised is the Vietnamese in Czech.
I got this from Wiki.
"
According to the 2001 census, there were 17,462 ethnic Vietnamese in the Czech Republic.[4] The Vietnamese population has grown very rapidly since then, with the Czech Statistics Office estimating that there were 61,012 Vietnamese residing in the Czech Republic in October 2009.[1] Nguyen, the most common Vietnamese surname, is now the 9th most common surname in the entire country.
"
Life there must be good for them. It is also noted that the Vietnamese there are well known for something else other than high levels of educational attainment.
While posting this, I reflect over the long way that your country have come since the daily F-111 bombing missions from their Thailand base.
.

Rising from the ashes. oh most of outsiders aka foreigners never know, that was a VERY long way our people in the Czech had gone thru. the czech vietnamese had seen hardship en mass, so are not different to other viet kieu in other countries. a long fight before being recognised as national ethnic group. a nice effect: the vietnamese in czech are considered as czech citizens, and as Czech Republic is part of the EU, the vietnamese are EU citizens as well. and all of this considering we aren´t white.

http://vovworld.vn/en-US/current-af...namese-community-in-czech-republic-166590.vov

 

[Viet]

Japan will deliver 6 new patrol ships for VN Coast Guard, financed by ODA. no further details provided.

 

[Viet]

CZ83 pistole (Czech Republic), most favorite hand gun of Vietnam female security services

 

[Viet]

Bringing the western way of thinking to Vietnam. The US thru USAid and US department of State gives $15 million grant to the first newly established independent US University in Vietnam: the Fullbright University. Unthinkable 10 years ago.

 

[Aqsuperman]

And here come the Korean. The PCC-761 Pohang class is now delivered to the VPAN. The current armament seem to be reduced though.

 

[Carlosa]

And here come the Korean. The PCC-761 Pohang class is now delivered to the VPAN. The current armament seem to be reduced though.

What armament does it have besides of the guns? Any missiles?

 

[Viet]

Artillery

Hyundai military transporter

 

[jhungary]

What armament does it have besides of the guns? Any missiles?

It could have come with OTH Harpoon Launcher, Twin/Quad Pack. But likely removed for Vietnam Service, Peruvian had 2 Exocet Missile on-board instead. Not know whether or not they can be loaded with Soviet/Russian Missile.

ROKS Cheonam

The same ship that was sunk by the North Korean in 2010

 

[sahureka2]

And here come the Korean. The PCC-761 Pohang class is now delivered to the VPAN. The current armament seem to be reduced though.

The new optical number "18", which is distinct in style from those used by the of Vietnam People's Navy , but it looks the same as that used by the Philippines Navy.
New style ?
And .... yes, it's the naval base of Vung Tau

 

[Viet]

The new optical number "18", which is distinct in style from those used by the of Vietnam People's Navy , but it looks the same as that used by the Philippines Navy.
New style ?
And .... yes, it's the naval base of Vung Tau

Eh not copying the Philippines but yes Vietnam changed to the widely used international signature some years ago. Previously all warships had the signature HQ dash (Vietnamese for Navy) followed by the number, now just the number.

Some news of the day

During the Vietnam/Japan Summit Shinzo Abe government apparently pushes Phuc to sign TPP-11. The trade bloc will be led Japan, the most economically powerful country after Donald Trump quits the pact. From the news, however VN is not in hurry, wanting more better terms, especially more better market access to richer countries as Japan and Australia.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Th...idering-options-for-TPP-renegotiation-PM-says

Some small but important agreements during the visit of Czech Republic's President Milos Zeman to Hanoi.

http://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel-...-direct-flight-to-czech-republic-3596429.html

 

[Aqsuperman]

What armament does it have besides of the guns? Any missiles?

Well base on the limited angle of these pictures, i can say several things:

_ No Harpoon or Anti-ship weapon onboard. The PCC-761 ordinary load out dont carry any
_No triple torpedoes launcher racks. ( And good lord, i want it present so much)
_The 76mm Oto Melara rear turret has been removed for unknown reason. probably make space for a makecraft Helipad ?
_The 40mm Nobong dual turret at front seem to change from a fully enclose turret to a glass turret. The options are a new Nobong turret design but the same dual 40mm, a Sea Vulcan with 6 20mm barrel, a 30mm turret of a Korean design and finally, the same 23mm ZSU we see on our Coast Guard ships :v
_And finally, the Depth Charge Rack at the very rear of the ship MAY have been removed as well, cant say for sure but the ship rear appearance seem normal so hopefully that this is wrong. At least with that, this ship can function a bit in ASW role and bolster our Petyas which are old as Mother Earth herself

And about the ship numbering, this hhas been and will be the new regulation from now: Numbers only.

 

[Viet]

Assault Rifles

Some fresh money are recently poured into weaponry factories (z111, z131), that deliver new infantry rifles.