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Associated Press

Three Chinese navy ships will make their first port call at Vietnam’s strategic Cam Ranh Bay this weekend – just as the two countries are locked in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
An official in Khanh Hoa province, where the bay is located, said the four-day port call at Cam Ranh International Port would start on Saturday.
The visit by three ships carrying 750 sailors would include exchanges with the Vietnamese navy and meetings with provincial leaders, the official said.
Chinese premier urges Vietnam to calm troubled South China Sea waters
The international port, whose first phase with an investment of US$80 million was completed earlier this year, offers repairs, maintenance and logistics to foreign naval and commercial ships.
The port is separate from Vietnam’s military installations at the bay.

The visit comes weeks after two US navy ships paid a first visit to Cam Ranh Bay since the countries normalised relations 21 years ago.
Cam Ranh Bay served as a US air and naval base during the Vietnam War. It was taken over by the former Soviet Union in 1979 under a 25-year, rent-free agreement, and was returned to Hanoi in 2002.
Multimedia special: 70 years of construction, conflict and combat on the South China Sea
The visit of the Chinese ships comes as Hanoi and Beijing are in dispute over parts of the South China Sea.
Beijing claims almost all seas, which occupy one of the world’s busiest sea lanes and is potentially rich in natural resources.
South China Sea dispute to ‘take back seat’ in talks with Xi, Duterte says
China’s recent building of artificial islands in the Spratly islands and military build-up in the area have alarmed countries in the region and the United States.
That has led Vietnam to seek closer ties with the United States to counter China’s growing assertiveness.


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South China Sea

Chinese navy ships make first port call at Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay amid South China Sea dispute

Chinese navy personnel aboard a People's Liberation Army Navy frigate during a visit to Myanmar on October 4. File photo: AFP

Chinese Navy replenishment ship 'Qiandaohu' (R) and multi-role frigate 'Yiyang' (L) enter the port of Gdynia in Gdynia, Poland, on October 7, 2015, marking the first-ever such visit in the NATO and EU member. A Jinan guided-missile destroyer and two other naval vessels docked in the Baltic sea port where they will be open to the public for the next five days, marking the 66th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Poland. AFP PHOTO / PAP / ADAM WARZAWA +++ POLAND OUT EASTNEWS OUT / AFP PHOTO / PAP / Adam Warzawa

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