21 October 2013 (05:06 UTC-07 Tango)/16 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/29 Mehr 1391/17 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force is taking part in “rescue” games with the navy of Vietnam.

It’s interesting that some of the crews of the rescue training operations took part in familiarization with anti-ship missiles!  The three Japanese ships taking part are totally combat oriented, and are not true rescue ships.  Japanese naval officers also gave their Vietnamese counterparts a computer presentation about the combat capabilities of the Japanese ships.

Japan and Vietnam have increased military relations, in July the Japanese Coast Guard made a port call in Da Nang.

Several Japanese and Vietnamese news sources admitted that Vietnam and Japan are joining forces against China in ongoing territorial disputes.  Japan occupied Vietnam during World War 2, claiming they were liberating the country from French control.

During the Second World War, the U.S. government promised the Vietnamese independence if they rescued U.S. aircrew who were shot down by the Japanese.  Then after the war the U.S. government stabbed them in the back by letting France retake control of Indochina.

Japan is now a major lender of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam.

Vietnam has also contracted with Japanese companies to build nuclear power plants.  Why isn’t the U.S. government upset over that?