From AP News: A year after Vietnam elevated its relations with Washington to the highest diplomatic level, an internal document shows its military was taking steps to prepare for a possible American “war of aggression” and considered the United States a “belligerent” power, according to a report released Tuesday.
More than just exposing Hanoi’s duality in approach toward the U.S., the document confirms a deep-seated fear of external forces fomenting an uprising against the Communist leadership in a so-called “color revolution,” like the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or the 1986 Yellow Revolution in the Philippines.
Other internal documents that The 88 Project, a human rights organization focused on human rights abuses in Vietnam, cited in its analysis point to similar concerns over U.S. motives in Vietnam.
“There’s a consensus here across the government and across different ministries,” said Ben Swanton, co-director of The 88 Project.
“This isn’t just some kind of a fringe element or paranoid element within the party or within the government,” Swanson, who wrote the report, added.
The first Vietnamese document, titled “The 2nd U.S. Invasion Plan,” was completed in August 2024 by the Ministry of Defense.
It suggested that the U.S. objective of “strengthening deterrence against China,” and that the U.S and its allies “are ready to apply unconventional forms of warfare and military intervention and even conduct large-scale invasions against countries and territories that ‘deviate from its orbit.’”
Although the report notes that “currently there is little risk of a war against Vietnam,” the plan was created “due to the U.S.’s belligerent nature” and the “need to be vigilant to prevent the U.S. and its allies from ‘creating a pretext’ to launch an invasion of our country.”
‘Second invasion plan’: Was Vietnam preparing for Trump-led US attack? Military documents reveal…
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Read more at AP News
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