HONG KONG (Reuters) – Vietnam will soon have a credible naval deterrent to China in the South China Sea. China has claimed all the waters beyond the immediate coasts of Vietnam and Philippines, including using oil platforms to build structures within chains of off shore islands claimed by the former US foe and US ally.
The former US foe is negotiating a return of US ships to service and dock in Cam Ranh Bay. More important, that Bat also now is the home port for two of the state-of-the-art diesel submarines built in Russia and plans for four more. The total fleet of state of the art, quiet submarines is 50% of the six of China’s total fleet of similar vessels and is very potent with torpedoes capable of travelling nearly 200 kim. While China’s total sub fleet is over 70 vessels, these must deal with an huge expanse of coast and water, giving the small Vietnamese fleet a very credible way of threatening Chinese aggression.
Collin Koh of Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies is quoted by Reuters as saying “Sea denial means creating a psychological deterrent by making sure a stronger naval rival never really knows where your subs might be,” “It is classic asymmetric warfare utilized by the weak against the strong and something I think the Vietnamese understand very well. ”