Vietnamese Coast Guard News

The U.S. Coast Guard transferred a high-endurance cutter to its Vietnamese counterpart in Honolulu, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said on Friday, in the latest effort to deepen ties with its former foe. The move follows an increase in exchanges between the two countries, ahead of a visit to the United States next week by the Vietnamese prime minister and a recent delivery of six patrol boats to the Vietnamese coast guard. The ship will help the Vietnam Coast Guard carry out maritime law enforcement, and conduct search and rescue and other humanitarian response operations, the embassy said in a statement. "This cutter provides a concrete and significant symbol of the U.S-Vietnam comprehensive partnership," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Michael J. Haycock, its chief acquisition officer.

Japan delivered on Tuesday two used ships to the Vietnamese Coast Guard to help the Southeast Asian country strengthen maritime security, reports the Japan Times. The two 600-ton vessels, provided in a ceremony in the city of Da Nang, will be refurbished into patrol boats in disputed waters of the South China Sea. The ships are the second delivery of a 2014 deal for Tokyo to provide Vietnam with six used fishing vessels that will be converted into patrol ships for Vietnam's coast guard and fisheries ministry. The Abe administration agreed last year to provide Vietnam with six used ships to help Hanoi cope with heightened tensions in the South China Sea. Two were delivered earlier and the remaining two will arrive by the end of this year.

China has again deployed the Haiyang Shiyou 981, a semi-submersible oil platform which caused a standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels last year, to the disputed South China Sea region, reports local media. China has brought the deepwater oil rig  near Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said on its website the oil rig is located at 17 degrees 03.75 minutes north latitude (17-03.75N) and 109 degrees 59.05 minutes east longitude (109-59.05E). According to Reuters the move comes soon after the country indicated it was close to setting up new outposts in the maritime heart of South-East Asia as it nears completion of land reclamation in the South China Sea. The announcement said the rig would explore for oil and gas until August 20.

The United States and Vietnam are committed to deepening their defense relationship, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi during a news conference with Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh. The US will provide $18 million to Vietnam to help procure coast guard patrol vessels, a first step in what Secretary of Defense Ash Carter hopes is a growing military relationship between those two countries. The initiative marks the first major development on defense cooperation between the two erstwhile enemies since the partial lifting of the decades-old U.S. arms embargo against Vietnam late last year (the embargo still excludes lethal arms). The U.S.

No new crewmembers or debris from the sunken vessel Bulk Jupiter have been detected during the recent search operations, ship’s owner Gearbulk Holding Limited reported. A fleet of vessels and planes, under direction of the Vietnamese Coast Guard are participating in the operations from where Bulk Jupiter issued distress signals. The Gearbulk vessel Sunbird Arrow is also assisting the SAR operation. A representative from Gearbulk's Bergen office has travelled to Vung Tao, Vietnam, where the surviving Cook and the bodies of the two deceased arrived yesterday. The cook was initially shielded from the public and taken to a hospital for appropriate medical attention before he was able to meet with authorities.

On December 16, Secretary of State John Kerry announced an initial commitment of $32.5 million in new regional and bilateral assistance to advance maritime capacity building in Southeast Asia. Including this new funding, our planned region-wide funding support for maritime capacity building exceeds $156 million for the next two years. As an example of our commitment to strengthen maritime capacities in Southeast Asia, the United States intends to provide up to $18 million in new assistance to Vietnam to enhance the capacity of coastal patrol units to deploy rapidly for search and rescue…