The US seeks to expand and deepen its defense relationship with Vietnam, Washington’s top envoy to the nation said, as the two sides continue to hammer out details of a trade deal.
“I think defense trade you’re going to see is increasingly a major feature of our two countries’ ties,” US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper said in Hanoi yesterday. “We share an interest in a free and open South China Sea, we share an interest in peace and stability and prosperity in this region, and expect that to continue.”
Guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls and assault ship USS Tripoli docked in Da Nang Port this week, bringing about 2,300 sailors and marines to the city as part of routine US 7th Fleet operations, amid heightened focus on freedom of navigation and regional security in the contested waters of the South China Sea.
Photo: AP
“I think we’re going to see more ship visits in the coming year, and I think we’re just going to continue to see greater opportunities for our military leaders,” Knapper said on the sidelines of a repatriation ceremony.
Vietnam’s leaders have repeatedly signaled plans to buy more big-ticket US items, including defense and national security equipment, to narrow a trade surplus with the US that last year reached US$123.5 billion.
Defense cooperation between the two nations has deepened since they elevated their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during then-US president Joe Biden’s 2023 visit. In June, the US transferred its third high-endurance cutter to the Vietnam Coast Guard. Washington also provided small patrol boats to support Vietnam’s maritime law enforcement as part of a US$12.5 million assistance package announced in December last year.
At yesterday’s repatriation event, the possible remains of a US service member missing in action (MIA) from the war in Vietnam were handed over, underscoring the ongoing remediation efforts 50 years since the end of a conflict that killed an estimated 3 million Vietnamese and more than 58,000 US troops.
“It’s not lost on the US government and its people, particularly the MIA families, that 10 years before normalization, 10 years after the war, it was Vietnam who initiated this cooperation on helping America find its missing,” Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Director Kelly McKeague said at the ceremony.
“The remains that were repatriated today were recovered by a Vietnamese unilateral team” after Washington shutdown halted US deployment, he said.
“That’s why we’re here, it’s because of Vietnam’s determination, their commitment, and their resilience of these unilateral chains,” he added.
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