A senior Vietnamese diplomat in Paris has claimed that the Chinese are preparing to attack Vietnam again. The first secretary at the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris, Monsieur Truong Tung, said on Wednesday (31 October) the Chinese, in recent weeks, had been massing troops and war material near the China-Vietnam border.

SYNOPSIS: Monsieur Tung, who is also press officer there, was speaking at the Vietnamese Embassy. He said outlined Chinese activity, which Mr. Tung added, the Vietnamese people had condemned.

Mr. Tung claimed that, in recent weeks, the Chinese leaders had been ceaselessly building up at all levels their preparations for another attack on Vietnam. They had raised the numbers of their regular army divisions near the frontier from twelve to fifteen, placed five army corps in support, and deployed rockets, tanks and long-range guns of all types in strategic zones. According to Mr. Tung, the Chinese were steadily moving more and more military equipment and troops towards their southern border, which they share with Vietnam, and which the Chinese sent troops across earlier this year, triggering a brief conflict between the nations.

Mr. Tung said the Chinese were carrying out more military operations and armed provocations, which his government considered were gross violations of Vietnam's territorial sovereignty ... on land, at sea and in the air. These actions had destroyed many lives and much property, and had created serious tensions along the frontier. The Vietnamese spokesman also claimed the Chinese government was waging a psychological campaign among its people, to whip up anti-Vietnamese feelings.

Vietnam, said Mr. Tung, strongly condemned aggressive actions from the Chinese leaders, and requested them to straight away stop their war preparations, and their provocative among menacing actions against Vietnam. The Chinese alone were responsible, he said, for the way that relations between their two nations were continuing to deteriorate. The Vietnamese wanted to maintain friendly relations with the Chinese. But, he contended, present Chinese activities were threatening both the security of Vietnam and peace in south-east Asia.