Hanoi Laments Tarnished Image of Its Soldiers

Vietnam, once proud of its soldiers’ untarnished image, has seen its troops slip into a decline in discipline, morals and revolutionary fervor, according to Hanoi Radio.

Troops have been widely charged with theft, laziness and molesting young women, and “our troops’ efforts to preserve the nature of revolutionary traditions have declined and degraded,” said the Vietnamese-language broadcast, a translation of which was made available Saturday.

It said rowdy groups of soldiers along Vietnam’s tense northern border with China often intercept public buses and abuse passengers.

“In only a few months, an infantry regiment received hundreds of complaints from the people and the local administration about encroachments on the people’s properties, and abuses of women’s bodies and dignity by its soldiers,” said the broadcast, which aired Monday.

The report came amid other recent criticism of the armed forces and a planned reduction in the army, which has more than 1 million men. Officials have said the Vietnamese army, the world’s fifth largest, must be reduced substantially to save money.