US aircraft carrier arrives in Vietnam for historic visit as China ties are put to the test
The visit comes at a time when China is increasing its military build-up in the Paracel Islands and seven artificial islands in the Spratlys in maritime territory also claimed by Vietnam
A US aircraft carrier arrived on Monday in Vietnam for the first time since the end of the Vietnam war, dramatically underscoring the growing strategic ties between the former foes at a time when China’s regional influence is rising.
The grey and imposing silhouette of the USS Carl Vinson could be seen on Monday morning from the cliff tops just outside the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, where the 103,000-tonne carrier and two other US ships begin a five-day visit.
The arrival of the Vinson marks the biggest US military presence in Vietnam since 1975 – but it also illustrates Hanoi’s complex and evolving relationship with Beijing over the disputed South China Sea.
Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said the visit would “continue to promote bilateral relations within the framework of the two countries’ comprehensive partnership and contribute to maintaining peace, stability, security, cooperation and development in the region.”
Vietnamese envoys had been working for months to ease the concerns of Beijing over the visit and the prospect of broader security cooperation between Hanoi and Washington, according to diplomats and others familiar with the talks.
US carriers frequently ply the South China Sea in a rising pattern of naval deployments, and are now routinely shadowed by Chinese naval vessels, naval officers in the region say.
China’s rapid construction and build-up of the land it holds in the disputed Spratly Islands group has alarmed Vietnam and other regional governments as it seeks to enforce its claims to much of the disputed waterway, through which some US$3 trillion in trade passes each year.