From China Daily
Beijing has expressed concern about Vietnam’s plan to equip fishery patrol boats with “military-use weapons”.
Vietnamese fishing boat. (HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)
Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs under the Foreign Ministry, raised the issue after the Vietnamese government amended weapon-related laws and regulations on July 29.
As a result, the country’s fishery administration ships “will be equipped with military-use weapons as of Sept 15”, Vietnam local media Tuoi Tre Online reported on Friday.
The fishery watchdog personnel and sailors will be allowed to use pistols and machine guns, the news reports said.
Experts said coast guard ships are generally allowed to be equipped with arms, but fishery patrol boats are not.
Yi said he noticed the report and said Vietnam’s choice is “unwise within the current context”.
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