Sudden cancellation due to ‘deep sensitivities’ but is ‘bitterly disappointing news’, says Australian foreign minister

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The Australian government has said it is “deeply disappointed” by the Vietnamese authorities’ 11th-hour decision to cancel a 50th anniversary ceremony of the battle of Long Tân.

The Vietnam government’s refusal to allow the veterans day commemoration at the Long Tân cross site a day before it was to take place prompted official complaints by Australia, including by its ambassador, Craig Chittick.

The Vietnamese have cited “deep sensitivities” over the battle as the reason for the last-minute cancellation, according to Dan Tehan, Australia’s minister for veterans affairs. It comes despite 18 months of collaboration about the event between the two governments.

A joint statement by Tehan and Julie Bishop, the minister for foreign affairs, said the government was “deeply disappointed at this decision, and the manner in which it was taken, so close to the commemoration taking place”.

“Australia’s ambassador has registered our deep concerns with the vice minister for foreign affairs,” it said.

“The government is seeking urgent calls with Vietnamese counterparts at the most senior levels to register our concerns,” he said.

“One of the bitterly, bitterly disappointing things about what has occurred is the fact that this decision has taken place with such short notice.”

It follows the closure of the site on Wednesday by local police.

An ABC news crew from Australia was denied access when it came to about 200 metres from the site’s memorial cross.

The cancellation was “bitterly disappointing news” to more than 1,000 Australians who had travelled to Vietnam for the ceremony, Bishop and Tehan said.

“Australian veterans and their families had planned to attend a ceremony at Long Tân marked by mutual respect to remember and honour the sacrifice of those lost in the Vietnam war from both sides.

“For many veterans, this would have been their first visit to Vietnam since the war.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it understood private access to the site near Ho Chi Minh city was still permitted for small groups and the advice of exercising normal safety precautions in Vietnam was still current.

An official party including Chittick and his New Zealand counterpart James Kember would still attend and lay a wreath, Bishop and Tehan said.

The ceremony at Long Tân was to be the centrepiece of commemorations honouring Vietnam veterans.

The battle on 18 August 1966, involving 105 Australians and three New Zealanders from D Company 6RAR, is regarded as one of the fiercest clashes involving Australasian troops in the Vietnam war.

It led to the deaths of 17 Australians in action, and the later death of one of 25 soldiers wounded, and the deaths of at least 245 Viet Cong soldiers.