By Prashanth Parameswaran
Tokyo and Hanoi strengthen their security and economic ties.
Japan and Vietnam agreed to strengthen their extensive strategic partnership Tuesday during the Vietnamese Communist Party chief’s first ever official visit to Tokyo.
Following a meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Japanese premier Shinzo Abe pledged that his country would provide new vessels and loans to Vietnam in a boost to economic and security ties.
Vietnam and Japan already have a robust relationship, with the two countries upgrading their relationship from a strategic partnership in 2009 to an extensive strategic partnership in 2014 (See: “The Future of US-Japan-Vietnam Trilateral Cooperation”). But the visit, Nguyen said in an interview with Japanese media outlets before his four-day trip to Japan, was aimed at “bringing Vietnam-Japan relations to a higher level.”
Abe’s new pledges are certainly a boost to the overall bilateral relationship. Security-wise, as I have written previously, to help strengthen Vietnam’s maritime law enforcement capabilities in the face of growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, Japan had already pledged to donate six used vessels to Hanoi during Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit there in August 2014 (See: “Japan Gifts Vietnam Patrol Vessel Amid South China Sea Tensions”).
Read the full story at The Diplomat