Russia helps Vietnam in Spratlys surveys

Russia helps Vietnam in Spratlys surveys

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam said yesterday that two Russian ships had helped its meteorologists conduct surveys in the disputed Spratly Islands and other sea areas also claimed by China.

The Russian vessels Pavel Gordienko and Academist Yocanski took part in studies in the area in the summers of 1993 and 1994, the official newspaper Hanoi Moi quoted the government's Meteorological Department as saying.

Russian and Vietnamese scientists had studied 270 points over a wide area of the sea "to collect data on the sea to serve meteo-scientific, socio-economic and national defense security studies", it said in a report on a meteorological conference here last week.

It was the first time Hanoi had revealed that its former ally, which enjoys naval facilities at the old United States base of Cam Ranh Bay in southern Vietnam, had helped in Spratlys scientific work.

The potentially oil-rich islands in the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the Eastern Sea, are claimed wholly or in part by Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.

China claims most of the South China Sea, and has been involved in disputes with Vietnam over oil-drilling and territory.

During a landmark visit to Hanoi by Chinese President Jiang Zemin last month, China and Vietnam agreed to set up a group of experts to discuss the Spratlys.