Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made an unmatched visit to the Memorial for the Johnson South Reef Battle in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa province at the weekend. He paid homage to the 64 Vietnamese soldiers who were killed in the incident on March 14, 1988. Chinh was the very first top Vietnamese leader to lead such a ceremony of the fallen soldiers.
Vietnamese leaders have seemingly wanted to avoid upseting China, and for the public not to dwell on the command errors that may have led to the defeat.
( President Vladimir) Putins justifications to release an offensive war on the flimsy basis of having when managed that area and historical affinity sets a really harmful precedent for Chinese hostility in Southeast Asia, in basic, and Vietnam, in particular,” he said.
In an unusually vibrant move, the Vietnam government has actually honored the 34th anniversary of a fight against the Chinese navy in the South China Sea with a ceremony led by the prime minister and a front page editorial Monday in the ruling celebrations mouthpiece.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made an extraordinary visit to the Memorial for the Johnson South Reef Battle in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa province at the weekend. He commemorated the 64 Vietnamese soldiers who were eliminated in the event on March 14, 1988. Chinh was the first top Vietnamese leader to lead such a commemoration of the fallen soldiers.
Johnson South, or Gac Ma in Vietnamese, is a reef in the Spratly islands in the South China Sea. In mid-March 1988, the Vietnamese navy sent two transportation ships and a landing ship to attempt to declare a few of the reefs in the disputed Union Banks, consisting of Johnson South.
While the Vietnamese soldiers were moving building product onto the reef and setting up a flag, they came under fire from the Chinese soldiers. According to China, the Vietnamese opened fire initially.
In just a couple of hours, 64 mainly unarmed Vietnamese soldiers were killed and 9 were captured, the largest loss suffered by the Vietnamese armed force at sea since the end of the Vietnam War. Johnson South Reef has been under Chinas control given that.
For a long time, the fight was not talked about in public and already, is still not consisted of in the school curriculum. When discussed by Vietnamese state-controlled media, they tend to omit the word “China” and replace it with “foreign forces.” Vietnamese leaders have actually apparently desired to prevent angering China, and for the general public not to stay on the command errors that may have led to the defeat.
Activists and netizens, nevertheless, have actually been asking on internet forums why the soldiers were not equipped and why were they not enabled to eliminate back.
Front page news
Things have actually altered this year.
Nhan Dan daily, the Communist Partys main paper, on Monday ran 3 posts on the Johnson South Reef fight and the Spratlys on its front page.
The primary short article, entitled “Eternal splendor to the sea protectors,” condemned the Chinese navy for being “a blatant force, ignorant of justice and factor,” and said their military action was totally unprovoked.
Another report covered an “incense-offering event to celebrate the martyrs on the 34th anniversary of the Gac Ma Battle” in Danang.
The leading post reported on Prime Minister Chinhs check out to Khanh Hoa province, the administrative headquarters of Vietnams Spratly islands.
Chinh was quoted as ordering the local government to develop the Spratlys into “an economic, cultural and social center” in the South China Sea.
” This is a clear message of maritime sovereignty and self-reliance,” stated a Vietnamese analyst who does not desire to be named as he is not authorized to speak to foreign media.
Another political expert and popular blogger, Huy Duc, composed on his Facebook page: “This [the prime ministers order] is a tactical action towards establishing our policy fortress to defend Vietnams sovereignty at sea and our islands.”
” No nation can select its next-door neighbors but a dignified country would never ever be imprisoned by geography,” Duc stated.
Zachary Abuza, a teacher at the National War College in Washington, D.C., stated that the Vietnamese federal government is “trying to indicate resolve, particularly as the world is pre-occupied with the war in Ukraine.”
” I think you also have to take a look at it in the context of the war in Ukraine,” Abuza said.
In his viewpoint, the Vietnamese government has actually been “overtly pro-Russia and abstained on the U.N.vote against Moscow due to their long historic relations and the fact that they are one of the biggest customers of Russian weapons.”
( President Vladimir) Putins justifications to introduce an offensive war on the flimsy basis of having actually when managed that area and historical affinity sets an extremely dangerous precedent for Chinese aggression in Southeast Asia, in general, and Vietnam, in specific,” he said.
China claims sovereignty over all of the Spratly islands, where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have claims..
( function( d, s, id)
(file, script, facebook-jssdk));.
Source link.
A screenshot of Nhan Dan dailys frontpage on March 14, 2022. The main short article at the foot of the page is an editorial with the heading: “Eternal glory to the sea defenders.” Credit: Nhan Dan.
