Vietnam—a United States security partner in Southeast Asia—is set to participate in a joint army exercise with China for the first time, a neighboring country with which it has maritime disputes.Newsweek has contacted the Vietnamese Defense Ministry for further comment via email.Vietnam and China claim sovereignty over two island groups in the South China Sea—the Spratlys and the Paracels. In response to Beijing's growing presence in the region, which has often led to standoffs and clashes, Hanoi has followed its rival's example by consolidating its presence on islands it controls through land reclamation and the construction of military infrastructure.
Once adversaries during the Vietnam War, the U.S. and Vietnam have gradually expanded their defense partnership since normalizing diplomatic relations in 1995. This includes the transfer of former U.S. Coast Guard vessels and the delivery of U.S. military training aircraft, enhancing the Southeast Asian nation's capacity to protect its sovereignty in disputed waters.A Chinese soldier participates in a mine sweeping training exercise at a minefield along the China-Vietnam border in southwest China's Yunnan Province in late August 2018. Peng Xi/Chinese military
Chinese and Vietnamese ground forces will conduct a training exercise in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region—located in South China and bordering Vietnam—in mid to late July, focusing on joint border patrol, China's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.According to Beijing, the joint exercise aims to enhance what it calls "mutual learning and exchange of border patrol experiences" and deepen cooperation between the two militaries.
This marks the third cooperative engagement between Chinese and Vietnamese forces since April, when their naval forces and coast guards conducted two separate joint patrols in the Beibu Gulf—also known as the Gulf of Tonkin—off the coasts of Vietnam and China.While the Chinese military did not reveal the duration of the exercise, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported that the drill began on Monday and is scheduled to end on July 30.
Citing Chinese military expert Zhang Junshe, the report stated that the exercise is essential to maintaining peace and stability along the China-Vietnam border and in the broader region.Beijing and Hanoi agreed in 1999 to clearly define their 900-mile-long land border. Border demarcation and marker placement were completed in 2008, and the two neighboring countries signed three legal documents on land border management the following year.
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