The Dhaka Times Desk China threatened Vietnam with war. It was reported on Wednesday that Vietnam has deployed mobile rocket launchers to disputed islands in the South China Sea.
This issue was not taken lightly by Beijing. "Vietnam has made a grave mistake," wrote an editorial in China's state-run Global Times newspaper. Beijing's threat through the press is that Vietnam should remember that the last time there was a Sino-Vietnamese war, China won that war.
Sino-Vietnamese tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea have been ongoing for a long time. China seized many islands of the Spratlys Archipelago from Vietnam in the 1988 war. The Vietnam Navy suffered heavy losses in that battle. But now the Vietnam Navy is not as weak as before. That is why Vietnam wants to secure the areas of the Spratlys Islands where China has not set foot yet. Vietnam is more confident after an international tribunal last month declared Beijing's aggression in the South China Sea completely illegal.
Hanoi had already started hinting that the Vietnamese Navy would set foot on several islands in the Spratlys. Vietnam has already sent mobile rocket launchers to several islands in the Spratlys, Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday, citing senior Western officials. They are also deployed on some islands, from where Chinese military infrastructure built up elsewhere in the disputed islands can be struck at any time.
Responding to the Reuters news, Washington said it was aware of Vietnam's move. Washington has also commented that the current situation in the South China Sea requires all concerned countries to take moderate measures.
Within 24 hours, China reacted strongly. The Global Times report said, 'If China was the target of Vietnam's latest military action, it made a grave mistake. China said, "We hope that Vietnam will remember the history and try to learn some lessons from it."
It is now clear that this was written in the Global Times to remind Vietnam of its massive losses in the war with China.
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