US, Vietnam to Launch Unprecedented Naval Exercises
VOA News
10 August 2010
An American warship has docked in Vietnam in preparation for an extraordinary week-long naval exercise between the one-time enemies.
The joint training, which also involves the super-carrier USS George Washington, is the first such exercise ever between the United States and Vietnam.
It will focus on non-combat operations such as sea rescues. But it takes place in the South China Sea where a dispute over contested island chains is raising tensions throughout the region.
China accused the United States of siding with Vietnam and other countries on the issue at a recent security conference in Hanoi. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at the time that the United States has a national interest in maintaining free navigation through the waterway.
The commander of the George Washington renewed that point Sunday, saying "These waters belong to nobody, yet belong to everybody."
Senior Vietnamese government and military officials were guests on the nuclear-powered carrier Sunday as it cruised near the Paracel Islands – a chain claimed by both China and Vietnam. The two are among six governments that claim all or part of another island chain, the Spratlys.
The exercise, which includes Tuesday's port call in Danang by the USS John S. McCain, comes amid ceremonies marking the 15th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam. The two fought a bitter war from the early 1960s until 1975.
The George Washington traveled to Vietnam from the Sea of Japan, where it recently participated in a joint naval exercise with South Korea that angered China. Beijing on Tuesday again criticized plans for the vessel to return to South Korea for another naval exercise, this time in the Yellow Sea.
China staged its own maneuvers in the South China Sea just days after Clinton's remarks at the ASEAN Regional Forum. China's top commander attended the exercise, which it described as the largest in the history of the People's Liberation Army.
The U.S. maneuvers with South Korea were mounted as a warning to North Korea after an international investigation concluded the North was responsible for the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in March.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
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