2005)

Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age (male) for compulsory military service; females may
volunteer for active duty military service; conscript service
obligation - 2 years (3-4 years in the navy); 18-45 years of age
(male) or 18-40 years of age (female) for Militia Force or Self
Defense Forces (2006)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 21,341,813
females age 18-49: 21,430,808 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 16,032,358
females age 18-49: 17,921,241 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 915,572
females age 18-49: 864,161 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$650 million (FY98)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.5% (FY98)

Transnational Issues Vietnam

Disputes - international:
southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check
the spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese
squatters and armed encroachments along border; after years of
Cambodia claiming Vietnam had moved or destroyed boundary markers,
in 2005, after much domestic debate, Cambodia ratified an agreement
with Vietnam that settled all but a small portion of the land
boundary; establishment of a maritime boundary with Cambodia is
hampered by unresolved dispute over offshore islands; in 2004,
Laotian-Vietnamese boundary commission agrees to erect missing
markers in two adjoining provinces; demarcation of the China-Vietnam
boundary proceeds slowly and although the maritime boundary
delimitation and fisheries agreements were ratified in June 2004,
implementation has been delayed; China occupies Paracel Islands also
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; involved in complex dispute with
China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei over the
Spratly Islands; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in
the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally
binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants;
Vietnam continues to expand construction of facilities in the
Spratly Islands; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China,
the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine
seismic activities in the Spratly Islands

Illicit drugs:
minor producer of opium poppy; probable minor transit point for
Southeast Asian heroin; government continues t