By Ankit Panda
Japan will sell Vietnam six used maritime surveillance vessels in a deal worth $5 million.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, on a visit to Hanoi this week, announced that Japan will provide Vietnam with six naval ships for the purpose of patrolling the South China Sea. The deal will amount to 500 million yen (roughly $5 million) and is likely to anger China, which recently faced off against Vietnam over the positioning of a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters off the Paracel Islands. The deal marks a continuing trend in Japanese foreign and security policy of stepping up arms exports and defense deals following the lifting of Japan’s self-imposed 1967 ban on weapons imports. Japan is also exporting weapons to India, and will collaborate on defense development with the U.K.and France.
Kishida announced the deal by noting that both Japan and Vietnam have agreed upon “maintaining peace and stability” in regional waters. Additionally, he added that both sides had agreed that maritime disputes ought to be resolved “in accordance with maritime law.” Vietnam recently threatened to take China to an international court over the oil rig dispute. Notably, Japan is selling Vietnam used surveillance vessels. According to Reuters, the ships will be accompanied by “training and equipment to help the coastguard and fisheries surveillance effort.” Additionally, according to anonymous Japanese government sources, Japan will further provide Vietnam with radar equipment. ”I hope that this support will contribute to the enhancement of Vietnam’s maritime law enforcement capability,” Kishida said.
Read the full story at The Diplomat