Vietnam PM warns of Olympics torch relay disruptions

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's Prime Minister has warned government agencies that "hostile forces" may try to disrupt next week's relay in Ho Chi Minh City of the Olympics torch, which has been dogged by protests around the world.

The state-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Sunday night that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung discussed preparations for the April 29 event with local authorities and other ministries. The relay is on the eve of the Southeast Asian country's National Reunification Day on April 30 and May Day.

"Vietnam's social security and order are stable but hostile forces always attempt to disturb the situation and make harm to the country's prestige on the international arena," the report quoted Dung, who was installed in June 2006 as Vietnam's youngest premier, as saying.

The term "hostile forces" is used by the government to describe its political opponents opposed to one-party rule.

Vietnam's diplomatic relations with its fellow-Communist neighbor China are amicable despite tensions over disputed islands in the South China Sea that drew rare nationalistic protests outside Chinese missions in December.

But those demonstrations, and potentially the torch relay, also attracted myriad anti-government interests from political activists using the Internet, to overseas Vietnamese groups opposed to one-party Communist rule and dissident Buddhist monks.

The official news agency report said the Prime Minister stressed that "It is a must to ensure the success for the Olympic torch relay in the city" to show "the Vietnamese nation's love for sports and peace and its amity with China."

The torch relay has drawn a wave of anti-China protests during stopovers in Europe and the Americas following Beijing's crackdown last month on protests in Tibet. The flame is to be taken through Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Monday, before traveling to Jakarta and then the Australian capital of Canberra on April 24.

The torch is scheduled to go to South Korea and then to North Korea on April 28 before heading to Vietnam.

(Reporting by Grant McCool; Editing by Valerie Lee)