AFP
HANOI — Five Buddhist monks from Vietnam have set sail for the disputed Spratly islands where they will spend six months setting up pagodas in the archipelago, also claimed by China, a senior monk said Friday.
The monks will re-establish three temples which were abandoned by Vietnam in 1975 but have been recently renovated as part of the communist country's drive to assert its territorial claims over the potentially oil-rich islands.
"We plan to stay on the Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands for six months," Thich Giac Nghia told AFP by phone on board a boat sailing towards the islands in the Spratly chain which are held by Vietnam.
The team will stay on one of the larger islands which is under Vietnamese military control. One more monk will join the team at a later date, he added.
The monks aim to improve the spiritual lives of island's Vietnamese community -- mostly military staff and small-scale farmers and fishermen -- and to help them overcome daily hardships, Nghia has said.
Vietnam's claim to the Spratlys competes directly with China, which says it has sovereignty over essentially all of the South China Sea, a key global trading route.
In 1988 China attacked the Ga Mac Island -- another of the larger Spratly Islands under Vietnamese military control -- killing 64 Vietnamese soldiers.
Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines also claim all or part of the potentially oil-rich Spratlys.
All claimants except Brunei have troops based on the archipelago of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, which have a total land mass of less than five square kilometres (two square miles).
The Philippines and Vietnam have recently complained of increasing harassment of their fisherman by Chinese vessels in the region.
Vietnam and China also have a long-standing dispute over the Paracel island group.
13 comments:
The Viet commies now use monks as their pawns.
But when the Cambodian monks protested they got kicked by their own government soldiers. What’s a way to go Banana Kingdom?
give it up, viet/youn commy. spratley islands belongs to superpower china, not yours, ok! plus, koh tral island is a cambodian island, not yours, really!
I am sure they are political monks sent by the Viet govt to incite the Vietnamese people much like the three Thai nuns did to Cambodia's Preah Vihear. I am pretty sure the Chinese reaction is much more swiss than Hun Sen did to those nuns.
I meant swift.
youn political monks! these youn monks use the good name of buddhist religion for their criminal activity. maybe they want to hide behind their religion? i say disrobe them, they are political monks for sure, you know!
This hypocrite Vietnam has ordered Hun Sen to suppress Khmer monks who protected Khmer interest. Why Vietnamese monks go there?
Crook Vietnam,
Before claiming those islands in South China Sea, give back Koh Trol to Cambodia first.
You have been making Khmer people suffered for a long time, maybe Karma gets you soon.
In any communist countries never
believe any religions,they used
religions as tools to govern their
countries.
Learn more about communist doctrines.
Some free world countries also have done with religions to be spies.
I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THOSE 2 EVIL COUNTRY ESPECIALLY AH VIETCONG. LET THEM KILL EACH OTHER TO HELL
Where is Ho Chi Monks of Hun Sen? Ah Hun Sen should send two of his Ho Chi Monks to Spratly islands to protect Ho Chi Minh invasion of Khmer land.
Ho Chim Minh so called Ho Viet Minh or Ho Viet Cong dress up as monks to take over the islands.
China should send a missile to destroy their Ho Chi Monks' camp on the island.
No one must be allowed to settle in the disputed Spratlys. This is illegal. What do you think you are doing, the crock Vietnamese? This is how the Viet took possession of any land.
Look at Vietnam, those islands if you looked at old map, Spratly belonged to Champa kingdom.
After vietnam took over Champa kingdom and claimed that those islands belong to their thief ancestors.
China should teach them a lesson.
Vietnam took Kampuchea Krom, Koh Trol, etc.. and Champa.
Kampuchea Krom will have its own State soon. Champa will try to get some land from the thief Vietnam too.
And Karma will hit the "bad guy" Vietnam soon too.
The Yuon are too hypocrite.
The islands were never parts of Vietnam from the beginning. Their so called Central Vietnam is always Champa and South Vietnam is always Kampuchea Krom.
These Yuon are the sickest people in the world.
Between two evils China and Yuon and if I am asked to choose one, I'll choose China.
The Yuon monks are soldiers not real monks.
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