27-yr-old nightmare may be re-created by China in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratlys): lawmaker Nguyen Anh Son is the head of the delegation of lawmakers from the northern province of Nam Dinh and a member of the National Assembly Committee for Security and Defense. Tuoi Tre A scenario similar to China’s use of force to illegally occupy Gac Ma Island (Johnson South Reef) in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in 1988 may be repeated in other parts of the islands in the future, a Vietnamese lawmaker has warned. Nguyen Anh Son, head of the delegation of lawmakers from the northern province of Nam Dinh, gave the warning while talking with reporters on the sidelines of the Monday meeting of the 9th session of the law-making National Assembly (NA) that started on May 20. Son’s warning came a few days after the NA agreed to his proposal that the legislature’s agenda include a report by the government on Beijing’s illicit land reclamation work and building of artificial islands in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa archipelagoes in the East Vietnam Sea, despite strong protests from Hanoi as well as the international community. “Once China has completed military and logistics preparations in the East Vietnam Sea, it can carry out its long-wicked intention. Based on the advantages provided by artificial islands it has illegally built atop submerged reefs in the sea, China can take actions that are very hard to foresee,” Son said. “I have just returned from my second trip to Truong Sa and through China’s recent activities, I am very worried that the ‘March 14, 1988 scenario’ will be repeated in the archipelago,” Son, who is also a member of the NA Committee for Security and Defense, said. By saying so, the deputy referred to the fact that on March 14, 1988, China used force to attack and occupy Gac Ma Island, fighting Vietnamese naval forces in a battle that killed 64 Vietnamese naval officers and soldiers. “Such an incident can absolutely be repeated. Although some observers around the world have commented that big military conflicts are unlikely to occur in the East Vietnam Sea, I am still very worried,” Son said. When asked about a plan in which the NA will earmark only an hour on June 5 for deputies to hear a report on the East Vietnam Sea situation presented by the government at a meeting which the media would not be allowed to attend, Son said that plan is unsatisfactory to those who are concerned about the circumstance. “At the NA’s preparatory meeting on May 20, I said that people across the country are upset about China’s actions, so the NA, which represents the people’s will and aspirations, cannot help but make a response,” Son said. The law-making body should issue a resolution or adopt a strong move to oppose China’s law violations, the deputy said at the preparatory meeting. Regarding the upcoming meeting on the East Vietnam Sea situation, Son said the event’s participants should review China’s illegal acts in the sea and discuss measures Vietnam should take to react to them, and not merely hear a report from the government. Given China’s actions, both the government and NA should show people their counter-policies to Beijing, Son requested. “People want to see each deputy and the whole NA raise their strong voices in response to China’s illegal acts in the East Vietnam Sea,” he added. He said he hoped that some deputies will request that the NA arrange for all deputies to discuss the East Vietnam Sea situation at the June 5 meeting. He added that he will personally make such a request. Tuoi Tre News