20,000 Leagues Under the Spratleys?

Vietnam at least is taking the threat from China seriously:

In what may be a not-so-stealthy message to Beijing amid citizen protests of China’s growing influence in its country, Vietnam has ordered a small fleet of silent Russian attack submarines.

Foreign policy experts say Vietnam’s national identity is bound up in the idea of opposition to China, and the deal to buy the subs is the latest sign that the country of 87 million is concerned about “Sinification.”

“The Vietnamese government is committed to a normal relationship with China, but nobody in Vietnam sleeps with their China eye closed,” said Brantly Womack, professor of foreign affairs at the University of Virginia.

“A good part of Vietnam’s patriotic identity is its righteous resistance to China.”

You know, now might be a good time to ask Hanoi if maybe they need any assistance upgrading those beautiful port facilities we built at Cam Ranh Bay way back when.