Vietnam has warned China that the radio jamming equipment that China has recently installed on the tiny China Sea island chain known as the Spratly Islands is, "as serious violation of Vietnam's sovereignty."
Excerpt with link (less than 50%):
" Le Thi Thu Hang told the press that the establishment of China's electronic warfare equipment to cause radio jamming on Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross on Truong Sa goes against international conventions and Vietnam requested the northern neighbor to remove the system.
She also told the press that China has repeatedly acted counter to international rules with its recent activities in the East Sea, including the underwater construction of You Lian Tuo 9 vessel and a sailboat race in waters off Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, which belong to Vietnam."
These two communist states have been quite friendly in the past. During America's "Vietnam War" China poured tons of aid, military advisors and equipment across the border into North Vietnam to support the communist revolution of Ho Chi Minh. Lots of China's neighbors in the China Sea region have been nervous of the competing claims over the Spratly's in recent years, and by the Chinese navy's enhancement (and outright construction) of reefs and new islands for naval bases in the center of the sea. Taiwan, the Phillipines and others have made varying levels of complaints through diplomatic channels to the Chinese PTB, with little success. Vietnam..who shares a border with China..is a more serious matter, because of their shared border and military prowess.
China would certainly have the manpower and technical expertise to overpower Vietnam fairly quickly, were war to break out. But, Vietnam could certainly cripple China's economy even further as a result of hostilities (following the economic blow back, already underway, due to U.S.President Donald Trump's crackdown on below-market exports and his crackdown on China's serious technology hacking/thefts.) Millions could die.
Let's hope cooler heads prevail.
