The Vietnamese Ministry of Transport on Monday turned down a request by a Chinese city to allow thousands of vehicles and passengers enter Viet Nam for tourism purposes, citing security concerns.

The ministry attributed the refusal to the fact that conditions to ensure safety and security for the fleet could not be met, according to the official response it sent to the administration of Pingxiang City the same day.

Pingxiang, which borders Lang Son City, had asked to bring 1,000 vehicles along with 1,500 people into the country on the occasion of a Viet Nam-China trade exhibition, which the two cities take turns to host annually in December.

Chinese tourists travel around Hoan Kiem Lake in Ha Noi on June 21, 2007

The vehicles were expected to arrive in Viet Nam on December 12 and leave at the end of March 2015, according to a document the Pingxiang administration submitted to the Vietnamese ministry on December 1.

The Pingxiang authorities told the transport ministry that upon arriving in Viet Nam, the Chinese vehicles would divide into 7 groups to travel on different routes to Ha Noi, Ninh Binh, Vinh, Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Binh Thuan, Vung Tau, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Some of the tourists would even travel to Laos and Cambodia from the country.

The request left the transport ministry unsure so it had to ask for feedback from the ministries of national defense, public security, industry and trade, tourism, and foreign affairs.

The transport ministry was concerned because allowing a large number of vehicles into the country might affect social security and traffic safety even though it supports tourism development, the ministry said in its document sent to the other ministries.

The Ministry of National Defense was the first to give feedback on the issue, saying the request should not be accepted apparently over the same security concerns.