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A tale of two ships - one from Vietnam and one from the Philippines

The last few days have seen news stories about the latest additions to two regional fleets, but the similarities of the intent of the announcements highlights the differences. Vietnam has seen the arrival of its second newly built Gepard Class Frigate while the Philippines has publicised the arrival of the largest vessel in the navy, a 44-year old former US Coast Guard Hamilton Class Cutter. The difference is stark given that both have had recent 'disputes' with China over incidents in the South China Sea.

 Vietnamese Gepard Class Frigate (Source: Defpro.com) 

 Philippines Hamilton Class Cutter (Source: PhilStar) 

Atmospheric picture of the Black Flag Army in Vietnam

 
Black Flag Soldiers lying in ambush, 1883 (Source: Flickr)

I am reading Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia at present and I am halfway through a chapter about the French Colonial Army in Vietnam. The chapter discussed the Black Flag Army, which was a Chinese force of former Taiping rebels who had crossed over in to Tonkin to avoid the mopping up by the Qing Imperial Army. The Tonkin Rulers found them useful as a means to combat the French in the 1880s and eventually to draw the Chinese into the war against the French.  In having a quick hunt around the net I came across the picture above that appears to have been done to illustrate a 19th century magazine or paper. If you like the above style then I recommend the Flickr account of Huongdieu, the source of the picture, as it has a number of similarly themed pictures. 

The Philippines, the US, the Spratly Islands and regional engagement

The media has been full of stories recently about increased tensions in the South China Sea due to the ongoing territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands. One of the most interesting developments in the most recent verbal exchanges has been the US announcement that it would review the military needs of the Philippines for defence. This can be seen from a number of different ways but I would like to explore just two views on this statement. First, it showed that the US is moving beyond its focus on terrorism in Southeast Asia. Second, it showed that the US was not withdrawing into an isolationist stance.

200-year old cannonballs found in Vietnam

The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog has an interesting story about a number of cannonballs being found on the bank of the An Cuu River in Hue. They are believed to be from the Nguyen Dynasty. There is not much more on the find but I am sure that the very readable and useful Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog will have updates as they appear.

The rebellion of the Trung Sisters

The rebellion of the Trung Sisters in Vietnam is an example of a major historical event that has been lost in time and mythologised into the current day. It is very hard to understand exactly what occurred with the rebellion and even more so what the military significance was. China's slow reaction given that it was a rebellion in a prefecture or commandery may have been an indication of Han China's lack of concern or also the threat of barbarians on the north west frontier. Either way the Trung rebellion was snuffed out quickly when China sent its army and further troubles did not emerge for several hundreds of years.