US favours stronger military alliance with Vietnam
THE UNITED States is seeking more engagement with the Vietnamese military after the symbolic port call of aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in Danang this week, US 7th Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer said Tuesday.
The four-day port call, began Monday, highlighted the US presence in the contentious South China Sea, where Vietnam and many other Asean members are at loggerheads over territorial disputes with China.
However, Sawyer said the presence of the carrier had nothing to do with the dispute directly. “This is about our relationship with Vietnam, both from a military relationship and from a comprehensive partnership relationship,” he said.
The commander added that the US wanted to have more military engagement with its Vietnamese counterpart but did not have a specific plan in place.
"As you might know, I am a career submariner and I would greatly look forward to bringing one of the US submarines into a port in Vietnam. So that’s certainly one of things I will offer going forward,” Sawyer told journalists across Asia via a phone conference.
The US is not a claimant in the disputed sea but has called for international laws to regulate the contentious area for the sake of freedom of navigation and over-flights as well as regional stability, said the US consul-general in Ho Chi Minh Cith, Mary Tarnowka
In order to strengthen the Vietnamese coastguard, the US has transferred equipment there. The most significant shipment was |the high-endurance cutter CSB8020, the largest ship in |the Vietnamese coastguard fleet, |she said, adding that six 15-metre “metal shark” patrol boats and a training and maintenance facility with a boat lift had also been sent to Vietnam.
The US also planed to provide the same types of boats and facilities to other regions to increase the coastguard’s maritime law enforcement force capabilities, she said.
“These ships and facilities, as well as the many ongoing expert exchanges and training opportunities, represent the deepening cooperation that we have in the areas of maritime law enforcement, maritime search and rescue, and humanitarian assistance operations within Vietnam’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone,” she said.