On Monday, during a visit to Hanoi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged six additional patrols boats for Vietnam’s coast guard, reiterating a commitment first articulated by the Japanese leader in September 2016.
The Japanese prime minister’s stop in Hanoi this week concludes a Southeast Asian and Australian diplomatic tour. Abe also stopped over in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia during his current trip.
“We will strongly support Vietnam’s enhancing its maritime law enforcement capability,” Abe said in Hanoi, where he will remain until Tuesday.
Monday’s announcement dovetails with ongoing Japanese policy toward the region. On the sidelines of last year’s ASEAN-related summits in Vientiane, Laos, Abe conveyed Japan’s interest in continuing to bolster Vietnam’s maritime law enforcement and surveillance capabilities via a patrol boat sale.
In 2014, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida pledged six used vessels for Vietnam’s coast guard, two of which were former Japanese Fisheries Agency patrol boats and four of which were regular commercial fishing boats.
