Vietnam building airport on disputed Spratly islands

[dArKeR]

REUTERS , HANOI
Saturday, May 15, 2004,Page 5

Vietnam has started building a small airport on the disputed Spratly islands, escalating its tourism ambitions in an area claimed by several Asia countries and risking the ire of giant neighbor China.

Construction of the airport with a runway of 600m on the Truong Sa Lon (Large Spratly) island is expected to be completed by the end of this year, a tourism official who declined to be identified said yesterday.

Vietnam already has military facilities and local government officials on the island in the Spratlys, scattered South China Sea atolls where its navy clashed with Chinese ships in 1988.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/15/2003155567

China, Vietnam, Soviet Union... engage. Cuba, Iraq... tell lies, embargo, murder, steal!

[bemildred]

1. VietNam does not seem to fear China.

IIRC, there are quite a few countries that lay some claim
to the Spratleys, it's amazing how much interest the suspicion
of the presence of hydrocarbons can cause.