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The governments of 7 nations are gathering in Yinh this week for naval exercises in eastern Ashanor to test the region's defensive capabilities, something that Hygessivini's government has stressed is a "provocation to the global order".
On the shoreline filled with lush trees, fruits, and small villages, we sit and watch Yinh's new naval fleet sail out of Phao Harbor and into the Southset Sea. Their destination - Dao li - a small island just south of the nation, where the nations of Xinhao, Miyadaka, Yinh, Suion, Tanguan, Davintharia, and Avanor are planning on conducting naval drills for the next week to test the region's defensive capabilities.
"This training of our joint militaries and navies really is a sign of global cooperation, and a signal that our regional security and strength cannot be undermined." claimed Giang Thái Hòa, the Minister of Defense in Yinh.
His government has been pressing for these military drills for months, especially as a more aggressive Hygessivini rears it's head to the west. But the Hygessivinian's have expressed outrage at the exercises, calling them "provocation from a colonialist empire - wishing to reestablish its lost power."
"These exercises only begin as Hygessivini's Nationalist Party begins to assert itself on the international stage" says Nadish Kamdar, the Union Secretary for Defense in Hygessivini. "These exercises are a direct confrontation to us - a signal that the former colonial powers do not like their will questioned, and will use force to ensure their will is carried out on us."
The sentiment of the Defense Secretary is shared amongst the Hygessivinian public, where 67% of people find the military drills "threatening" and "provocative", and 71% of people believing that the region's defense should be left to "Ashanoran nations".
But Prime Minister Hồ Khánh Hà has been adament that the exercises go on, as his government begins to eye Hygessivini with suspicion.
"What the Hygessivinians fail to grasp" said Prime Minister Hồ at a press event in the capital of Bien Tre "Is that it is not colonialist overreach if we are the ones requesting it. We asked to be apart of this defense grouping, it is our right to choose how we conduct defense matters."
Poll: Yinh Should Ally with the Western Powers
Hygessivini has been asserting itself more and more, making demands of neighbors on the foreign affairs front, as the nation continues to pass repressive laws domestically - shunning all outside criticism of the government's policy as "colonialist passions", and called on other Ashanoran powers to ally with it to "repel the neo-colonialism of the post-war era."
A sentiment which has been rejected by almost all other nations.
In a recent poll in Yinh, the results of which you can see to the left, nearly half of the nation was sure that the nation should keep from allying with Hygessivini, largely because of its extremist nationalism, which many say poses a threat to the peace of the region, and threatens to bring war back to the continent which has been peaceful since the Great War nearly 50 years ago.
Bùi Bảo Thái, the Minister for Justice in Yinh, reported that the nationalism is not only staying in Hygessivini either. There have been numerous reports of racial violence between Hygessivinians and other national groups - especially with young men attacking westerners, or Yinese citizens who question the HNP.
"This extremism is prevalent not just in the government, but in the people" says Bùi, in an interview "how can our nation, a liberal democracy, be allies with a nation such as this?"
Not everyone in Yinh is as pleased with the military drills, however, such as Conservative Party parliamentarian Huỳnh Ðức Phong, who is also the leader of the opposition, and questions if the drills are necessary.
"Rather Hygessivini is correct in their assumptions or not, is it really necessary to hold these drills now, while tensions are so high?" questions Huỳnh. "Can this not simply wait until the passions have cooled off, to avoid a conflict with our neighbors?"
Defense Minister Giang disagrees with the Opposition leader's stance.
"We can wait, sure." he says. "But then when we promise to hold off, lets say 2 years, Mulani will agree, then when those two years go by, he will be angry we are holding the drills. So we postpone it again, and when the next deadline comes, he will throw a tantrum to get his way. We don't conduct national security operations on the whim of an emotionally unstable man, or nation for that matter."
When ABO News asked the Davintharia and Avanoran Prime Ministers for comment on the story, both refused to answer, referring us to the Yinese, Xin, and Miyadakan Foreign Ministers.
Miyadaka's new Foreign Affairs Minister, Hirano Tomotane, claimed his government was "completely and fully" behind completing the military drills, calling such actions "pertinent for regional security", while the Xin Defense Minister Gao Meng, stressed that his government was dedicated to peace and prosperity in the region, but would continue the military drills regardless of the Hygessivinian government's response.
The drills will be followed by a summit of the alliance's defense ministers in Yên Thuot, Yinh, to discuss the security of Eastern Ashanor.
Hygessivinian President Mulani has scheduled a political rally for the date the military drills begin, but it is unclear what his remarks will be - or if he will even address the military drills at all. So far, other than claiming the drills will "Destabilize the region significantly, his office has refused to make any official comment.
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