The US has said it is in negotiations to share nuclear fuel and technology with Vietnam, but declined to say whether they were discussing allowing Hanoi to enrich uranium on its own.
“The United States and Vietnam are engaged in a so-called ... 1-2-3 negotiation that ... would involve ... civilian nuclear technology,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that congressional critics of the deal say the terms would undercut the more stringent demands placed on US partners in the Middle East, which had been required to renounce uranium enrichment in exchange for nuclear cooperation.
The US and the United Arab Emirates signed such a deal on Jan. 15 last year.
The UN Security Council recently launched a new round of sanctions against Iran over its contested nuclear program, especially over its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.
However, Crowley declined to confirm or deny whether Washington and Hanoi were negotiating a deal under which Vietnam — a former Cold War foe — would enrich uranium on its own soil, saying talks were ongoing.
As a broad policy aim Crowley said “we do want to see ... fewer countries enriching uranium around the world,” as part of efforts to limit the spread of bomb-grade uranium.
“We definitely want to see the evolution of an international system where there are guaranteed sources of enriched uranium, and under appropriate international supervision,” Crowley said.
The Wall Street Journal cited US officials as saying that negotiators have given a full nuclear cooperation proposal to Vietnam, and that they have started briefing the US House of Representatives and the US Senate foreign relations committees.
China, which shares a long border with Vietnam, has not been consulted, the officials were quoted as saying.
“We have a negotiation going on between the United States and Vietnam. That does not involve China,” Crowley said.
When asked for comment on the US-Vietnam talks, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said Beijing “does not have knowledge of the relevant details.”
She reiterated China’s position that all countries have the right to the peaceful use of nuclear power, but added: “All countries should seriously fulfill their obligations to prevent [nuclear] proliferation.”
The Wall Street Journal said a deal would allow US firms like General Electric and Bechtel to sell nuclear components and reactors to Vietnam.
The US and Vietnam signed a memorandum of understanding with then-US president George W Bush’s administration in 2001 to pursue cooperation on securing fissile materials and developing civilian nuclear power.
In March this year, the two sides signed a further memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy cooperation, which they called “an important moment in our bilateral relations.”
US ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak said at the time: “This ... is a key step in furtherance of our common non-proliferation goals, and a significant building block in the development of Vietnam’s peaceful, civilian nuclear power program.”
Vuong Huu Tan, director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, told the Wall Street JournalVietnam did not plan to enrich uranium “as it is sensitive to Vietnam to do so.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not