TOKYO, August 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Japan backs Vietnam in its plans to build up security naval forces of the country in a step to hand over to Hanoi six ships to patrol territorial waters in the country, the Japanese foreign minister said on Friday.

Fumio Kishida, currently on a visit in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, said so after talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.

These six ships include four commercial fishing ships and two ships of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will be transferred to the Southeast Asian country. The ships displace from 600 to 800 tonnes.

Japan as well as Vietnam has territorial disputes with China over belongingness of several islands.

The territorial row over the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea and the Spratly archipelago off the coasts of southern Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia can be considered to be an international conflict with China and Vietnam being the main parties to the dispute with partial or full claims on these territories. Experts believe that major hydrocarbon reserves are concentrated on the continental shelf of these islands which Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines claim for. Meanwhile, Japan disputes with China over the Senkaku Islands also known as the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.