'Unwise' for Vietnam to arm fishery patrol boats

Beijing has expressed concern about Vietnam's plan to equip fishery patrol boats with "military-use weapons".

Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs under the Foreign Ministry, raised the issue after the Vietnamese government amended weapon-related laws and regulations on July 29.

As a result, the country's fishery administration ships "will be equipped with military-use weapons as of Sept 15", Vietnam local media Tuoi Tre Online reported on Friday.