BANGKOK (AP) – A US aircraft carrier and two guided missile cruisers visited Vietnam on Monday, a rare port call as the United States and China increasingly compete for influence in Southeast Asia.
The USS Ronald Reagan, along with the guided missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Robert Smalls, arrived in Da Nang on Sunday for the visit.
Neighboring China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner, but Beijing’s far-reaching maritime claims in the South China Sea have led to rising tensions with Vietnam, as well as with Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The US, meanwhile, has made diplomatic moves to strengthen economic and military ties in the Indo-Pacific region.
The aircraft carrier’s port call — only the third such visit since ties resumed following the end of the Vietnam War — follows visits by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and USAID Administrator Samantha Power to Vietnam earlier this year .
“Although visits from aircraft carriers often attract media attention because they are highly visible, the broader question is how this will affect the development of relations, including Washington’s drive to improve relations,” said Prashanth Parameswaran, a fellow of the Wilson Center’s Asia program, wrote in a research note.
“Too narrow a focus on aircraft carrier visits may distract from the broader trend of more comprehensive development of US-Vietnam defense ties and relations in general,” Parameswaran added.
Officers of the Ronald Reagan disembarked Sunday and were greeted by Vietnamese officers after berthing in Da Nang, a port modernized and expanded by the United States for domestic use during the war.
Captain Daryle Cardone, the commanding officer of the Ronald Reagan, said some of the ship’s more than 5,000 Sailors will volunteer at several community relations events, participate in sports with local athletes, and participate in other cultural and professional activities during the visit through June 30 will participate in exchange programs.
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“Some Reagan sailors call Vietnam home, but for most it will be their first visit,” Cardone said in a U.S. Navy press release.
Washington regards Hanoi as an important part of its strategy for the region and has sought to use Vietnam’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China to expand US influence in the region.
Japan, a strong US ally, also made a port call in Vietnam last week with its largest destroyer, Izumo, after completing drills in the South China Sea with the Reagan and other American ships.
China is also trying to repair fences and a month ago sent a naval training ship to call at its own port in Da Nang as part of a so-called goodwill tour that also takes the country to Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the Reagan’s port call as part of “normal friendly exchanges for the benefit of peace, stability, cooperation and development both in the region and in the world”.
Vietnam needs to balance its sensitive ties with Beijing with US outreach and domestic political opinion, Parameswaran said, noting that polls indicate Vietnamese people are among the countries with the highest pro-US sentiment in Southeast Asia .
Based in Yokosuka, Japan, the USS Ronald Reagan is the only American forward-facing aircraft carrier. In this role, it is scheduled to be replaced next year by the USS George Washington, also a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.