(VOVworld) – Defense authorities and journalists, led by Deputy Minister of National Defense senior lieutenant-general Nguyen Thanh Cung, visited Truong Sa Island, Khanh Hoa province, and an economics-science-service complex known as Platform DK1 this week. One aim of the trip was to monitor the sea situation and the operation of the multifunctional patrol boat CBS 8001, which was built by the Defense Ministry’s Z189 Plant using a design and transferred technology of the Netherlands’s Damen Group.

Cung urged soldiers and civilian residents of Truong Sa Island to be flexible and keen on the Party’s unswerving foreign policies, particularly the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, on defending Vietnam’s sea and islands. He asked them to boost economic and socio-economic development in association with national defense, to make Truong Sa Island a solid marine base for defending Vietnam’s territory. Cung urged the soldiers to support the local offshore fishermen making a living from the sea, to stand ready for search and rescue operations whenever necessary, and to build a strong, transparent administration.