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Two Submarine hunters, previously donated by RoK government, will reportedly receive Kh35 antiship missiles.

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4,000 ton navy vessel with 40mm cannon

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Air Force generals Goldfein, Brown make historic visit to Vietnam
By Charles Pope, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published September 12, 2019



Air Force Chief of Staff nominee Gen. David L. Goldfein awaits the start of his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, June 16, 2016. In the background are his wife, Dawn; daughter, Diana; mother, Mary; and father, Bill.



JOE GROMELSKI/STARS AND STRIPES




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Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein meets with his Vietnamese counterpart, Lieutenant General Lê Huy Vịnh, during his historic visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, in August. Goldfein and Vinh discussed ways to strengthen the partnership between the two countries on a range of topics. “What was really rewarding was how sincerely warm the reception was,” Goldfein said. (Courtesy photo)




ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) --
As his plane approached Hanoi during the middle leg of a trip across the Indo-Pacific in August, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein confronted a set of powerful and unusual reactions as he peered out the window to the countryside below.

“I realized I was looking at the exact same picture my dad looked at in the cockpit of his F-4 (Phantom II); I looked down and saw this big river that was flowing very red with mud and I said, ‘Well, there it is, the Red River Valley’ as it came into view,” Goldfein said.

Gen. CQ Brown Jr, Pacific Air Forces commander, was on the flight as well. He too experienced a similar swell of memories and emotions as the plane closed in on Vietnam.

“As a young officer, my father did two tours in Vietnam working special operations intelligence and subsequently as an adviser to a South Vietnamese transportation unit. As we flew in, I reflected on my memories of my dad leaving home and at such a young age not fully appreciating he’d gone to war in this very country,” Brown said.

For Americans of a certain age like Goldfein and Brown, Vietnam remains an unshakable memory even today, 44 years after the era-defining war ended. The memory and the reactions it triggers are even more pronounced for people like Goldfein and Brown – second-generation service members whose fathers fought in a war whose legacy continues to influence military thinking and strategy to this day.

The view from the window and the memories it triggered, however, were misleading.

In two days of meetings with senior Vietnamese officials, the prevailing atmosphere was how best to work together. What Goldfein and Brown experienced was the new Vietnam.

“I wasn’t sure what kind of reception we’d get given our history between our two countries,” Goldfein conceded. “What was really rewarding was how sincerely warm the reception was.”

“Those that had once been my father’s adversaries were now our partners focused on common security interests,” Brown said. “We were warmly received by our Vietnam hosts, a complete (departure) from the reception experienced by our Vietnam-era POWs.”

That is no illusion. Despite an anguished past, the connection today between the United States and Vietnam has realized achievements on multiple fronts and holds potential for even broader cooperation.

The U.S. normalized trade relations with Vietnam in 1994 and diplomatic relations were fully restored in 1995. More recently, Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2007. Vietnam is now the United States’ 16th largest trading partner and the U.S. ranks as Vietnam’s third largest trading partner.

Along with Indonesia and Malaysia, Vietnam is emerging as an important fixture in a changing region. As such, U.S. policy toward Vietnam includes efforts to build a “strategic partnership” that is rooted in “common interests and principles, including freedom of navigation, respect for a rules-based order in accordance with international law and recognition of national sovereignty.”

Distinct actions clearly illustrate that posture and highlight the “then and now” nature of the relationship.

Goldfein’s visit marked the first time a U.S. Air Force chief of staff came to Vietnam since the war ended. Another major example of how relations have changed occurred last year, when a U.S. aircraft carrier came to Vietnam for the first time since the war ended.

More broadly, the U.S. military engages in numerous annual training exchanges and activities to enhance bilateral cooperation and interoperability with the Vietnam People’s Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard.

Experts support the conclusion by Goldfein and Brown that Vietnam offers an opportunity for the U.S. to cooperate on security issues.

“While disagreements over the (U.S.-Vietnam) trade imbalance could temporarily stall progress, China’s growing influence in the region will likely push U.S. and Vietnamese strategic interests closer together,” the Council on Foreign Relations concluded in a 2019 analysis of U.S. and Vietnam relations.

The connection came through during meetings, Goldfein said.

“Here we are sitting in this room as the second generation of combatants who went after one another all those years and we are talking about partnership. It was surreal,” he said of the conversation with senior Vietnamese military leaders in Hanoi.

“We’ve been very serious about legacy war issues, including efforts to help clean up dioxin (better known as Agent Orange, a cancer-causing defoliant that was sprayed across the countryside during the war). We’re also serious about the repatriation of remains, including Vietnamese remains when they are found,” Goldfein said.

Another catalyst is China, which is moving to expand its influence. It is especially active in the South China Sea off Vietnam’s coast.

Vietnam and other countries have taken note and reacted, Brown said.

“I’ve noticed the increased focus and whole-of-government efforts by nations to ensure a safe and secure environment free of coercion,” he said. “There is more bilateral and multilateral cooperation and collaboration than in year’s past.”

Despite the history, Goldfein said there were no awkward moments.

“None at all. If you think about it, this is not new. How many aces have befriended their fellow aces? … In every conflict afterwards, sometimes the profession of arms gets you beyond the animosities that got you to go to war in the first place.”

And yet, despite the emergence of the “new” Vietnam, memories of an earlier time were never far from Goldfein or Brown.

From their hotel in Hanoi, they could see the red rooftop of what remains of the notorious Hanoi Hilton, a prison camp operated by the North Vietnamese, where U.S. servicemen were held in harsh conditions in some cases for years. Among them were Air Force pilots Lee Ellis and Bud Day. Each endured more than five years in prison.

Goldfein, who during the trip was reading Ellis’s book, “Leading with Honor,” chronicling his years as a prisoner of war, was able to tour the prison with Brown.

“That only made it more personal, that I was standing in a cell that (Ellis) probably spent some time in or John McCain,” Goldfein said. “It’s pretty surreal and moving.”

Brown’s reaction was similar.

“Standing in one of the concrete cells for just a few moments. I reflected on the fact that many of our POWs spent not moments, but years in these cells under arduous conditions. It was a very sobering experience,” he said.
 
S. Korean Defense Ministry rejects petition from Vietnam War civilian massacre survivors
Posted on : Sep.28,2019 08:09 KST Modified on : Sep.28,2019 08:09 KST
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103 survivors demanded investigation into massacres in April
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The two Nguyens hold a press conference in front of the Blue House after submitting their petition for victims of civilian massacres by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War on Apr. 4.(Joh Yun-yeong, staff reporter)


Nguyen Thi Thanh, 59, is a survivor of a civilian massacre by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War. When she was seven years old, she lost her family members and suffered a bullet wound to her left side when South Korean soldiers indiscriminately slaughtered civilians in the village of Phong Nhi/Phong Nhat in Vietnam’s Quang Nam Province. Seventy-four villagers were killed on that day alone. South Korea sent 312,000 troops to Vietnam between September 1964 and 1972 –during which around 80 massacres of Vietnamese civilians were committed, with a total estimated death toll as high as 9,000.

On Apr. 4 of this year, Nguyen and 102 other victims submitted a petition to the South Korean government demanding an investigation into the massacres, a formal apology for the civilian losses, and recovery measures for the damages. Their claim was that Seoul “continues not to acknowledge the truth of the civilian massacres during the Vietnam War despite numerous opportunities, and has not taken any measures to apologize or restoring the victims’ honor.” It marks the first time Vietnamese survivors of civilian massacres during the war have petitioned a South Korean state institution.


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Nguyen Thi Thanh, a civilian massacre survivor from the Vietnam War, recalls how South Korean troops slaughtered her family and home village at the National Assembly in Seoul on Apr. 6, 2015. (Kim Gyoung-ho, staff photographer)


On Sept. 9, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) gave a belated response to the petition – long after the 90-day official response deadline had elapsed. It claimed that no information regarding civilian massacres by South Korean troops had been found in any of its documents, and said that while a joint investigation with Vietnamese authorities would have to come ahead of an independent investigation by South Korea, the “conditions had not yet been formed” for a joint investigation by the South Korean and Vietnamese governments.

Civic and social groups objected to what amounted – despite its decorous language – to an official rejection by Seoul of victims’ demand to know why South Korean troops had shot them and massacred their family members. Sixty groups, including the Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation and Citizen Association for Thinking about Vietnam and Korea, held a press conference in front of the MND complex in Seoul’s Yongsan District on the morning of Sept. 26, urging the government to take a more active stance in resolving historical issues.

The members identified two main problems with the MND’s response. First, noting that the civilian massacres during the war had aspects of war crimes, they argued that large-scale war times were “very unlikely” to have been indicated directly in the South Korean military’s combat records. Their position is that the ministry’s claim not to have found evidence of the massacres in an examination of its official documents showed an utter lack of understanding of the nature of war crimes by the state. They also said the MND could not be trusted in its reply about there being “no related records” when the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has declined to disclose even a list of investigation documents on the Vietnam War civilian massacres for the past three years, despite a court ruling. They claimed that ahead of a joint investment with Vietnamese authorities, the South Korean government could easily conduct a primary investigation using documents in its own possession and the US’.


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Corporal J. Vaughn of Delta-2 Platoon, US Marines, who documented the civilian massacre of Phong Nhi during the Vietnam War on Feb. 12, 1968. (Hankyoreh archives)


The groups also urged Seoul to comply with the principle of a victim-centered resolution. “Why is it that the same victim-centered approach adopted in demanding that Japan assume responsibility for illegal actions during colonization is only regarded as secondary when it comes to Vietnamese victimized by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War?” they asked. They went on to demand that Seoul at least set up an official investigation body with participating civilian experts for the incidents outlined by the 103 petitioners and, if the findings show a strong probability of legal violations by South Korean forces, to adopt measures to restore the victims’ honor, including an official apology and memorial projects for the affected regions.
 
The upgraded T54M tanks possess TIFCS-3BU fire control system and very solid explosive reactive armor. The latter is capable of resisting anti-tank shells fired from a distance of 100 meters and infantry guns fired at a range of 200-300 m.


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South China Sea: Fear of total war surge as Vietnamese Foreign Minister warns Beijing
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Vietnam's Foreign Minister has delivered a thinly veiled dig at China at the UN (Image: GETTY)
THE VIETNAMESE foreign minister Pham Binh Minh has warned against actions which could raise tensions over the hotly disputed South China Sea.
By GURSIMRAN HANS
PUBLISHED: 02:58, Sun,



Mr Pham’s comments are likely to be considered a direct warning to China. Beijing and Hanoi have disputes over the Spratly Islands, also claimed by The Philippines and Taiwan and the Parcacel Islands, also claimed by Taipei. Mr Pham, also Deputy Prime Minister said at the UN General Assembly: “Vietnam has on many occasions voiced its concerns over the recent complicated developments in the South China Sea, including serious incidents that infringed upon Vietnam’s sovereignty.

“Relevant states should exercise restraint and refrain from conducting unilateral acts, which might complicate or escalate tensions at sea, and settle disputes by peaceful means.”

Beijing has sent coastguard vessels to an energy block operated by Russia’s Rosnet Oil PJSC near Vietnamese shores.

The US has accused China of intimidating other claimants from developing resources in the disputed waters.

China has responded by accusing Washington of attempting sow discontent with other nations.


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A Vietnamese fishing vessel and Chinese naval ships in the disputed sea (Image: GETTY)


In a previous statement, Hanoi’s Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said: “Vietnam welcomes and is willing to join other nations and the international community” in order to maintain peace, stability and security.

The Vietnamese word for the South China Sea translates as East Sea.

One-third of international shipping passes throughout.

READ MORE: China unveil amphibious warship as South China Sea disputes go on
 
Model of a supply ship

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In a repair shop

Su27 fighter jet

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Firing Kh35 antiship missile from Molynia warship


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