Chairwoman of the National Assembly, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan

The NA's chairwoman gave the strong statement at a meeting with voters in Ninh Kieu District, after deputy Nguyen Phuoc Tan expressed:

“I am very worried about the rising tension in the East Sea where our sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos being severely violated. They are even deploying modern weapons on our islands. I think all Vietnamese people are really concerned about this issue."

Replying Tan, chairwoman Ngan admitted that the country's national security and island sovereignty has never been so pressing to every Vietnamese citizen.

“If we don't like our neighbours we can sell our house and move to other place. But in the case of a country, we can't move anywhere, we have to accept living near our three neighbouring countries even if they treat us badly," Ngan said.

Ngan, however, noted that Vietnamese people don't want war but will surely strike back if being attacked.

"We will never give up our sovereignty, we will never surrender!" she stressed.

Those are strong but thoughtful words by the head of the Vietnamese National Assembly.

There's a saying that goes "Be very selective when it comes to choosing friends. Chinese people also have an old story in which a mother moved her houses many times just to have a good environment and good neighbours so that her children could grow up healthy and safely.

But a country can't be moved. It is lucky if it has a good neighbour but may face with lots of problems if the neighbour is bad.

And it may face with larger threats if the bad neighbour is strong, arrogant and warlike.

The concerns of deputy Tan are also the worries of many other Vietnamese citizens. China has recently accelerated its military activities on the East Sea including the deployment of air force planes and surface to air missile batteries in the Paracel Archipelago, the construction a high frequency radar facility on several features in the Spratly Archipelago. They'e even brought a music and dance group to the Spratly Archipelago to support their soldiers there.

But of course Vietnamese people will never give up our sovereignty. We will surely strike back if being attacked, like the strong commitment from the head of the National Assembly.