Vietnam’s arms build up intensifies South China sea row

The ruling Communist Party’s goal is to deter its giant northern neighbour as tensions rise over the disputed South China Sea, and if that fails, to be able to defend itself on all fronts, senior officers and people close to them told Reuters. Vietnam’s strategy has moved beyond contingency planning. Key units have been placed on “high combat readiness” - an alert posture to fend off a sudden attack - including its elite Division 308, which guards the mountainous north. 

The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1979. The likely flashpoint this time is in the South China Sea, where they have rival claims in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos. “We don’t want to have a conflict with China and we must put faith in our policy of diplomacy,” a senior Vietnamese official told Reuters. “But we must be ready for the worst.” Significantly, Hanoi is creating a naval deterrent with the purchase of six advanced Kilo-class submarines from Russia. The first of those submarines have started patrolling the South China Sea. 

Militarily, the tensions are palpable at the headquarters of Division 308, Vietnam’s most elite military unit, where senior army officers talk repeatedly about “high combat readiness”. “When Vietnam refers to the ‘new situation’, they are using coded language to refer to the rising likelihood of an armed confrontation or clash with China, particularly in the South China Sea,” said Carl Thayer, professor, Australia’s Defence Force Academy in Canberra and an expert in Vietnam’s military.