![]() ![]() Hanoi currently concentrates its resources on the modernisation of naval and aerial capabilities. But while political relations warmed, China’s People’s Liberation Army was rapidly modernising, leaving its Vietnamese counterpart inferior and outdated.Ĭontested maritime territorial claims are the most likely cause of Sino-Vietnamese conflict. In the 1990s, the previously hostile bilateral relations between Hanoi and Beijing improved following the settlement of their land borders and the maritime border in the Gulf of Tonkin. The distribution of resources would come to be determined by another external factor – China. Thanks to the achievement of economic reform, resources for modernisation became available in the mid-1990s. Despite Vietnamese requests, the navy was relatively marginalised – no submarines were transferred to Hanoi from the Soviet Union.Īfter the termination of Soviet aid in 1992, Vietnam’s economy made a painful transformation under the Doi Moi policy, and maintenance of existing assets became a heavy burden. Due to Vietnam’s geostrategic environment, punctuated by the Sino-Vietnam War of 1979, Moscow chose to focus on strengthening Vietnam’s land force. Like most Communist countries during the Cold War, Vietnam received large transfers of Soviet military aid. Although these two developments took place during different generations of Vietnamese leadership, both loom large in Hanoi’s defence planning. Over the past 30 years, it has faced two major challenges: the collapse of the Soviet Union and China’s rising military power. The setting of Vietnam’s military posture has long been conducted in the shadows of superpowers. And Hanoi’s desire for deterrent power to manage its strategic uncertainty involves new friends and old foes. The Carl Vinson’s visit reminds us that compared to Vietnam’s centuries-old efforts to balance against Chinese power, its antagonism with the United States was comparatively short-lived. It was the first time since the War (the Vietnam War to Americans, and the American War to Vietnamese) that a US aircraft carrier anchored in Vietnamese waters – by invitation this time – for an official visit. On 5 March the USS Carl Vinson made a port call to Danang, in central Vietnam. ![]()
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