Japan, Vietnam to bolster maritime security co-operation

TOKYO – Japan and Vietnam agreed Tuesday to bolster their security ties through Japanese-funded projects including the upgrading of Vietnamese coastal patrol capabilities, defence equipment and technology transfer amid concerns about China’s increasingly assertive activity in regional seas.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, held talks in Tokyo and shared “deep concern over the complex developments” involving China in the South China Sea. They urged China — without referring to it by name — to avoid taking actions to change the status quo and escalate regional tensions.

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by several other countries in the region including Vietnam.

Japan and Vietnam signed more than a dozen agreements, including one for 38 billion yen ($350 million) in Japanese aid to upgrade Vietnamese coast guard vessels and their patrol capability.

Abe said Japan hopes to enhance co-operation to strengthen “a free and open international order based on the rule of law,” calling it “the cornerstone of stability and prosperity for international society.”

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Associated Press videojournalist Emily Wang in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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