Cold War enemies the US and Vietnam demonstrated their blossoming military relationship yesterday as a US nuclear supercarrier floated in waters off the Southeast Asian nation’s coast — sending a message that China is not the region’s only big player.
The visit comes as the US and Vietnam cozy up to each other in a number of areas, from negotiating a controversial deal to share civilian nuclear fuel and technology, to agreeing that China needs to work with its neighbors to resolve territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The USS George Washington’s stop is officially billed as a commemoration of last month’s 15th anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations between the former foes, but the timing also reflects Washington’s heightened interest in maintaining security and stability in the Asia-Pacific amid tensions following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which killed 46 sailors.
North Korea has been blamed for the attack, but has vehemently denied any involvement.
Last month, during an Asian security meeting in Hanoi, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton angered China by unexpectedly calling on Beijing to resolve territorial claims with Southeast Asian countries over islands in the South China Sea.
China claims the entire sea and the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands over which it exercises complete sovereignty. However, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have also staked claims to some or all of the territory, which straddles vital shipping lanes, important fishing grounds and is believed to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves.
“The problem is that China has now committed herself, publicly, to sovereignty of the South China Sea and to push that back, if only to the status of a claim that is not enforced, is going to be very difficult,” said Arthur Waldron, an international relations specialist at the University of Pennsylvania.
Vietnam has long been vocal about the issue, protesting China’s plans to bring tourists to the islands and most recently seismic studies conducted near the Paracels.
“Vietnam does not support containing China, but like most other ASEAN members would like to see each major power offset the other,” Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra, said.
The George Washington is based in Japan. It can carry up to 70 aircraft, more than 5,000 sailors and aviators and about 1.8 million kilograms of bombs.
The supercarrier came to Vietnam following four days of high-profile military exercises last month with South Korea aimed at showing solidarity following the sinking of the 1,200-tonne Cheonan. The drills enraged Pyongyang and drew criticism from China.
A Chinese newspaper ran a front-page story last week strongly hinting that Beijing is unhappy about reports that Vietnam and the US are negotiating a civilian nuclear fuel and technology deal that could allow Vietnam to enrich uranium.
US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said China had not been consulted about the talks, but he would not discuss the specifics of the enrichment provision.
US congressional aides have said the agreement will likely not contain a no-enrichment pledge, which the US promotes as the “gold standard” for civilian nuclear cooperation accords, to ensure materials are not being used to build a nuclear weapon.
Vietnam has denied plans to enrich uranium on its own soil.
The aircraft carrier’s visit is particularly symbolic as it floats off the coast of central Danang, once the site of a bustling US military base during the Vietnam War,
Relations have thrived since the former foes shook hands in 1995.
The US is Vietnam’s top export market and US citizens are the country’s No. 1 foreign investors. Bilateral trade reached US$15.4 billion last year.
Military ties have also grown since the first US warship ship visited Ho Chi Minh City in 2003.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS