At exactly 5pm on January 6, four ships transporting the necessities for Tet (Lunar New Year festival) preparations arrived to greet residents and soldiers at Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands, about 248 sea miles from Cam Ranh City in the central province of Khanh Hoa.
According to Colonel Nguyen Cong Son, deputy commissar of the High Command in Naval Area 4, it has become a routine for the High Command to organise voyages to the islands to replace and withdraw troops as well as to send New Year wishes to the islanders.
Hundreds of tonnes of goods, necessities, fruits and vegetables, gifts from Khanh Hoa Province’s People’s Committee and from other provinces nationwide, have also been transported to each household to make the New Year Festival on the islands as prosperous as that on the mainland.
Particularly, the happiness of the residents and soldiers on the Spratly Isalnds seemed to be doubled when they received VND100 million (US$4,400) in financial support directly from President Tran Dai Quang and VND700 million ($30,822) from the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund. — VNS