W. Minh Tuan
The Chinese army was once famous for its kung fu training—training in brick-chopping, tile-chopping, spear-piercing into the throat, stomach, chest, and meditating to practice internal energy.
They put up videos of Chinese warriors with iron bodies, swinging their bare hands to break piles of bricks and tiles; placing rocks on their heads, hitting rocks with hammers, breaking rocks but their heads are fine; swinging sticks hit at their bare bodies, the sticks breaking but their bodies are fine; poking spears into their throats, into their navels, pushing cars without any problems,,,.
However, more than 10 years ago, the Chinese army abandoned the “brick-chopping, tile-slicing, internal energy” training method, and switched to training for regular, modern army and police, using weapons proficiently, using mixed martial arts such as MMA-Mixed Martial Art, instead of using traditional martial arts such as Kung fu, Shaolin Temple, Wudang, Nga Mi,,,.
Why?
The reason is that a modern regular army must be proficient in using weapons, must shoot accurately, must cooperate to each other in combat, must know how to use the internet, control drones, must know English, must have a healthy, strong body, must be able to do 10 push-ups, must be able to stand up and sit down 10 times, must be able to do 10 pull-ups, must be able to push 50 kg weights, must be able to run several kilometers a day,,,.
As for the training of brick chopping, tile chopping, and internal energy training, there is no scientific or practical evidence to prove that it is effective in improving health, improving physical strength, as well as improving the ability to fight and protect the country.
Recently, there have been many video clips posted on YouTube about the fierce matches between Chinese Kung fu and Shaolin fighters against Muaythai, Kickboxing, MMA, and Boxing fighters from China and the world, showing that Chinese Kung fu and Shaolin fighters lost miserably. Not because they were inferior, but because of the wrong training methods of Kung fu and Shaolin.
In Vietnam, we see the same thing, we see special forces-Dac Cong- and riot police training and performing brick chopping, tile chopping, internal energy training, spear stabbing into the stomach, hammering on rocks placed on the head, on the arm,,,.
Those training and performance methods destroy the human body terribly, and they have absolutely no effect on improving health, physical strength, and fighting ability.
They are only meant for showcase in peacetime for beauty and for fun.
In real combat, who uses the method of chopping bricks and tiles to fight the enemy?
Let a Vietnamese special forces soldier compete with a Vietnamese boxer, Muaythai, MMA, Kickboxing fighter to see who wins?
Let a Vietnamese riot police officer compete with a female Muathai, MMA, Kickboxing fighter, also from Vietnam, to see who wins?
Looking at the riot police officers of Vietnam, both male and female, they all have slim, weak, fragile bodies, not as strong and healthy as Vietnamese boxers of Muaythai, Boxing, Kickboxing, MMA.
Looking at the Vietnamese special forces Dac Cong, we also see that they are so fragile and weak, only for showcase, for the leaders and delegations to watch, but have no effect in actual combat to protect the people, to protect the country.
Just like the Vietnam Defense Exhibitions that we just started organizing annually a few years ago, the reason is to have the nature of “STRATEGIC DETERRENCE”.
The term “strategic deterrence” has only been used recently by the Vietnamese army.
Deterrence is not a threat.
Threatening is to use force immediately if the opponent does not surrender, does not retreat, does not submit.
Deterrence is just a show of strength to make the opponent afraid, the opponent retreats, the opponent does not dare to cause trouble. Deterrence does not have the nature of using military force immediately, but only showing off military force, preventing from afar.
However, the Vietnamese have a saying, “Empty barrels make the most noise,” and the world has a similar saying: “Empty barrels make the most noise.”
That means only the weak make loud threats, while the strong stay silent and calm.
Let’s see if does Japan organizes a Defense Exhibition?
No.
I have lived in Japan for nearly 30 years now, and have never seen Japan organize a Defense Exhibition, only exhibitions of cars, motorbikes, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, etc. However, Japan has a defense industry and an army that is among the strongest in the world, and does not need to “strategically deter” with a Defense Exhibition.
Does Israel organize a Defense Exhibition?
No, but Israel has an army and a defense industry that is also among the strongest in the world.
The United States has the world’s most powerful defense industry, but they do not have any defense exhibitions.
Look at our big friend from the North who still orders a fishing ban every year right in our Vietnam East Sea, they are not afraid of the “strategic deterrence” of our Vietnam’s defense exhibitions.
Look at the last few days, at the end of September 2024, Ms. Hang, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs again has to speak up to denounce China for capturing Vietnamese fishermen in the Hoang Sa archipelago.
These denunciations of Vietnam are again and again every year, and make no sense to China.
See, China is not afraid of the “strategic deterrence” of Vietnam’s defense exhibitions.
Since 1999, the US Army has used the MCMAP-Marine Corps Martial Arts Program- training method to train unarmed and armed combat for the US Marine Corps. The US MCMAP mixed martial arts technique has synthesized the best and most effective martial arts techniques of Japanese Karate, Judo, Jujutsu, Kendo, Aikido, Russian Sambo, British Boxing, Korean Taekwondo, Thai Muaythai, Brazilian Jiujitsu, etc. Vietnam should also draft a mixed martial arts program for Vietnamese special forces, army, and police, like the MCMAP above from the US, replacing the traditional martial arts training methods, brick-chopping, and internal energy training for a long time.
Don’t think that since Vietnam has defeated the US, why do we need to learn from the US?
Don’t be so subjective.
There used to be many of the world’s most powerful armies, but they were defeated miserably, and now they are just historical relics.
Alexander the Great of Greece-Macedonia (356-323 BC) more than 2000 years ago, won every battle, won every war, but after his death, his mighty empire disintegrated, split into five or seven parts, and now disappears from the map, leaving only historical relics.
Return to Mongolia Genghis Khan (1162-1227) once defeated the whole world, lost 3 times in Vietnam, and then, also disappeared, disintegrated, leaving only relics in the peaceful Mongolia today, with a population of just over 3 million people, less than the number of livestock of over 10 million sheep, horses, cows,,,.
And our Vietnam, during the Tran Dynasty, defeated the Yuan-Mongol army 3 times, gloriously and famously, in the years 1257, 1284, 1287, but immediately after that, less than 100 years later, the Tran Dynasty lost 3 times to Champa of Che Bong Nga, the Champa army entered Thang Long citadel 3 times as if entering a deserted place, burning and looting freely. Only after that, very fortunately, our Vietnam had the talented general Tran Khat Chan (1370-1399), who destroyed Che Bong Nga, so we escaped the tragedy of being Champa-ized.
Therefore, let’s do as President Ho Chi Minh said: “Win without boasting, lose without discouraging“, must always be humble and to learn, must respect talented people without partisanship, then we can protect the fatherland, develop the country, make the people happy and prosperous.
If we are subjective and underestimate the enemy, always boasting that we have “defeated the French, defeated the Americans, defeated Polpot, defeated China”, and think that the sky is the limit, then one day we will suffer an unpredictable and disastrous defeat.
Protecting the homeland, protecting the security of the people must be done with intelligence, alertness, and non-partisan use of talents as President Ho Chi Minh did, with comprehensive cooperation with the US, not just with traditional martial arts “cutting bricks, chopping tiles, practicing internal energy”, and with the “strategic deterrence” of defense exhibitions, which have little deterrent meaning at all, China continues to ban fishing in Vietnam’s sea, and continues to capture and beat Vietnamese fishermen in Vietnam sea.
Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy, our policy of being friends with all countries is good, but when there is war-conflict, when China orders a ban on fishing in Vietnam’s sea, is there any friendly country that dares to speak up to support Vietnam in protesting against China?
The best deterrent is to let the Americans rent Cam Ranh port, both to collect port rental fees and to create jobs for people living near Cam Ranh port, and to have the best, most effective, and most convenient deterrent power with the big friend in the North.
The Northern big friend dares not to cause trouble with the US.
But the narrow-minded, conservative, and ignorant minds in the party stubbornly hold on to the ignorant theory of Bamboo Diplomacy, which sounds good, but is actually just suicide.
Look, China has ordered a ban on fishing in the Vietnam East Sea, arresting and beating Vietnamese fishermen right in Vietnam’s waters. Can the Bamboo Diplomacy policy and the National Defense Exhibition in Hanoi help to prevent it?
The flatterers try their best to embellish and praise the Bamboo Diplomacy policy, flattering without shame, just like the old joke about the flatterers visiting the mandarin’s house and praising the mandarin for having a good horse.
At that time, the official’s wife farted, and the flatterers immediately tried their best to flatter the official mandarin by this flattering poem:
“She just farted,
His horse galloped misty far away,
Gone and back,
Her asshole still not tight”.
ha ha ha, what a stinking flatterer.
Nowadays, there are even more stinking flatterers like that in our party.
We must develop the country by using talents without party affiliation as President Ho Chi Minh did, we must develop the defense industry more strongly, invest more boldly in the defense industry, focus on developing drones, missiles, radars, cooperate with the US and Israel to develop the defense industry, pay decent salaries to engineers, scientists, and good managers in the defense industry, pay salaries of several tens of thousands of dollars/a month, reduce investment in tanks, cannons, warships, submarines, those are just mobile coffins.
Modern weapons to protect the country must be drones, missiles, radar, IT, AI,,, not brick-chopping martial arts, internal energy training, and not tanks, cannons, warships, submarines, those are just mobile coffins.///