Viet
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Vietnam Defence Forum
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Aqsuperman
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Lol, just a bunch of armed brigands and thief located and operated in far away jungle in Papua, its nothing serious compared to heavily armed Viet Narco gangs operating in Vietnam big cities armed with military standard firearms warrants attention even from their military and needed to use heavy equipment to bust them out
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/t...-gang-in-northern-vietnam-police-3772722.html
Its just prelude for Viet Narco civil war like what happened in Mexico, competent my *** even they built stronghold in your neighbourhood
Ladies and gentlemen, this is how a Indonesian gone mad trying to tell people that Vietnam is about to fall into a civil war because of drug. Let's see...
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/12/07/papua-mass-killing-what-happened.html
"According to the account of surviving Istaka Karya worker Jimmi Aritonang, which he relayed to the Cendrawasih Military Command, an armed group kidnapped 25 workers from the Istaka Karya camp in Nduga regency on Saturday and forcefully marched them to the nearby Karunggame River.
On Sunday, the workers were once again forced to move, this time toward the Puncak Kabo hill. On the way there, they were ordered to squat and line up in five rows. The gunmen then shot at the workers, killing 14 on the spot, while the remaining 11 pretended to be dead
The gunmen then left the victims and continued their journey to Puncak Kabo. The 11 workers who had played dead attempted to escape, but they were spotted. The rebels caught and killed five of them, while the other six managed to escape toward Mbua"
Well, at seem that the Viet narco gang with "stronghold" (a few brick houses) with "military standard firearms" (outdated illegally imported riflers) in our "neighborhood" (a border region) still fail to pull up a masterpiece as the Papua in Indonesia. Gosh check out the coffins. Let me throw out a few emo to tell you how I feel:
Civil war over drug in Vietnam? Man you Indons need to stop using drugs while surfing the Internet.
By the way, that was indeed a police raid. The gang had firearms which made the appearance of armored cars completely natural. Can you even read the word "POLICE" on the side?
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warzone
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Dumb Dumb It’s extremely hard to get guns legally or illegally in Viet Nam, the few guns seized by police are mostly junks, handmade or obsolete . They are very few murders committed with guns in VN for a population of 100 millions, it the proof the low number of guns in Vietnam….Here are the junks confiscated on the heavily armed Viet Narco gangs...LOL
Only armed thieves operating in jungle far away, right?...LOL!! How about this incident in March 2019 in West Papua when 50 to 70 rebels carrying firearms as well as SPEARS and ARROWS attacked a group of 25 soldiers in a battle lasting several hours, killing 3 dead soldiers and 10 poorly equipped rebels… LOL spears and arrows LOL
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/08/west-papua-independence-deaths-battle-indonesia
How about those armed groups in Indonesia
Rebels groups in Indonesia
- Free Aceh Movement (separatist)
- South Moluccas (separatist)
- Free Papua Movement (separatist)
- Jemaah Islamiyah[53] (JI) (Islamist)
- Mujahidin Indonesia Timur (MIT) (Islamist)
- Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) (Islamist)
- Jamaah Ansharusy Syariah (JAS) (Islamist)
- Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) (Islamist)
Aqsuperman
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Pictures of Vietnam T-90 have trickled in:
It seem that these pictrues show practice APFSDS, 9M119M "Refleks" and snorkel equipment
It seem that these pictrues show practice APFSDS, 9M119M "Refleks" and snorkel equipment
Viet
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Vietnamese soldiers train for Army Games 2019
By My Hanh, Trong Hai
News | July 25, 2019 | 03:57 am GMT+7
The few female medical officers in the Vietnamese contingent to the Army Games 2019 have undergone rigorous training for the Russia Army Games next month.
Eight teams of the Vietnam People's Army joined at a military training ground in the northern Vinh Phuc Province on Tuesday to get ready to compete in eight disciplines at event organized by Russian Defense Ministry on August 3-17.
This year, the Vietnamese contingent comprises tank crew, medical staff, food service specialists, emergency rescue personnel, armored vehicles crew, literary/art and dancing contestants, snipers, and chemical reconnaissance vehicles.
Only the medical relay team has female members.
A female officer receives help to put on a bullet-proof vest.
The military medical relay team will race with teams from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Russia, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
A female medical officer crawls under barbed wire to approach a wounded individual in a simulated setting. In addition to professional skills training, they were also given shooting lessons, and exercises involving overcoming obstacles and crossing rivers.
A female officer carries out first aid on a wounded soldier in the battlefield after overcoming multiple obstacles.
"It was not a long journey but it was really a big challenge, because I had to lift the wounded person weighing more than 80kg using my knees," said Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Hanh (R), who trained for the military medical relay race.
According to the competition rules, contestants must provide medical aid to subjects weighing 80kg and above. Hence, the female soldiers were given training to strengthen their knees, legs and arms and taught to place a wounded soldier on their knees and drag him/her for a distance of 15 meters. Previously, tarpaulins were allowed in this contest, but that’s no longer the case.
A wounded soldier is taken from the BTR armored vehicle to the ground in a simulated situation where a vehicle is hit during combat.
A female soldier carries an 80-kilogram male soldier and runs 15 meters.
Three soldiers practice delivering a wounded soldier, lying on a flat wood surface, using a rope over a river that has no bridge. One of the competitions requires contestants to make use of a rope by tying it around trees to deliver the wounded from one side of a river to the other. The soldiers must learn how to make strong knots and exert strong pulls.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Bach Dang, head of the Vietnam Military Medical Relay Team, runs in a simulated setting that tests soldiers’ skills to overcome obstacles.
Dang dissembles an AK rifle as part of the training.
"Last year the teams joined the Army Games primarily to improve their skills and gain experience. This year, the teams have prepared ahead... and are determined to win prizes for the country and the Vietnamese army," said Dang.
Last year, when the country made its debut at the games, Vietnam fielded candidates for just three disciplines.
By My Hanh, Trong Hai
News | July 25, 2019 | 03:57 am GMT+7
The few female medical officers in the Vietnamese contingent to the Army Games 2019 have undergone rigorous training for the Russia Army Games next month.
Eight teams of the Vietnam People's Army joined at a military training ground in the northern Vinh Phuc Province on Tuesday to get ready to compete in eight disciplines at event organized by Russian Defense Ministry on August 3-17.
This year, the Vietnamese contingent comprises tank crew, medical staff, food service specialists, emergency rescue personnel, armored vehicles crew, literary/art and dancing contestants, snipers, and chemical reconnaissance vehicles.
Only the medical relay team has female members.
A female officer receives help to put on a bullet-proof vest.
The military medical relay team will race with teams from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Russia, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
A female medical officer crawls under barbed wire to approach a wounded individual in a simulated setting. In addition to professional skills training, they were also given shooting lessons, and exercises involving overcoming obstacles and crossing rivers.
A female officer carries out first aid on a wounded soldier in the battlefield after overcoming multiple obstacles.
"It was not a long journey but it was really a big challenge, because I had to lift the wounded person weighing more than 80kg using my knees," said Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Hanh (R), who trained for the military medical relay race.
According to the competition rules, contestants must provide medical aid to subjects weighing 80kg and above. Hence, the female soldiers were given training to strengthen their knees, legs and arms and taught to place a wounded soldier on their knees and drag him/her for a distance of 15 meters. Previously, tarpaulins were allowed in this contest, but that’s no longer the case.
A wounded soldier is taken from the BTR armored vehicle to the ground in a simulated situation where a vehicle is hit during combat.
A female soldier carries an 80-kilogram male soldier and runs 15 meters.
Three soldiers practice delivering a wounded soldier, lying on a flat wood surface, using a rope over a river that has no bridge. One of the competitions requires contestants to make use of a rope by tying it around trees to deliver the wounded from one side of a river to the other. The soldiers must learn how to make strong knots and exert strong pulls.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Bach Dang, head of the Vietnam Military Medical Relay Team, runs in a simulated setting that tests soldiers’ skills to overcome obstacles.
Dang dissembles an AK rifle as part of the training.
"Last year the teams joined the Army Games primarily to improve their skills and gain experience. This year, the teams have prepared ahead... and are determined to win prizes for the country and the Vietnamese army," said Dang.
Last year, when the country made its debut at the games, Vietnam fielded candidates for just three disciplines.
Viet
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EU, Vietnam to become brothers in arms
A military officer holds a European Union flag in a file photo. Photo: Facebook
Two sides will sign a new defense agreement on August 5, opening the way for stronger strategic cooperation including in the South China Sea
By DAVID HUTT
On August 5, the European Union’s (EU) chief diplomat Federica Mogherini will sign a new defense agreement with Vietnam, the first such security deal Brussels will have with a Southeast Asian nation.
It is the latest indication that the EU is trying to forge a closer defense relationship with the region and Vietnam in particular, which is at the heart of disputes with China in the South China Sea.
After taking part in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum and an EU-ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference in Bangkok between August 1 and 2, Mogherini will head to Hanoi to sign “an agreement on Vietnam’s participation in our European military and civilian missions”, she told regional media earlier this week.
“I expect it to be the first of many with our friends in ASEAN, because our missions do not only serve European interests, but serve first and foremost the interest of peace and security globally,” added Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
Alongside Vietnamese Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich, she is scheduled to sign a Framework Participation Agreement (FPA), which will make Vietnam part of the EU’s crisis management operations, Asia Times confirmed with EU sources.
A FPA also allows a partner nation to contribute to the operations and missions under the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy, a strategy to coordinate the bloc’s defense and intelligence policies.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini speaks in Kuwait City, July 14, 2019. Photo: AFP
An EU spokesperson told Asia Times the agreement “confirms the EU’s and Vietnam’s shared commitment to contribute to peace and security in their neighborhoods and the wider world, as well as to safeguarding the rules-based multilateral order.”
“[It] will allow for Vietnam’s active participation in EU-led crisis management operations. These play a key role in peacekeeping, conflict prevention and strengthening international security in the EU’s immediate neighborhood and beyond,” the spokesperson added.
It will be the fourth FPA the EU has signed with an Asia-Pacific nation, after Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
The deal comes as the EU’s relations with Vietnam are flourishing.
On June 30, the two sides finally signed a free trade agreement (FTA), almost four years after negotiations ended. It is the EU’s second trade deal with a Southeast Asian country, after it signed one with Singapore earlier this year. The European Commission called it “the most ambitious free trade deal ever concluded with a developing country.”
Hanoi reckons that because the trade deal will cut most tariffs on Vietnamese exports into the EU once the deal comes into effect, and eventually almost all duties after a few years, it could boost the country’s exports to the EU, worth $42.5 billion last year, by up to 20%.
But security relations are also improving. In April, Jean-Christophe Belliard, deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Service, the EU’s foreign and defense ministry, visited Hanoi to meet with Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh. Reports at the time indicated the two officials discussed a range of defense issues as well as the EU’s financial support for Vietnamese officers to attend EU courses and building Vietnam’s peacekeeping capabilities.
The following month, Vinh led a Vietnamese delegation to Brussels to attend an EU Chiefs of Defense meeting at the invitation of Claudio Graziano, chairman of the European Union Military Committee, the EU’s highest military body. Vietnam for the first time took part in a European Union Military Committee meeting last year.
Also in May, the first joint committee meeting under Vietnam and EU’s Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation Framework Agreement, a deal signed in 2012 and which came into effect in 2016, was held. It was co-chaired by Vietnam’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, To Anh Dzung, and Gunnar Wiegand, director for Asia and Pacific in the European External Action Service.
Vietnamese military band performs at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, November 12, 2017. Photo: AFP/Pool/Kham
The EU has good reason for prioritizing relations with Vietnam. It was one of five countries chosen in June to become non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for the next two years, which should give it more experience in international diplomacy.
Vietnam is also set to take on the chairmanship of the ASEAN bloc next year, as the chair rotates between member states annually. Strong relations with Hanoi could thus allow the EU to gain more leverage in Southeast Asian affairs.
More important, Vietnam is at Southeast Asia’s geo-strategic center, as it remains the only rival claimant that is vocally opposing Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, the region’s most burning security issue.
Both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are also in Bangkok this week to try to entice Southeast Asian nations to their side of the divide. Many analysts believe that the US and China are now in a contest for spheres of influence in Southeast Asia.
The ASEAN Regional Forum comes just two weeks after the Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed US officials, alleged that Cambodia had entered a deal to allow the Chinese military exclusive use of a domestic naval base, which if true would ratchet up regional concerns about Chinese expansionism.
It also comes amid yet another standoff in the South China Sea, after a Chinese exploration ship along with two coastguard vessels stationed around the oil-rich Vanguard Bank, a feature Vietnam claims as its territory. China’s threat of military action last year and in 2017 forced Vietnam to cancel planned oil exploration projects in the same area.
The EU has so far refused to openly take sides in the South China Sea disputes, though it does take the position that Beijing must respect international law based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The EU Global Strategy, published in June 2016, vows to “uphold freedom of navigation, stand firm on the respect for international law, including the Law of the Sea and its arbitration procedures, and encourage the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes.”
A French naval officer in front of the Vendémiaire frigate. Photo: Twitter
In April and May, EU and Vietnamese defense officials reportedly discussed the possibility of EU member states sending more vessels on freedom of navigation missions to the South China Sea.
Indeed, the EU Maritime Security Strategy advocates for member states “to play a strategic role in providing global reach, flexibility and access” for the EU, and to “support the freedom of navigation and contribute to global governance by deterring, preventing and countering illicit activities.”
“The EU is committed to maintaining a legal order for the seas and oceans based upon the principles of international law, as reflected notably in the [UNCLOS],” an EU spokesperson said in regard to the grouping’s position on the South China Sea. “This includes the maintenance of maritime safety, security, and cooperation, freedom of navigation and overflight.”
But only two member states currently engage in freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea: France and the United Kingdom. However, the UK is expected to leave the EU on October 31, depriving the bloc of its largest military power and leaving only France, a former colonizer of Vietnam, to perpetuate the policy in the region.
France and Vietnam have improved security relations in recent years, signing a defense cooperation agreement back in 2009 and beginning a Defense Policy Dialogue in late 2016.
The first Vietnam-France deputy ministerial dialogue on security and defense strategy took place last September, at which a Vietnam-France Joint Committee on Defense Cooperation was signed, setting out bilateral defense initiatives until 2028. This followed a visit to Paris by the Vietnamese Communist Party’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the country’s leading statesman.
Apart from defense talks and agreements, France is also reportedly keen to take a defensive position in the South China Sea disputes, in which Vietnam is now the only claimant loudly protesting China’s annexation and militarization of parts of the maritime area.
French vessels engaged in freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea in 2017 and last year, soon after an international arbitration panel at The Hague ruled in July 2016 that China’s wide-sweeping claims to the sea are illegitimate under international law. Beijing rejected the decision.
A Vietnamese soldier stands watch overlooking the South China Sea. Photo: Facebook
In May, the French destroyer FS Forbindocked in Vietnam, the first visit of its kind. At the 2019 Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual regional defense dialogue held in Singapore in late May, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly promised that French vessels would “sail more than twice a year in the South China Sea” and continue upholding international law in a “steady, non-confrontational but obstinate way.”
Exactly what a Vietnam-EU FPA will mean in practical terms is unclear. At present, there are only Common Security and Defense Policy missions in Europe and Africa, and none in Asia. Arguably it will be more symbolic than substantive, at least at first.
The EU has held five EU-ASEAN High-Level Dialogue on Maritime Security Cooperation sessions since 2013, while it is currently co-chair of the ASEAN Regional Forum’s Inter-sessional Meeting on Maritime Security, along with Vietnam and Australia.
But the EU is angling to expand its security brief in Asia. For years, it has lobbied to gain a seat at the intimate ASEAN Defense Minister’s Meeting (ADMM) Plus Experts’ Working Group sessions, and the more grandiose annual East Asia Summits.
At this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue conference, Mogherini said that when she made her first speech at the summit four years ago, she had stated the EU “had the ambition to be not only – as we are already – the key economic partner for Asia, but also to become a global security provider or a security partner, and Asia should have been part of that work.”
Four years on, she said in May, “we have come a long way on this. Today we work more closely than ever with ASEAN, not only politically and economically, but also on security, including on the military level.”
“Once positioning itself as a ‘natural partner,’ Brussels has realized that if it wants to be taken seriously [in Southeast Asia], it cannot be through self-entitlement and empty political gestures, but rather concrete, practical actions that demonstrate its ability to bring about positive change,” wrote Eva Pejsova, a senior analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, a think tank.
A military officer holds a European Union flag in a file photo. Photo: Facebook
Two sides will sign a new defense agreement on August 5, opening the way for stronger strategic cooperation including in the South China Sea
By DAVID HUTT
On August 5, the European Union’s (EU) chief diplomat Federica Mogherini will sign a new defense agreement with Vietnam, the first such security deal Brussels will have with a Southeast Asian nation.
It is the latest indication that the EU is trying to forge a closer defense relationship with the region and Vietnam in particular, which is at the heart of disputes with China in the South China Sea.
After taking part in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum and an EU-ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference in Bangkok between August 1 and 2, Mogherini will head to Hanoi to sign “an agreement on Vietnam’s participation in our European military and civilian missions”, she told regional media earlier this week.
“I expect it to be the first of many with our friends in ASEAN, because our missions do not only serve European interests, but serve first and foremost the interest of peace and security globally,” added Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
Alongside Vietnamese Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich, she is scheduled to sign a Framework Participation Agreement (FPA), which will make Vietnam part of the EU’s crisis management operations, Asia Times confirmed with EU sources.
A FPA also allows a partner nation to contribute to the operations and missions under the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy, a strategy to coordinate the bloc’s defense and intelligence policies.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini speaks in Kuwait City, July 14, 2019. Photo: AFP
An EU spokesperson told Asia Times the agreement “confirms the EU’s and Vietnam’s shared commitment to contribute to peace and security in their neighborhoods and the wider world, as well as to safeguarding the rules-based multilateral order.”
“[It] will allow for Vietnam’s active participation in EU-led crisis management operations. These play a key role in peacekeeping, conflict prevention and strengthening international security in the EU’s immediate neighborhood and beyond,” the spokesperson added.
It will be the fourth FPA the EU has signed with an Asia-Pacific nation, after Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
The deal comes as the EU’s relations with Vietnam are flourishing.
On June 30, the two sides finally signed a free trade agreement (FTA), almost four years after negotiations ended. It is the EU’s second trade deal with a Southeast Asian country, after it signed one with Singapore earlier this year. The European Commission called it “the most ambitious free trade deal ever concluded with a developing country.”
Hanoi reckons that because the trade deal will cut most tariffs on Vietnamese exports into the EU once the deal comes into effect, and eventually almost all duties after a few years, it could boost the country’s exports to the EU, worth $42.5 billion last year, by up to 20%.
But security relations are also improving. In April, Jean-Christophe Belliard, deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Service, the EU’s foreign and defense ministry, visited Hanoi to meet with Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh. Reports at the time indicated the two officials discussed a range of defense issues as well as the EU’s financial support for Vietnamese officers to attend EU courses and building Vietnam’s peacekeeping capabilities.
The following month, Vinh led a Vietnamese delegation to Brussels to attend an EU Chiefs of Defense meeting at the invitation of Claudio Graziano, chairman of the European Union Military Committee, the EU’s highest military body. Vietnam for the first time took part in a European Union Military Committee meeting last year.
Also in May, the first joint committee meeting under Vietnam and EU’s Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation Framework Agreement, a deal signed in 2012 and which came into effect in 2016, was held. It was co-chaired by Vietnam’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, To Anh Dzung, and Gunnar Wiegand, director for Asia and Pacific in the European External Action Service.
Vietnamese military band performs at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, November 12, 2017. Photo: AFP/Pool/Kham
The EU has good reason for prioritizing relations with Vietnam. It was one of five countries chosen in June to become non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for the next two years, which should give it more experience in international diplomacy.
Vietnam is also set to take on the chairmanship of the ASEAN bloc next year, as the chair rotates between member states annually. Strong relations with Hanoi could thus allow the EU to gain more leverage in Southeast Asian affairs.
More important, Vietnam is at Southeast Asia’s geo-strategic center, as it remains the only rival claimant that is vocally opposing Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, the region’s most burning security issue.
Both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are also in Bangkok this week to try to entice Southeast Asian nations to their side of the divide. Many analysts believe that the US and China are now in a contest for spheres of influence in Southeast Asia.
The ASEAN Regional Forum comes just two weeks after the Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed US officials, alleged that Cambodia had entered a deal to allow the Chinese military exclusive use of a domestic naval base, which if true would ratchet up regional concerns about Chinese expansionism.
It also comes amid yet another standoff in the South China Sea, after a Chinese exploration ship along with two coastguard vessels stationed around the oil-rich Vanguard Bank, a feature Vietnam claims as its territory. China’s threat of military action last year and in 2017 forced Vietnam to cancel planned oil exploration projects in the same area.
The EU has so far refused to openly take sides in the South China Sea disputes, though it does take the position that Beijing must respect international law based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The EU Global Strategy, published in June 2016, vows to “uphold freedom of navigation, stand firm on the respect for international law, including the Law of the Sea and its arbitration procedures, and encourage the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes.”
A French naval officer in front of the Vendémiaire frigate. Photo: Twitter
In April and May, EU and Vietnamese defense officials reportedly discussed the possibility of EU member states sending more vessels on freedom of navigation missions to the South China Sea.
Indeed, the EU Maritime Security Strategy advocates for member states “to play a strategic role in providing global reach, flexibility and access” for the EU, and to “support the freedom of navigation and contribute to global governance by deterring, preventing and countering illicit activities.”
“The EU is committed to maintaining a legal order for the seas and oceans based upon the principles of international law, as reflected notably in the [UNCLOS],” an EU spokesperson said in regard to the grouping’s position on the South China Sea. “This includes the maintenance of maritime safety, security, and cooperation, freedom of navigation and overflight.”
But only two member states currently engage in freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea: France and the United Kingdom. However, the UK is expected to leave the EU on October 31, depriving the bloc of its largest military power and leaving only France, a former colonizer of Vietnam, to perpetuate the policy in the region.
France and Vietnam have improved security relations in recent years, signing a defense cooperation agreement back in 2009 and beginning a Defense Policy Dialogue in late 2016.
The first Vietnam-France deputy ministerial dialogue on security and defense strategy took place last September, at which a Vietnam-France Joint Committee on Defense Cooperation was signed, setting out bilateral defense initiatives until 2028. This followed a visit to Paris by the Vietnamese Communist Party’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the country’s leading statesman.
Apart from defense talks and agreements, France is also reportedly keen to take a defensive position in the South China Sea disputes, in which Vietnam is now the only claimant loudly protesting China’s annexation and militarization of parts of the maritime area.
French vessels engaged in freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea in 2017 and last year, soon after an international arbitration panel at The Hague ruled in July 2016 that China’s wide-sweeping claims to the sea are illegitimate under international law. Beijing rejected the decision.
A Vietnamese soldier stands watch overlooking the South China Sea. Photo: Facebook
In May, the French destroyer FS Forbindocked in Vietnam, the first visit of its kind. At the 2019 Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual regional defense dialogue held in Singapore in late May, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly promised that French vessels would “sail more than twice a year in the South China Sea” and continue upholding international law in a “steady, non-confrontational but obstinate way.”
Exactly what a Vietnam-EU FPA will mean in practical terms is unclear. At present, there are only Common Security and Defense Policy missions in Europe and Africa, and none in Asia. Arguably it will be more symbolic than substantive, at least at first.
The EU has held five EU-ASEAN High-Level Dialogue on Maritime Security Cooperation sessions since 2013, while it is currently co-chair of the ASEAN Regional Forum’s Inter-sessional Meeting on Maritime Security, along with Vietnam and Australia.
But the EU is angling to expand its security brief in Asia. For years, it has lobbied to gain a seat at the intimate ASEAN Defense Minister’s Meeting (ADMM) Plus Experts’ Working Group sessions, and the more grandiose annual East Asia Summits.
At this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue conference, Mogherini said that when she made her first speech at the summit four years ago, she had stated the EU “had the ambition to be not only – as we are already – the key economic partner for Asia, but also to become a global security provider or a security partner, and Asia should have been part of that work.”
Four years on, she said in May, “we have come a long way on this. Today we work more closely than ever with ASEAN, not only politically and economically, but also on security, including on the military level.”
“Once positioning itself as a ‘natural partner,’ Brussels has realized that if it wants to be taken seriously [in Southeast Asia], it cannot be through self-entitlement and empty political gestures, but rather concrete, practical actions that demonstrate its ability to bring about positive change,” wrote Eva Pejsova, a senior analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, a think tank.
Viet
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Sea Platforms
Vietnam takes delivery of two refurbished vessels from Japan
Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore and Kosuke Takahashi, Tokyo - Jane's Navy International
01 August 2019
The Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance agency has taken delivery of two refurbished vessels from Japan.
The vessels, which bear the pennant numbers KN-595 and KN-596, were handed over by Vietnamese company Hong Ha Shipbuilding to the agency on 30 July.
In response to questions from Jane's , a Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson clarified on 2 August that the vessels are part of a donation of six vessels that was announced by Tokyo in 2014, and approved by then foreign minister Fumio Kishida in August that year.
The donation was done at the request of Vietnamese leaders to assist the country in bolstering its maritime law enforcement capabilities, said the spokesperson.
Lực lượng Kiểm ngư Việt Nam
Phát biểu tại Lễ bàn giao
Vietnam takes delivery of two refurbished vessels from Japan
Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore and Kosuke Takahashi, Tokyo - Jane's Navy International
01 August 2019
The Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance agency has taken delivery of two refurbished vessels from Japan.
The vessels, which bear the pennant numbers KN-595 and KN-596, were handed over by Vietnamese company Hong Ha Shipbuilding to the agency on 30 July.
In response to questions from Jane's , a Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson clarified on 2 August that the vessels are part of a donation of six vessels that was announced by Tokyo in 2014, and approved by then foreign minister Fumio Kishida in August that year.
The donation was done at the request of Vietnamese leaders to assist the country in bolstering its maritime law enforcement capabilities, said the spokesperson.
Lực lượng Kiểm ngư Việt Nam
Phát biểu tại Lễ bàn giao
Aqsuperman
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VPA snipers at ArmyGame 2019. I believe they are using a new camo pattern.
Reashot Xigwin
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Its not about the stance dumb-dumb. It's about everything else in the picture.
Never have I mention "stance" as the problems.
Take a good look again why I laugh at this pictures:
If you want to see actual incompetence in dealing with rebel groups try look at vietnam management of cambodia:
Vietnam maintained the fifth-largest armed forces in the world, with 1.26 million regular soldiers under arms, 180,000 of whom were stationed in Cambodia in 1984.[85][86]Consequently, the Vietnamese Government had to spend one-third of its budget on the military and the campaign in Kampuchea, despite receiving US$1.2 billion in military aid annually from the Soviet Union, thus further hampering Vietnam's economic rebuilding efforts.[84]
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Aqsuperman
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Lol, don't you all love how this uneducated Indon talk about "vietnam management of cambodia" as if it's a mere insurgency ? What happened in Cambodia is a giant whirlwind of ethic and ideology WARS with presences of superpowers that would overwhelm any lesser country (like Indonesia). Khmer Rouge and other "rebel groups" possessed tanks, artillery, MANPADS, ... the likes of which their Indonesia counterparts could NEVER dream of. But guess what, Vietnam CRUSHED them all and nowadays, we DON'T have a active insurgency in our heartland as well as border regions.....unlike Indonesia.
For the sake of comparison, let's see what Wikipedia has to say about Papua conflict
"The Papua conflict is an ONGOING conflict between Indonesian administration and the indigenous population of Western New Guinea (Papua) in which Indonesia has been accused of conducting a genocidal campaign against the indigenous inhabitants. Subsequent to the withdrawal of the Dutch administration from the Netherlands New Guinea in 1962 and implementation of Indonesian administration in 1963, the Free Papua Movement (Indonesian: Organisasi Papua Merdeka, (OPM), a militant Papuan-independence organisation, has conducted a low-key guerrilla war against Indonesia through the targeting of its military and police
Protests and ceremonies by Papuans raising their flag for independence or federation with Papua New Guinea, and accuse the Indonesian government of indiscriminate violence and of suppressing their freedom of expression. At least 100,000 Papuans have been killed in the violence, and thousands more have been raped, tortured and imprisoned by the Indonesian military since 1969 and the Indonesian governance style has been compared to that of a police state, suppressing freedom of political association and political expression. Indonesia continues to restrict foreign access to the region due to sensitivities regarding its suppression of Papuan nationalism"
For like what, HALF A FCKING CENTURY, the almighty Indonesia armed forces cannot put down the insurgency in Papua that is backed by, wait for it, NO ONE. So there are theories for that
1/ People in Papua happen to be supersoldiers (better than Vietnamese Assault Pioneer , better than the US Navy Seal, better than Russian Alpha Group, ....)
2/ Indonesia simply suck at fighting rebel.
I shall let people find their own answer
Viet
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Just making a thought on the US decision to withdraw from INF.
According to US, China has about 2,000 ballistic and cruise missiles with 280 nuclear warheads. Interestingly, China has not signed any arms control regime like the INF treaty between the US and USSR. The treaty prohibits all land based ballistic and cruise missiles with range between 500km and 5,500km.
the question: when 80 percent of China missile arsenal are of short range, they can’t reach America, so what potential targets will they be used for?
Beautiful missiles from the PLA
the missiles are certainly destined for targets in Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Philippines.
The US seeks to station land based ballistic and cruise missiles in East Asia. That will be interesting to know which countries will host the missiles.
According to US, China has about 2,000 ballistic and cruise missiles with 280 nuclear warheads. Interestingly, China has not signed any arms control regime like the INF treaty between the US and USSR. The treaty prohibits all land based ballistic and cruise missiles with range between 500km and 5,500km.
the question: when 80 percent of China missile arsenal are of short range, they can’t reach America, so what potential targets will they be used for?
Beautiful missiles from the PLA
the missiles are certainly destined for targets in Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Philippines.
The US seeks to station land based ballistic and cruise missiles in East Asia. That will be interesting to know which countries will host the missiles.
Aqsuperman
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VPA tankers in ArmyGame 2019. So far, the odds are against us with all teams in the lot have substantial experience with T-72 while Vietnam only recently fielded T-90
Viet
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Women power
The lady is beautiful
Interestingly EU’s national security and military affairs are increasingly handled by women. The new defense minister of Germany is a woman. She replaced a women that goes to Brüssel to become the head of EU ruling body.
Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and Federica Mogherini (L), Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, arrive at a joint press conference after a meeting with at the Government Guesthouse in Hanoi, Vietnam, 05 August 2019. Mogherini is on an official visit to Vietnam from 03 to 05 August 2019.
The lady is beautiful
Interestingly EU’s national security and military affairs are increasingly handled by women. The new defense minister of Germany is a woman. She replaced a women that goes to Brüssel to become the head of EU ruling body.
Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and Federica Mogherini (L), Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, arrive at a joint press conference after a meeting with at the Government Guesthouse in Hanoi, Vietnam, 05 August 2019. Mogherini is on an official visit to Vietnam from 03 to 05 August 2019.
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