Japan seeks to ease military restriction through defense transfer deal with Vietnam

East Asia has always been very interconnected in the history between nations and their conflicts and cooperation with one another. The East Asian countries have also had their fair share of economic and political pursuits, which in turn has led to many problems. Taiwan, Japan, North and South Korea, and China are all intertwined in this very unique socio-political atmosphere that always has some kind of event or issue at hand.

    

    In Recent news, some Japanese government officials have made some comments about Taiwan and how they are supporting Taiwan, and are concerned about a potential attack on Taiwan from China; especially with a suspected Chinese Submarine off the coast of Japan, but this of course could just be a coincidence. China has taken notice of these comments and newfound support for Taiwan and have not taken too kindly to these Pro Taiwan ideals. China has a history of not liking or supporting any country or person who thinks that Taiwan should be free, and this is especially problematic since China and Japan have been allies since World War Two. 

    Due to these recent developments Japan met Vietnam to discuss and sign a deal that would transfer both technology and defense equipment to Vietnam. The main goal of this deal would be expanding Japan's influence to solve regional security issues and the equipment and technology are meant to aid the Japanese military in its efforts to help increase security. In this deal Japan hopes to expand its military presence in the likes of Indonesia and other parts of Southwest Asia as well. Asian Media has dubbed this situation as nothing more than a dig at China and this does seem to be quite true.

Wang Yi, both a Chinese foreign minister and state councilor visited Vietnam to discuss Japan's motives with Nguyen Phu Trong, who is both a General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Vietnam Central Committee, and the Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh. According to several reports Wang reminded these officials “China and Vietnam must abide by the political consensus already reached over the South China Sea issue and avoid any unilateral action that may complicate the situation and escalate disputes.” Whether or not Vietnam will listen to China has yet to be seen, but I do think it is important to keep an eye on this issue as any time East Asia has a conflict, it has several parties involved and can and could get messy. There is also the possibility of tariffs and other economic outcomes which could spread to the rest of the world.

Sources:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202109/1234044.shtml

https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/parsing-japans-support-for-taiwan/

https://news.yahoo.com/japan-detects-suspected-china-submarine-074447208.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMuHVxxGF3FcfJDoAUCt3sLcgoE0gzAHps39kIycUka-tLmQgf6ycpwn85nUMRyrMSHM2BJran8U3W779ljhfp1m1MSlmlIs5PfPskuXK7QkatvAVSzk3SnbS3hAbUOShQoSlRZN5gbsAEgWUg2gvvb1ykixqYbl-6LHqxDfSQCa