Analysts: Vietnam Expanding Fishing Militia In South China Sea
Voice of America
TAIPEI - Vietnam’s maritime militia in the South China Sea shows signs of growing over the past decade, say scholars and a research institution in China where the government disputes parts of the waterway with Hanoi.
According to the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a research organization based in the Chinese province of Hainan, the 12-year-old militia numbers between 46,000 to 70,000 personnel. It says 13 platoons with a combined 3,000 people operate near the sea’s contested Paracel Islands and another 10,000 people operate armed fishing boats off southern Vietnam. Ten years ago the militia "was just starting up", said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center in Washington. “They are trying to expand the maritime militia,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “The idea is that the existing maritime militia needs to expand its manpower.”FILE - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during Xi's visit in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this picture released by by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), June 21, 2019. A news program broadcasts file images of a rocket launch by North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, May 28, 2024. A rocket launched by North Korea to deploy the country's second spy satellite exploded shortly after liftoff on May 27, state media reported.
A man walks past election posters of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), as South Africa prepares for the May 29 general elections, in Soweto, May 24, 2024. African National Congress (ANC) supporters sing songs during the political party's final rally ahead of the upcoming election at FNB stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. May 25, 2024.