Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 9 Sep 1992 10:45:22 -0400
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS/VN: VN to shrink army despite China problems

09/07

Vietnam to shrink army despite China problems

    By Kathleen Callo
    HANOI, Sept 8, Reuter - Vietnam says it will continue to reduce the size of
its military, which once had one of the largest standing armies in the world,
despite recent tension with China over territorial disputes.
    Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam told Reuters the Hanoi
government would push forward with the big demobilisation it started in the
1980s.
    "We have been and will be reducing the size of the army. It is our desire to
preserve and consolidate peace and stability in the region," he said late on
Monday.
    "We will only keep a force that is sufficient to ensure the security of the
country," he said.
    Cam declined to give the size of the military or of planned reductions. Some
diplomats estimate Vietnam has cut its armed forces from one million soldiers in
the 1980s to some 600,000 now.
    Cam said Vietnam had tried to improve relations with China since they
normalised ties last November. They had been on icy terms following a 1979
border war launched by China.
    But he accused China of recently fuelling tension and worrying countries in
the region by making a push in the South China Sea.
    "It is regrettable that China has taken some action every two months to
impede the smooth normalisation of relations," he said.
    In the latest incident, Hanoi accused China of drilling for oil in
Vietnamese waters in the Tonkin Gulf. Cam reiterated Hanoi's demand for China to
remove an oil rig from the area.
    Cam said deputy foreign ministers from China and Vietnam were expected to
stick to an earlier plan to hold talks before September 20 and an experts'
meeting in October on territorial disputes.
    "It is regrettable that before these negotiations take place China has taken
the action to drill for oil in the Gulf of Tonkin," he said.
    "We are determined to normalise relations with China, but at the same time,
we are determined to protect our sovereignty and territorial integrity," he
said.
    Asked about Vietnam's first hijacking last Friday, Cam said such incidents
were one of the costs of Vietnam's decision to relax security and open up to the
world.
    The hijacker, an air force pilot of the former South Vietnamese government,
pulled a knife on a Vietnam Airlines flight and dropped anti-government leaflets
from the cockpit after making the crew circle the city.
    He then parachuted out and was captured.
    "In carrying out the open-door policy, it is good we can expand our
cooperation with other countries," Cam said.
    "But we also think there are outside forces that will take advantage, to try
to do harm to our security," he added.
    Communist Party officials told Reuters the hijacker, who had fled Vietnam
years ago, was a U.S. resident and belonged to a Vietnamese organisation active
in the United States and elsewhere that advocated the overthrow of the Hanoi
government.
    Cam urged foreign countries to stop hosting such groups.
    "Countries that wish to entertain friendship with Vietnam should not harbour
forces that would create harm to our security," he said.
    The Hanoi government launched free-market economic reforms in the 1980s that
have encouraged foreign investment and made it easier for overseas Vietnamese --
including those who fled after the communists won the war in 1975 -- to return.
    Cam said Vietnam wanted to normalise relations immediately with the United
States and urged Washington to lift the trade embargo it imposed on Hanoi in
1964.
    He said relations had improved since Washington began to ease sanctions last
year, but the pace was too slow.
    Cam said Vietnam would continue to help the United States answer questions
about American servicemen missing from the war. But he urged Washington to stop
making that cooperation -- and peace in Cambodia -- preconditions for
normalisation.
    "We do this (cooperation) even though we have tens of thousands of our own
missing. We think this problem can be put to an end," he said.
    Other government officials say there are some 300,000 Vietnamese missing
from the war.
    Cam said Vietnam hoped both sides would resolve the issue by the end of the
year.
    He said Vietnam wanted American oil companies and others to come to do
business here.
    "We are ready to create a business relationship with the U.S. side,
including in the field of oil exploration," Cam said.
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