Vietnam to Buy Patrol Boats With Japanese Aid

Japan will provide Vietnam with 200 million yen (US$1.6 million) as aid to buy used Japanese patrol boats in the 2015 fiscal year.

A joint statement issued Tuesday following Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Japan said.

The two sides issued the statement on a “joint vision” for their relations after the talks between Trong and Abe, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The two sides expressed serious concerns over the massive land reclamation work and construction of outposts, which intensify tensions, damage trust and threaten peace and stability in the region and the world, the statement says, without identifying China by name.

Last year, Japan announced the plan to provide Vietnam with six patrol vessels as part of a 500 million yen (US$4 million) aid. Two have been delivered and the other four are to be delivered by December, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.