DEFENSE NEWS UPDATE FEBRUARY 2023

 

1. VIETNAM, CAMBODIA IDENTIFY DEFENCE COOPERATION DIRECTIONS FOR 2023.

The two sides have shown their determination to help strengthen the Cambodia – Việt Nam ties through promoting extensive partnerships and effectively implementing their annual cooperation plans.

Vietnamese Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Văn Giang and Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh reviewed the guard of honour as they hold official talks in Hà Nội on Sunday.

Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Văn Giang and visiting Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, Gen. Tea Banh, reviewed their ministries’ cooperation in 2022 and agreed on a cooperation plan for this year during talks in Hà Nội on Sunday.

Addressing the talks, which were held following an official welcome ceremony for the Cambodia official, Minister Giang expressed his belief that Gen. Tea Banh’s official visit to Việt Nam will be successful and create a new impetus for the two countries’ friendship, including between the two defence ministries and militaries.

The Cambodian official held that cooperation between the two militaries has continued to be enhanced and reaped fruitful results despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The two sides have shown their determination to strengthen the Cambodia – Việt Nam ties by promoting extensive partnerships and effectively implementing their annual cooperation plans.

Both host and guest shared the view that 2022, designated as the “Việt Nam – Cambodia and Cambodia – Việt Nam Friendship Year”, held special significance to the countries’ relations. Nearly 30 symbolic activities were organised by the two defence ministries last year, including the first border defence friendship exchange in May; the ceremony marking 45 years since the start of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s journey to topple the genocidal Pol Pot regime held in June; the third annual meeting of the defence ministers of Việt Nam, Laos, and Cambodia, and the first joint rescue exercise among the three militaries in September.

Agencies and units of both sides have also maintained information sharing, safeguarded security and order along the land border and at sea, and fruitfully carried out the 2022 cooperation plan.

Agreeing on the defence cooperation plan for 2023, the two ministers laid emphasis on some areas, including increasing information sharing and conducting joint patrols to maintain security and order on land and at sea; coordinating closely with each other to build a long-term communication plan to popularise the solidarity and mutual assistance between the countries’ Governments, peoples, and militaries, especially on the occasion of big anniversaries such as the 70th founding anniversary of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces in 2023 and the 80th anniversary of the Việt Nam People’s Army in 2024; working together to effectively implement cooperation activities related to Cambodia’s hosting of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) and the 12th ASEAN Para Games; and continuing joint efforts to search for and repatriate remains of Việt Nam’s volunteer soldiers and experts who died during wartime in Cambodia.

Concluding the talks, the ministers inked the 2023 cooperation plan and witnessed the signing of the two defence ministries’ memorandum of understanding on cooperation in military and defence law.

(By Vietnam News)

 

2. YOUTH IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY START MILITARY SERVICE IN 2023.

In the bustling atmosphere on February 6, youths in the whole country were enlisted in the military to perform their service in 2023.

On February 6, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi held a ceremony to hand over recruits to military units in 2023. Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Dinh Tien Dung attended the event and encouraged youths of Ba Dinh district to join the military.

Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Dinh Tien Dung presenting flowers to encourage the youths

* Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong also joined an enlistment festival in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong encouraging local youths

The quality of young people enlisted in the military this year in the province was reportedly higher than last year in terms of physical health, education level, and political stance.

* In the same day, all localities in Hung Yen province held similar ceremonies to hand over recruits to military units. Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien attended the ceremony held in the province’s Yen My district.

Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien talks with a new recruit.

In 2023, Hung Yen province has a target to recruit more than 1,800 youths to military units such as Army Corps 2, President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Protection Command, the VPA’s General Staff and Military Region 3.

In the implementation of enlistment in 2023, all localities of Hung Yen province well conducted procedures of recruitment examination for citizens. Meanwhile, the Hung Yen provincial Military Command also directed its affiliated units to issue orders to complete announcing the enlistment before January 20, 2022.

* Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Le Huy Vinh attended an enlistment ceremony in Gia Lam district, Hanoi.

Senior Lieutenant General Le Huy Vinh attends an enlistment ceremony in Gia Lam.

According to Chairman of the Gia Lam district People’s Committee Dang Thi Huyen, over the past time, local authorities have paid much importance to selecting and calling up citizens in 2023 as regulated.

During national resistance wars, the local armed forces, together with other 14 communes and towns, were honored with the noble title “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.”

* Youths of Bac Ninh province also joined the enlistment festival of the whole country. Deputy Chief of the General Staff Senior Lieutenant General Huynh Chien Thang was present at the event.

Senior Lieutenant General Huynh Chien Thang encouraging the enlisted youths

Thanks to timely dissemination work and promotion of the synergy of the whole political system in the implementation of the Law on Military Service, the province accomplished all set targets in 2023.

* On February 6, at Lang Son Trade Fair Center, Lang Son city (Lang Son province) organized a ceremony to send enlisted youths to units.

Deputy Chief of the VPA’s General Staff Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia presenting flowers to the new recruits

Secretary of the Lang Son Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Quoc Doan and Deputy Chief of the VPA’s General Staff Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia attended the event to encourage the enlistees.

In 2023, Lang Son city has 113 young people performing service in military and public security units.

On the same day, districts of Lang Son province also simultaneously held similar ceremonies. At 9:30a.m., the task was basically completed. The whole province of Lang Son assigned 1,460 citizens to military and public security units.

* Deputy Chief of the VPA’s General Department of Political Affairs (GDP) Senior Lieutenant General Do Can attended a ceremony in Thach That district, Hanoi, which handed over recruits to military units.

Senior Lieutenant General Do Can during the enlistment ceremony in Thach That district, Hanoi

Promoting the heroic traditions of the forefathers, the locals have gained remarkable achievements in socio-economic development, and ensuring political security as well as social order.

* The same day, GDP Deputy Chief Lieutenant General Le Quang Minh joined the enlistment ceremony in Ninh Binh province.

GDP Deputy Chief Lieutenant General Le Quang Minh presenting gifts to the troops

Reportedly, over the past time, the local authorities have strictly observed the Party’s guideline and policies and State law in recruitment work.

Youths in the whole country join military service in 2023

Prior to the event, the locality also inquired after and presented gifts to encourage the new recruits.

(By QDND News)

3. HOW A NEW VIETNAM- INDONESIA DEAL WILL AFFECT SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES.

A recent agreement between Indonesia and Vietnam over maritime boundaries in the South China Sea will likely smooth over the occasionally tense relationship between the two South East Asian nations.

The agreement, inked Dec. 22, follows 12 years of negotiations, and comes 19 years after both countries adopted a delineation of the continental shelf boundary between them.

Details of the agreement and the delineation remain classified. The Vietnamese and Indonesian defense ministries did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

“Practically, the successful Indonesia-Vietnam EEZ [exclusive economic zone] demarcation will help both countries to resolve illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which has been a serious bilateral irritant and a broader issue involving third-party countries, including China and Thailand,” according to Bich Tran, a visiting fellow writing in the Fulcrum, a publication of the ISEAS—Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

The agreement also “provides hope for the strengthening of the region’s commitment to international maritime norms and principles, as encapsulated in the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he wrote, allowing the two countries “to assert their respective sovereign international maritime rights and enforce their maritime interests.”

According to international law, an exclusive economic zone includes waters extending up to 200 nautical miles from a country’s coast, where that nation has exclusive rights to explore and exploit the natural resources within.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Rento Marsudi, right, welcomes her Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Feb. 3, 2023.

A security ship crew member of Indonesia’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries works on a map during a patrol in the South China Sea in 2016.

The new agreement caps off high-profile visits of senior Indonesian and Vietnamese leaders to each other’s countries over the past year, beginning with a May visit to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi by Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto to meet his counterpart, Gen. Phan Văn Giang.

During the visit, both countries agreed to step up cooperation between their respective security and defense agencies, including increased bilateral interactions, training and consultations.

This was followed by a December visit to Indonesia by then-Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who attended a summit with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo in the city of Bogor. It was this meeting where both countries agreed on the boundaries between their respective exclusive economic zones.

Disputes over territory have become commonplace in the nearby South China Sea, where Vietnam and Indonesia are among at least five other regional countries asserting sovereignty over local geographic features.

This latest agreement settled a long-standing dispute over Indonesia and Vietnam’s overlapping EEZ claims, punctuated by arrests and clashes between fishermen and coast guard agencies from both countries. However, it’s unlikely Indonesia will now more vocally oppose China’s assertiveness in the area.

Indonesia has often said it is not a party to South China Sea disputes, although China’s nine-dash line claim to ownership of regional waters overlaps with Indonesian EEZ claims north and east of the latter’s Natuna islands.

China sent letters through diplomatic channels in 2021 demanding Indonesia stop drilling for oil and gas in waters where these claims overlap, according to a Reuters report. It had also sent Coast Guard and hydrographic survey vessels to monitor drilling activities.

The Indonesian government has not commented on the report, although it previously said it does not recognize China’s nine-dash line claims.

This is in line with Indonesia’s tendency to play down disputes with China. The island nation depends heavily on trade with China, which is also Jakarta’s largest source of foreign investment. Trade between the countries was valued at $78.5 billion in 2020, according to China’s customs service. Collin Koh, a research fellow specializing in maritime security and naval affairs at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Defense News Indonesia has subtly used various tools to push back against China. But he does not envisage Indonesia using “more forceful measures with its maritime forces against Chinese transgressions in the concerned areas within the North Natuna Sea.”

Instead, he predicts Jakarta will redouble its diplomatic efforts, for example, through the Association of South East Asian Nations or with likeminded member states, and even “press on with its offshore energy projects in the North Natuna Sea.”

(By DefenseNews.com)

4. VIETNAM FEELS IMPACT OF RUSSIA- UKRAINE WAR IN ENERGY PRICES, DEFENCE INDUSTRY.

Vietnam’s state utility EVN says it could run out of cash by May unless it raises electricity prices.

(After China and India, Vietnam has the world’s third-largest pipeline of new coal power projects)

Vietnam may be thousands of kilometres away from the Russia-Ukraine war, but it is feeling the effects of the conflict, particularly in energy prices and its defence industry.

The Southeast Asian country is seeking to hike electricity prices for the first time since 2019 amid the ongoing global energy crisis, following record losses by its state utility.

Vietnam produces around 40 million tonnes of coal each year and imports another 29 million tonnes or so, with most of the coal going towards fuelling the country’s power plants.

However, the cost of doing so has increased exponentially.

“Because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the price of coal in the global market in 2022 has increased by sixfold since 2020, and by 2.6-fold since 2021,”  said chairman of Vietnam Valuation Association Nguyen Tien Thoa.

Vietnam’s state utility EVN has forecast it could run out of cash by May this year unless it raises electricity prices. This comes as the firm expects combined losses of nearly US$4 billion for 2022 and this year.

“I estimate that the increase should be at least 15 per cent in order to support the financial situation of the electricity industry,” said Mr Nguyen Tien Thoa.

However, such an increase will pose challenges to inflation control and “greatly affect” manufacturing and living costs, he noted.

NEED FOR TRANSPARENCY

Vietnam’s electricity price currently stands at less than US$0.08 per kWh.

While some experts suggested increasing the price gradually, in phases, others called for transparency from the state utility on how it would derive the figure for a possible hike.

Dr Ngo Duc Lam, an analyst from the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance, acknowledged the need to increase the electricity price because of higher costs, but called for fair competition with more market players.

“It is the market rule. But it should be a true market where there is competition, it should not be a market with solely state utility EVN,” he said.

FEELING THE PINCH 

Small businesses in Hanoi’s Old Quarter are already feeling the pinch, as prices of raw materials spiral. A kilogramme of coal now costs 50 per cent more, compared to two years ago, and blacksmiths are feeling the heat.

Blacksmith Nguyen Phuong Hung said: “If the electricity price increase is too high, it will be too difficult for people with limited income.

“It will be more difficult for workers. So policymakers need to carefully consider the impact.”

Mr. Hung said he will pass down any increase in electricity prices to consumers, by raising the prices of his products.

IMPACT OF WAR ON DEFENCE INDUSTRY

The ongoing war has also disrupted Vietnam’s plans to modernise its armed forces by 2030, given that the country is the largest importer of Russian arms in the region.

Since Vietnam started its military modernisation programme in the late 1990s, Russia has been its main supplier of weapons and defence systems.

“Vietnam’s planning took place when Russia was the obvious source for everything,” said Emeritus Professor of Politics Carlyle Thayer, from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra.

But since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, “strategic uncertainty entered the picture”, said Prof Thayer.

It has now become crucial for Vietnam to develop its domestic defence industry and accelerate its diversification of arms imports away from Russia.

“It will push the military to invest more in the Vietnam domestic industrial defence complex. The Vietnamese military has to build, has to make its own weapons in order to meet its demands,” said Mr Nguyen The Phuong, a PhD candidate in the Maritime Security Program at UNSW Canberra whose research interests include Vietnam’s military and naval affairs.

The country has expanded defence cooperation with countries such as India and Israel, with a focus on technology transfer.

But even as Vietnam tries to reduce its reliance on Russia in this area, experts said Russia is likely to remain as its most important source of military arms.

(By CNA – Channel News Asia)

5. SOUTH KOREAN DEFENCE MINISTER DENIES VIETNAM WAR MASSACRES.

Minister said the court ruling dishonoured South Korean soldiers by finding them responsible for the massacre of Vietnamese villagers.

South Korean Vietnam War veterans and their family members participate in a rally in Seoul in 2012 to mark the 48th anniversary commemorating South Korea’s participation in the war as a US ally

South Korea’s defence minister has said his country’s soldiers did not massacre civilians during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and indicated the government will appeal a ruling that ordered compensation be paid to a Vietnamese woman who was the victim of a shooting rampage blamed on South Korean marines in 1968.

South Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong-Sup told a parliamentary committee on Friday that his ministry is certain there were “absolutely no massacres committed by our troops” during the Vietnam War, and the court decision damaged the honour of South Korean soldiers.

“We cannot agree with the ruling … We will hold discussions with related agencies to determine our next legal step,” Lee said when asked about the recent ruling by the Seoul Central District Court.

The court ordered the government to pay 30 million won ($23,000) to 62-year-old Nguyen Thi Thanh, who survived a gunshot to her stomach but lost five family members — including her mother and two siblings — after South Korean marines swept through her village of Phong Nhi in central Vietnam on February 12, 1968.

Thanh said in court filings that she was just eight years old when the massacre took place and that she was shot in the stomach by a South Korean soldier requiring her to spend almost a year in hospital.

According to US military documents and survivors, more than 70 people were killed that day when South Korean marines allegedly fired at unarmed civilians while occupying Phong Nhi and nearby Phong Nhut. The rampage followed after at least one South Korean soldier was injured by nearby enemy gunfire.

South Korean troops of the White Horse Division with three Vietnamese prisoners during the war in Vietnam in 1966

The February 7 ruling marked the first time a South Korean court has found the government responsible for mass killings of Vietnamese civilians during the war and could potentially open the way for similar lawsuits.

South Korea, which was then ruled by anti-communist military leaders, sent more than 320,000 personnel to Vietnam, the largest foreign contingent fighting alongside US troops.

In awarding the compensation to Thanh, the court dismissed the government’s claims that there was no conclusive evidence that South Korean troops were responsible for the killings. Government lawyers had suggested that the culprits may have been Vietnamese Communist fighters disguised in South Korean uniforms.

The lawyers were also unsuccessful in arguing that civilian killings were unavoidable because the South Korean troops were dealing with rebels who often blended in with everyday Vietnamese villagers.

Lee repeated those government arguments during Friday’s parliamentary session, saying the situation at the time was “very complicated”.

Thanh’s lawyers had claimed there was no way to justify the killings when South Korean veterans who spoke about the shootings said they did not face any meaningful resistance or aggression from villagers, who were rounded up and shot from close range.

South Korea’s Justice Ministry, which represents the government in lawsuits, said it would closely examine the court ruling and discuss it with related agencies, including the defence ministry, before determining whether to appeal.

The government must appeal within two weeks of formally receiving a copy of the ruling, which according to Thanh’s lawyers was delivered on Friday.

The Korea Times newspaper published an editorial shortly after the court ruling in favour of Thanh in which it called on the government to admit to atrocities during the Vietnam War.

“Yes, many Korean soldiers were killed and wounded in Vietnam due to the government’s policy. Some still suffer from aftereffects, including side effects of the defoliant Agent Orange,” the newspaper wrote.

“However, killing unarmed civilians, including women and children, is a war crime that is unjustifiable under any circumstance. The executive branch must admit what it must admit ― and apologize and compensate.”

(By Aljazeera News)

THE-END