Reuters, 11/05 15:58 CET
By My Pham and Idrees Ali
HANOI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Vietnam hosts a defense symposium this week attended by top American
arms manufacturers, ahead of a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama and
as Washington weighs whether to lift an arms embargo on its former
enemy.
Secrecy has surrounded the event staged by the communist
country and attended by firms including Boeing and Lockheed Martin. It
coincides with the biggest arms buildup in the country since the Vietnam
War.
There has been no mention in state-controlled media and defense reporters are not covering the forum. Efforts by Reuters to gain
permission to attend have been unsuccessful and Vietnam’s defense
ministry could not be reached for comment.
Vietnam has accelerated efforts to build a military
deterrent and is the world’s eighth largest weapons importer, as neighbor China intensifies its push to fortify South China Sea islands
it has either occupied or built from scratch.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute think-tank, which tracks defense trade over five-year periods,
Vietnam’s total arms imports during 2011-2015 represented a 699 percent
jump from 2006-2010.
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Source: Euronews
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