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Culture & Politics » soc.culture.china » US, Vietnam scratch each other's back
| US, Vietnam scratch each other's back [message #228261] |
Sa, 22 Juli 2006 09:28 |
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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW - Former war adversaries and now growing trade partners, the US
and Vietnam, are slowly but surely engaging in a strategic relationship
that if fully consummated will have significant implications for Asia's
regional balance of power, particularly toward counterbalancing China's
growing military might in the region.
In an unprecedented gesture toward Vietnam's Communist Party-led
government, Admiral William Fallon, head of the US Pacific Command,
traveled to Vietnam in mid-July to discuss the possibility of
conducting joint military maneuvers and also urged his Vietnamese
counterpart, Defense Minister Colonel Phung.
Fallon also suggested that the two countries' navies conduct future
joint search-and-rescue exercises at sea. Thanh did not offer an
immediate reply and impressed upon the senior US military official that
he was reluctant to cause any misunderstanding with regional neighbors
- presumably China - yet he promised to pass the proposal along to top
Communist Party officials.
US-Vietnam military-to-military exchanges have quietly and rapidly
intensified in recent years. On July 4, two US naval ships, the USS
Patriot and USS Salvor, called on Vietnamese ports, the fourth such US
naval visit to Vietnam since 2003. In the wake of the December 2004
tsunami in Southeast Asia, Hanoi allowed US military cargo planes
unlimited flyover rights to assist in conducting rescue and supply
missions.
The two sides now cooperate closely with the United States'
counter-terrorism campaign, counter-narcotics operations and military
medical-training programs. Hanoi recently agreed to exchanges under the
Pentagon's international military education and training program, and
its senior and middle-ranking military officials now participate in
professional development programs with US allies in the region. The US
and Vietnam also conduct an annual defense dialogue among mid-level
military officers, which will hold its third session this year.
Early last month, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Vietnam
for talks aimed specifically at boosting bilateral security ties, and
both countries agreed at those meetings to increase "exchanges at all
levels of the military and in various ways to further strengthen the
military-to-military relationship". As part of that agreement, two
Vietnamese officers are now studying English in the US.
Rumsfeld said after his visit that "we have no plans for access to
military facilities in Vietnam", a diplomatic statement made clearly to
allay China's concerns about the budding US-Vietnam military
relationship along its southern border. The United States is widely
believed to want access to a major Vietnamese air terminal and a
deepwater port, with the former US military facility at Cam Ranh Bay
the most obvious option.
Strategic calculus
China's growing military might in the region is drawing the US and
Vietnam closer together. Engaging Vietnam is an important part of
Washington's greater strategic realignment in Asia, which has
historically relied heavily on military bases in South Korea and Japan
to maintain a strategic balance of power favorable to US interests.
With the United States' significant military commitments to Afghanistan
and Iraq, the Pentagon has in recent years announced plans to redeploy
some of its force commitments in Asia to the island of Guam. The United
States' massive military presence in South Korea and Tokyo has at times
stressed bilateral relations, and since the US lost access to military
facilities in the Philippines in 1991-92, the Pentagon has sought to
establish a new military footprint in Southeast Asia.
A sizable US presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay would profoundly alter
Asia's strategic calculus. China's acquisition of anti-ship missiles
and its buildup of ballistic missiles overtly aimed toward Taiwan also
present a grave threat to US bases in the region. To counterbalance
China's growing military capabilities, particularly its aggressive
stance toward Taiwan, the US will require a joint force dependent on
both naval and air power. A US presence at Cam Ranh Bay would also
allow the US Navy to pressure China's fuel shipments in a future
conflict, security analysts say.
Vietnam obviously harbors suspicions about China's regional intentions.
The two countries fought a brief but brutal border war in 1979, and the
two historical antagonists supported opposite sides in Cambodia's civil
war throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.
Notwithstanding, US access to Cam Ranh Bay is not a done deal. Hanoi
has so far been extremely careful not to pique Beijing through its
engagement with the US. Recent critical statements by Rumsfeld and US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have called on Beijing to
"demystify" its military spending and clarify its strategic intentions
for the region, which have annoyed Chinese leaders. That will make it
trickier for Hanoi to convince Beijing that its rapprochement with the
US is not actually aimed at strategically containing China.
The strategic relationship is being promoted through vigorous,
high-profile diplomacy. This year many top US officials have held or
plan to hold high-level meetings with their Vietnamese counterparts,
including US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Rumsfeld, Rice, and
President George W Bush. The US president is due to visit Vietnam while
attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting
to be held in November in Hanoi.
Last week, Hanoi said Rice's visit to Vietnam late this month would
boost "mutual understanding and cooperative relations" between the two
countries.
"The continued exchange of delegations between Vietnam and the United
States, including Rice's trip, will help promote mutual understanding
and stable, long-term and win-win relations between the two countries,"
the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said.
On July 12, Hanoi publicly marked the 11th anniversary of its
normalization of diplomatic relations with the US, which has gradually
evolved from cooperation in locating the remains of missing-in-action
US soldiers to recent full-blown bilateral trade agreements. Last year,
then-prime minister Phan Van Khai met with Bush in Washington and
pledged to raise bilateral security relations to "a new level".
The more recent bilateral trade agreement, signed last month, will pave
the way for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization this
year. The last remaining hurdle to full-blown normal relations is the
ongoing debate inside the US Congress over whether to approve permanent
normal trade relations (PNTR) with Vietnam. Some US Congress members
have expressed reservations about Vietnam's human-rights record,
particularly in relation to religious freedoms.
The Foreign Ministry has said PNTR is the final, important step for
complete normal bilateral relations, which presumably will allow the
two sides' emerging multi-level strategic relationship to evolve
further, including possible joint military maneuvers.
US fills Russia's gap
The US is quickly moving to fill the gap left behind by Russia, until
recently Vietnam's most important strategic ally. Throughout the Cold
War, Moscow provided Hanoi with generous dollops of military and
economic aid. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese, including senior
military officers, studied in the Soviet Union and many still speak
fluent Russian.
Russia has supplied Vietnam's army with most of its military hardware,
and Moscow's armaments sales to Hanoi still amount to roughly a third
of the two countries' trade. At the same time, military-to-military
contacts have not developed in recent years. And Russia's joint war
games with China last August sent a clear message to Vietnam that it
needs to look elsewhere for future strategic assurances.
With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, economic relations were
badly strained over the massive debts Hanoi owed Moscow. Against that
backdrop, economic ties have sagged over a period that bilateral US and
Vietnam trade has grown exponentially. In July 2002, Russia rushed to
withdraw its military presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay, even though
Moscow still had two more years on its 25-year contract to use the
naval facilities for free.
Officially, the Kremlin explained its Cam Ranh Bay closure as a
cost-cutting measure, but many strategic analysts saw the move as an
attempt to appease and please China as a new strategic partner. After
the Russian withdrawal, Hanoi originally indicated new plans to turn
Cam Ranh Bay into a sort of economic hub, similar to what the
Philippines has attempted with its Subic Bay facilities. Provincial
authorities now plan a number of projects, including a cement factory
in Cam Thinh Dong, shipyards in Cam Phu and Cam Phuc Nam, industrial
zones in Nam Cam Ranh and Bac Cam Ranh, and tourism areas for Bai Dai
and Cam Lap.
Vietnamese authorities are also mulling other projects, including
upgrading Cam Ranh Bay's airport into an international gateway and
rebuilding Ba Ngoi seaport into a container terminal. These plans would
appear to indicate Hanoi's intention to scale down the military and
build up the economic uses of Cam Ranh Bay's facilities. But if the US
pushes for military access, and China doesn't openly demur, there are
growing indications Vietnam would warmly entertain any and all US
proposals.
Sergei Blagov covers Russia and post-Soviet states, with special
attention to Asia-related issues. He has contributed to Asia Times
Online since 1996 and was based in Southeast Asia from 1983 to 1997.
Nova Science Publishers, New York, has published two of his books on
Vietnamese history.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
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| Re: US, Vietnam scratch each other's back [message #228595 ] |
So, 23 Juli 2006 17:49 |
|
If the U.S. today recongized the right of Vietnam to fight against
foreign military forces in Vietnam thirty years ago, it should
recognize the right of Iraq to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. It is
naive for many Americans to believe that the people of Iraq will fight
and die for the U.S. interests in the region when everyone knows the
presence of U.S. forces in the Middle East is to serve Israel. Since
the birth of Israel as a nation in 1949, the people of Iraq always
considered Israel their worst ennemy. Thus forcing them at gun points
to fight and die to serve the security of Israel is impossible.
The granting of WTO to communist Vietnam and China but not to Russia
despite the existence of free elections in Russia today showed that
U.S. does not value democracy as it preached to the world (actually the
U.S. itself is not a real democracy, the people do not elect
president). Its current pro-communist policy proved that its
anti-communist policy of the past were wrong. U.S. military assistance
to strengthen Communist Vietnam today proves that fifty eight
thousands Americans and a million South Vietnamese died for nothing.
Beside the pro-communist policy, U.S. also shows its hypocracy. While
promoting democacy, the U.S. is hostile to new democratic nations such
as Venezella, Iran, Russia, Lebanon because these nations did not agree
with U.S. policy. It is obvious that US government today is more
favorable toward repressive China and Vietnam over nations that allowed
free elections such as Russia, Venezuella, Lebanon, and Iran. In case
of a future allout nuclear world war, U.S. military forces today
would destroy democratic nations such as Venezella, Iran, Lebanon, and
may be Russia but they would help defend communist Vietnam.
Don't believe in what the U.S. government said, just look at what it
did to other nations and make your own conclusions.
rectravel [at] yahoo.com wrote:
> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
>
> By Sergei Blagov
>
> MOSCOW - Former war adversaries and now growing trade partners, the US
> and Vietnam, are slowly but surely engaging in a strategic relationship
> that if fully consummated will have significant implications for Asia's
> regional balance of power, particularly toward counterbalancing China's
> growing military might in the region.
>
> In an unprecedented gesture toward Vietnam's Communist Party-led
> government, Admiral William Fallon, head of the US Pacific Command,
> traveled to Vietnam in mid-July to discuss the possibility of
> conducting joint military maneuvers and also urged his Vietnamese
> counterpart, Defense Minister Colonel Phung.
>
> Fallon also suggested that the two countries' navies conduct future
> joint search-and-resmore cue exercises at sea. Thanh did not offer an
> immediate reply and impressed upon the senior US military official that
> he was reluctant to cause any misunderstanding with regional neighbors
> - presumably China - yet he promised to pass the proposal along to top
> Communist Party officials.
>
> US-Vietnam military-to-military exchanges have quietly and rapidly
> intensified in recent years. On July 4, two US naval ships, the USS
> Patriot and USS Salvor, called on Vietnamese ports, the fourth such US
> naval visit to Vietnam since 2003. In the wake of the December 2004
> tsunami in Southeast Asia, Hanoi allowed US military cargo planes
> unlimited flyover rights to assist in conducting rescue and supply
> missions.
>
> The two sides now cooperate closely with the United States'
> counter-terrorism campaign, counter-narcotics operations and military
> medical-training programs. Hanoi recently agreed to exchanges under the
> Pentagon's international military education and training program, and
> its senior and middle-ranking military officials now participate in
> professional development programs with US allies in the region. The US
> and Vietnam also conduct an annual defense dialogue among mid-level
> military officers, which will hold its third session this year.
>
> Early last month, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Vietnam
> for talks aimed specifically at boosting bilateral security ties, and
> both countries agreed at those meetings to increase "exchanges at all
> levels of the military and in various ways to further strengthen the
> military-to-military relationship". As part of that agreement, two
> Vietnamese officers are now studying English in the US.
>
> Rumsfeld said after his visit that "we have no plans for access to
> military facilities in Vietnam", a diplomatic statement made clearly to
> allay China's concerns about the budding US-Vietnam military
> relationship along its southern border. The United States is widely
> believed to want access to a major Vietnamese air terminal and a
> deepwater port, with the former US military facility at Cam Ranh Bay
> the most obvious option.
>
> Strategic calculus
>
> China's growing military might in the region is drawing the US and
> Vietnam closer together. Engaging Vietnam is an important part of
> Washington's greater strategic realignment in Asia, which has
> historically relied heavily on military bases in South Korea and Japan
> to maintain a strategic balance of power favorable to US interests.
>
> With the United States' significant military commitments to Afghanistan
> and Iraq, the Pentagon has in recent years announced plans to redeploy
> some of its force commitments in Asia to the island of Guam. The United
> States' massive military presence in South Korea and Tokyo has at times
> stressed bilateral relations, and since the US lost access to military
> facilities in the Philippines in 1991-92, the Pentagon has sought to
> establish a new military footprint in Southeast Asia.
>
> A sizable US presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay would profoundly alter
> Asia's strategic calculus. China's acquisition of anti-ship missiles
> and its buildup of ballistic missiles overtly aimed toward Taiwan also
> present a grave threat to US bases in the region. To counterbalance
> China's growing military capabilities, particularly its aggressive
> stance toward Taiwan, the US will require a joint force dependent on
> both naval and air power. A US presence at Cam Ranh Bay would also
> allow the US Navy to pressure China's fuel shipments in a future
> conflict, security analysts say.
>
> Vietnam obviously harbors suspicions about China's regional intentions.
> The two countries fought a brief but brutal border war in 1979, and the
> two historical antagonists supported opposite sides in Cambodia's civil
> war throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.
>
> Notwithstanding, US access to Cam Ranh Bay is not a done deal. Hanoi
> has so far been extremely careful not to pique Beijing through its
> engagement with the US. Recent critical statements by Rumsfeld and US
> Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have called on Beijing to
> "demystify" its military spending and clarify its strategic intentions
> for the region, which have annoyed Chinese leaders. That will make it
> trickier for Hanoi to convince Beijing that its rapprochement with the
> US is not actually aimed at strategically containing China.
>
> The strategic relationship is being promoted through vigorous,
> high-profile diplomacy. This year many top US officials have held or
> plan to hold high-level meetings with their Vietnamese counterparts,
> including US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Rumsfeld, Rice, and
> President George W Bush. The US president is due to visit Vietnam while
> attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting
> to be held in November in Hanoi.
>
> Last week, Hanoi said Rice's visit to Vietnam late this month would
> boost "mutual understanding and cooperative relations" between the two
> countries.
>
> "The continued exchange of delegations between Vietnam and the United
> States, including Rice's trip, will help promote mutual understanding
> and stable, long-term and win-win relations between the two countries,"
> the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said.
>
> On July 12, Hanoi publicly marked the 11th anniversary of its
> normalization of diplomatic relations with the US, which has gradually
> evolved from cooperation in locating the remains of missing-in-action
> US soldiers to recent full-blown bilateral trade agreements. Last year,
> then-prime minister Phan Van Khai met with Bush in Washington and
> pledged to raise bilateral security relations to "a new level".
>
> The more recent bilateral trade agreement, signed last month, will pave
> the way for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization this
> year. The last remaining hurdle to full-blown normal relations is the
> ongoing debate inside the US Congress over whether to approve permanent
> normal trade relations (PNTR) with Vietnam. Some US Congress members
> have expressed reservations about Vietnam's human-rights record,
> particularly in relation to religious freedoms.
>
> The Foreign Ministry has said PNTR is the final, important step for
> complete normal bilateral relations, which presumably will allow the
> two sides' emerging multi-level strategic relationship to evolve
> further, including possible joint military maneuvers.
>
> US fills Russia's gap
>
> The US is quickly moving to fill the gap left behind by Russia, until
> recently Vietnam's most important strategic ally. Throughout the Cold
> War, Moscow provided Hanoi with generous dollops of military and
> economic aid. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese, including senior
> military officers, studied in the Soviet Union and many still speak
> fluent Russian.
>
> Russia has supplied Vietnam's army with most of its military hardware,
> and Moscow's armaments sales to Hanoi still amount to roughly a third
> of the two countries' trade. At the same time, military-to-military
> contacts have not developed in recent years. And Russia's joint war
> games with China last August sent a clear message to Vietnam that it
> needs to look elsewhere for future strategic assurances.
>
> With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, economic relations were
> badly strained over the massive debts Hanoi owed Moscow. Against that
> backdrop, economic ties have sagged over a period that bilateral US and
> Vietnam trade has grown exponentially. In July 2002, Russia rushed to
> withdraw its military presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay, even though
> Moscow still had two more years on its 25-year contract to use the
> naval facilities for free.
>
> Officially, the Kremlin explained its Cam Ranh Bay closure as a
> cost-cutting measure, but many strategic analysts saw the move as an
> attempt to appease and please China as a new strategic partner. After
> the Russian withdrawal, Hanoi originally indicated new plans to turn
> Cam Ranh Bay into a sort of economic hub, similar to what the
> Philippines has attempted with its Subic Bay facilities. Provincial
> authorities now plan a number of projects, including a cement factory
> in Cam Thinh Dong, shipyards in Cam Phu and Cam Phuc Nam, industrial
> zones in Nam Cam Ranh and Bac Cam Ranh, and tourism areas for Bai Dai
> and Cam Lap.
>
> Vietnamese authorities are also mulling other projects, including
> upgrading Cam Ranh Bay's airport into an international gateway and
> rebuilding Ba Ngoi seaport into a container terminal. These plans would
> appear to indicate Hanoi's intention to scale down the military and
> build up the economic uses of Cam Ranh Bay's facilities. But if the US
> pushes for military access, and China doesn't openly demur, there are
> growing indications Vietnam would warmly entertain any and all US
> proposals.
>
> Sergei Blagov covers Russia and post-Soviet states, with special
> attention to Asia-related issues. He has contributed to Asia Times
> Online since 1996 and was based in Southeast Asia from 1983 to 1997.
> Nova Science Publishers, New York, has published two of his books on
> Vietnamese history.
>
> (Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
> contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
>
> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
|
|
|
| Re: US, Vietnam scratch each other's back [message #228603 ] |
So, 23 Juli 2006 18:12 |
|
Bravo d/c LangBang,
US tighting the knot with CHXHNVN proves that it values the VN system
(XHCN)
and realizes this is the ultimate way to build the country and bring
peace to
the people. Very well said in the last sentence, d/c Langbang, US and
VN are speaking the same language now.
US and VN tien len.
mp
Lang Bang wrote:
> If the U.S. today recongized the right of Vietnam to fight against
> foreign military forces in Vietnam thirty years ago, it should
> recognize the right of Iraq to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. It is
> naive for many Americans to believe that the people of Iraq will fight
> and die for the U.S. interests in the region when everyone knows the
> presence of U.S. forces in the Middle East is to serve Israel. Since
> the birth of Israel as a nation in 1949, the people of Iraq always
> considered Israel their worst ennemy. Thus forcing them at gun points
> to fight and die to serve the security of Israel is impossible.
> The granting of WTO to communist Vietnam and China but not to Russia
> despite the existence of free elections in Russia today showed that
> U.S. does not value democracy as it preached to the world (actually the
> U.S. itself is not a real democracy, the people do not elect
> president). Its current pro-communist policy proved that its
> anti-communist policy of the past were wrong. U.S. military assistance
> to strengthen Communist Vietnam today proves that fifty eight
> thousands Americans and a million South Vietnamese died for nothing.
> Beside the pro-communist policy, U.S. also shows its hypocracy. While
> promoting democacy, the U.S. is hostile to new democratic nations such
> as Venezella, Iran, Russia, Lebanon because these nations did not agree
> with U.S. policy. It is obvious that US government today is more
> favorable toward repressive China and Vietnam over nations that allowed
> free elections such as Russia, Venezuella, Lebanon, and Iran. In case
> of a future allout nuclear world war, U.S. military forces today
> would destroy democratic nations such as Venezella, Iran, Lebanon, and
> may be Russia but they would help defend communist Vietnam.
> Don't believe in what the U.S. government said, just look at what it
> did to other nations and make your own conclusions.
>
>
> rectravel [at] yahoo.com wrote:
> > http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
> >
> > By Sergei Blagov
> >
> > MOSCOW - Former war adversaries and now growing trade partners, the US
> > and Vietnam, are slowly but surely engaging in a strategic relationship
> > that if fully consummated will have significant implications for Asia's
> > regional balance of power, particularly toward counterbalancing China's
> > growing military might in the region.
> >
> > In an unprecedented gesture toward Vietnam's Communist Party-led
> > government, Admiral William Fallon, head of the US Pacific Command,
> > traveled to Vietnam in mid-July to discuss the possibility of
> > conducting joint military maneuvers and also urged his Vietnamese
> > counterpart, Defense Minister Colonel Phung.
> >
> > Fallon also suggested that the two countries' navies conduct future
> > joint search-and-resmore cue exercises at sea. Thanh did not offer an
> > immediate reply and impressed upon the senior US military official that
> > he was reluctant to cause any misunderstanding with regional neighbors
> > - presumably China - yet he promised to pass the proposal along to top
> > Communist Party officials.
> >
> > US-Vietnam military-to-military exchanges have quietly and rapidly
> > intensified in recent years. On July 4, two US naval ships, the USS
> > Patriot and USS Salvor, called on Vietnamese ports, the fourth such US
> > naval visit to Vietnam since 2003. In the wake of the December 2004
> > tsunami in Southeast Asia, Hanoi allowed US military cargo planes
> > unlimited flyover rights to assist in conducting rescue and supply
> > missions.
> >
> > The two sides now cooperate closely with the United States'
> > counter-terrorism campaign, counter-narcotics operations and military
> > medical-training programs. Hanoi recently agreed to exchanges under the
> > Pentagon's international military education and training program, and
> > its senior and middle-ranking military officials now participate in
> > professional development programs with US allies in the region. The US
> > and Vietnam also conduct an annual defense dialogue among mid-level
> > military officers, which will hold its third session this year.
> >
> > Early last month, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Vietnam
> > for talks aimed specifically at boosting bilateral security ties, and
> > both countries agreed at those meetings to increase "exchanges at all
> > levels of the military and in various ways to further strengthen the
> > military-to-military relationship". As part of that agreement, two
> > Vietnamese officers are now studying English in the US.
> >
> > Rumsfeld said after his visit that "we have no plans for access to
> > military facilities in Vietnam", a diplomatic statement made clearly to
> > allay China's concerns about the budding US-Vietnam military
> > relationship along its southern border. The United States is widely
> > believed to want access to a major Vietnamese air terminal and a
> > deepwater port, with the former US military facility at Cam Ranh Bay
> > the most obvious option.
> >
> > Strategic calculus
> >
> > China's growing military might in the region is drawing the US and
> > Vietnam closer together. Engaging Vietnam is an important part of
> > Washington's greater strategic realignment in Asia, which has
> > historically relied heavily on military bases in South Korea and Japan
> > to maintain a strategic balance of power favorable to US interests.
> >
> > With the United States' significant military commitments to Afghanistan
> > and Iraq, the Pentagon has in recent years announced plans to redeploy
> > some of its force commitments in Asia to the island of Guam. The United
> > States' massive military presence in South Korea and Tokyo has at times
> > stressed bilateral relations, and since the US lost access to military
> > facilities in the Philippines in 1991-92, the Pentagon has sought to
> > establish a new military footprint in Southeast Asia.
> >
> > A sizable US presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay would profoundly alter
> > Asia's strategic calculus. China's acquisition of anti-ship missiles
> > and its buildup of ballistic missiles overtly aimed toward Taiwan also
> > present a grave threat to US bases in the region. To counterbalance
> > China's growing military capabilities, particularly its aggressive
> > stance toward Taiwan, the US will require a joint force dependent on
> > both naval and air power. A US presence at Cam Ranh Bay would also
> > allow the US Navy to pressure China's fuel shipments in a future
> > conflict, security analysts say.
> >
> > Vietnam obviously harbors suspicions about China's regional intentions.
> > The two countries fought a brief but brutal border war in 1979, and the
> > two historical antagonists supported opposite sides in Cambodia's civil
> > war throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.
> >
> > Notwithstanding, US access to Cam Ranh Bay is not a done deal. Hanoi
> > has so far been extremely careful not to pique Beijing through its
> > engagement with the US. Recent critical statements by Rumsfeld and US
> > Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have called on Beijing to
> > "demystify" its military spending and clarify its strategic intentions
> > for the region, which have annoyed Chinese leaders. That will make it
> > trickier for Hanoi to convince Beijing that its rapprochement with the
> > US is not actually aimed at strategically containing China.
> >
> > The strategic relationship is being promoted through vigorous,
> > high-profile diplomacy. This year many top US officials have held or
> > plan to hold high-level meetings with their Vietnamese counterparts,
> > including US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Rumsfeld, Rice, and
> > President George W Bush. The US president is due to visit Vietnam while
> > attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting
> > to be held in November in Hanoi.
> >
> > Last week, Hanoi said Rice's visit to Vietnam late this month would
> > boost "mutual understanding and cooperative relations" between the two
> > countries.
> >
> > "The continued exchange of delegations between Vietnam and the United
> > States, including Rice's trip, will help promote mutual understanding
> > and stable, long-term and win-win relations between the two countries,"
> > the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said.
> >
> > On July 12, Hanoi publicly marked the 11th anniversary of its
> > normalization of diplomatic relations with the US, which has gradually
> > evolved from cooperation in locating the remains of missing-in-action
> > US soldiers to recent full-blown bilateral trade agreements. Last year,
> > then-prime minister Phan Van Khai met with Bush in Washington and
> > pledged to raise bilateral security relations to "a new level".
> >
> > The more recent bilateral trade agreement, signed last month, will pave
> > the way for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization this
> > year. The last remaining hurdle to full-blown normal relations is the
> > ongoing debate inside the US Congress over whether to approve permanent
> > normal trade relations (PNTR) with Vietnam. Some US Congress members
> > have expressed reservations about Vietnam's human-rights record,
> > particularly in relation to religious freedoms.
> >
> > The Foreign Ministry has said PNTR is the final, important step for
> > complete normal bilateral relations, which presumably will allow the
> > two sides' emerging multi-level strategic relationship to evolve
> > further, including possible joint military maneuvers.
> >
> > US fills Russia's gap
> >
> > The US is quickly moving to fill the gap left behind by Russia, until
> > recently Vietnam's most important strategic ally. Throughout the Cold
> > War, Moscow provided Hanoi with generous dollops of military and
> > economic aid. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese, including senior
> > military officers, studied in the Soviet Union and many still speak
> > fluent Russian.
> >
> > Russia has supplied Vietnam's army with most of its military hardware,
> > and Moscow's armaments sales to Hanoi still amount to roughly a third
> > of the two countries' trade. At the same time, military-to-military
> > contacts have not developed in recent years. And Russia's joint war
> > games with China last August sent a clear message to Vietnam that it
> > needs to look elsewhere for future strategic assurances.
> >
> > With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, economic relations were
> > badly strained over the massive debts Hanoi owed Moscow. Against that
> > backdrop, economic ties have sagged over a period that bilateral US and
> > Vietnam trade has grown exponentially. In July 2002, Russia rushed to
> > withdraw its military presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay, even though
> > Moscow still had two more years on its 25-year contract to use the
> > naval facilities for free.
> >
> > Officially, the Kremlin explained its Cam Ranh Bay closure as a
> > cost-cutting measure, but many strategic analysts saw the move as an
> > attempt to appease and please China as a new strategic partner. After
> > the Russian withdrawal, Hanoi originally indicated new plans to turn
> > Cam Ranh Bay into a sort of economic hub, similar to what the
> > Philippines has attempted with its Subic Bay facilities. Provincial
> > authorities now plan a number of projects, including a cement factory
> > in Cam Thinh Dong, shipyards in Cam Phu and Cam Phuc Nam, industrial
> > zones in Nam Cam Ranh and Bac Cam Ranh, and tourism areas for Bai Dai
> > and Cam Lap.
> >
> > Vietnamese authorities are also mulling other projects, including
> > upgrading Cam Ranh Bay's airport into an international gateway and
> > rebuilding Ba Ngoi seaport into a container terminal. These plans would
> > appear to indicate Hanoi's intention to scale down the military and
> > build up the economic uses of Cam Ranh Bay's facilities. But if the US
> > pushes for military access, and China doesn't openly demur, there are
> > growing indications Vietnam would warmly entertain any and all US
> > proposals.
> >
> > Sergei Blagov covers Russia and post-Soviet states, with special
> > attention to Asia-related issues. He has contributed to Asia Times
> > Online since 1996 and was based in Southeast Asia from 1983 to 1997.
> > Nova Science Publishers, New York, has published two of his books on
> > Vietnamese history.
> >
> > (Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
> > contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
> >
> > http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
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| Re: US, Vietnam scratch each other's back [message #228792 ] |
Mo, 24 Juli 2006 07:11 |
|
Lang Bang wrote:
> If the U.S. today recongized the right of Vietnam to fight against
> foreign military forces in Vietnam thirty years ago, it should
> recognize the right of Iraq to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. It is
> naive for many Americans to believe that the people of Iraq will fight
> and die for the U.S. interests in the region when everyone knows the
> presence of U.S. forces in the Middle East is to serve Israel.
There were also other Vietnamese believed they had the right not to
accept communism that why they had the right to receive helps from the
USA to fight against the Vietnamese communists. The disastrous
consequences that the communist regime brought to South Vietnam after
1975 proved that those Vietnamese, who fought against communists, were
right.
For the Vietnamese who thought they fought against foreign military
forces in Vietnam they fell into the trap of the Vietnames communists.
The Vietnamese communists used "fight against foreign military forces"
as the cause to expel the Americans from South Vietnam and prevent the
anti-communist Vietnamese to receive aids from the USA while the
communist Vietnamese countinued receiving aids from Russia and China.
These Vietnamese now found their efforts only brought to a poor and
backward Vietnam with a crippled economy as the result of the copy of
the Soviet example. These Vietnamese think they served their country
when they fought against foreign forces but they still don't see that
they helped the communists to bring Vietnam to a wrong road.
You should look at Korea to see the difference between North and South
Korea and think about the case had South Korea not received helps from
the USA then today the South Korean would be suffering like their
coutrymen in the North.
Do you really care about the wellfare of Vietnamese people or you just
care about the power of the Vietnamese communists?
|
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| Re: US, Vietnam scratch each other's back [message #228799 ] |
Mo, 24 Juli 2006 07:28 |
|
I don't think the military cooperation between Vietnam and the USA
would go further than today's situation. The Vietnamese communist
leaders still don't trust the USA because the USA is still fostering
freedom and democracy in Vietnam, an act that the Vietnamese communists
look as Peaceful Evolution to oust the communists out of power.
The Vietnamese government now is almost like the leftist governments in
Venezuela or Bolivia althought they don't openly talk anti-American
tones. Vietnamese media still has anti-American tones in Vietnames
editions for Vietnamese readers.
The Vietnamese communists still buy weapons from the Russia because
they don't trust the USA. They are afraid in case they oppose to the
pressures from the USA, the USA may cease to sell parts for their
weapons. Venezuela is an example.
Cooperation between Vietnam and the USA can go further only when
Vietnam has non-communist leaders as in the case of Ukrain, Poland.
rectravel [at] yahoo.com wrote:
> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
>
> By Sergei Blagov
>
> MOSCOW - Former war adversaries and now growing trade partners, the US
> and Vietnam, are slowly but surely engaging in a strategic relationship
> that if fully consummated will have significant implications for Asia's
> regional balance of power, particularly toward counterbalancing China's
> growing military might in the region.
>
> In an unprecedented gesture toward Vietnam's Communist Party-led
> government, Admiral William Fallon, head of the US Pacific Command,
> traveled to Vietnam in mid-July to discuss the possibility of
> conducting joint military maneuvers and also urged his Vietnamese
> counterpart, Defense Minister Colonel Phung.
>
> Fallon also suggested that the two countries' navies conduct future
> joint search-and-rescue exercises at sea. Thanh did not offer an
> immediate reply and impressed upon the senior US military official that
> he was reluctant to cause any misunderstanding with regional neighbors
> - presumably China - yet he promised to pass the proposal along to top
> Communist Party officials.
>
> US-Vietnam military-to-military exchanges have quietly and rapidly
> intensified in recent years. On July 4, two US naval ships, the USS
> Patriot and USS Salvor, called on Vietnamese ports, the fourth such US
> naval visit to Vietnam since 2003. In the wake of the December 2004
> tsunami in Southeast Asia, Hanoi allowed US military cargo planes
> unlimited flyover rights to assist in conducting rescue and supply
> missions.
>
> The two sides now cooperate closely with the United States'
> counter-terrorism campaign, counter-narcotics operations and military
> medical-training programs. Hanoi recently agreed to exchanges under the
> Pentagon's international military education and training program, and
> its senior and middle-ranking military officials now participate in
> professional development programs with US allies in the region. The US
> and Vietnam also conduct an annual defense dialogue among mid-level
> military officers, which will hold its third session this year.
>
> Early last month, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Vietnam
> for talks aimed specifically at boosting bilateral security ties, and
> both countries agreed at those meetings to increase "exchanges at all
> levels of the military and in various ways to further strengthen the
> military-to-military relationship". As part of that agreement, two
> Vietnamese officers are now studying English in the US.
>
> Rumsfeld said after his visit that "we have no plans for access to
> military facilities in Vietnam", a diplomatic statement made clearly to
> allay China's concerns about the budding US-Vietnam military
> relationship along its southern border. The United States is widely
> believed to want access to a major Vietnamese air terminal and a
> deepwater port, with the former US military facility at Cam Ranh Bay
> the most obvious option.
>
> Strategic calculus
>
> China's growing military might in the region is drawing the US and
> Vietnam closer together. Engaging Vietnam is an important part of
> Washington's greater strategic realignment in Asia, which has
> historically relied heavily on military bases in South Korea and Japan
> to maintain a strategic balance of power favorable to US interests.
>
> With the United States' significant military commitments to Afghanistan
> and Iraq, the Pentagon has in recent years announced plans to redeploy
> some of its force commitments in Asia to the island of Guam. The United
> States' massive military presence in South Korea and Tokyo has at times
> stressed bilateral relations, and since the US lost access to military
> facilities in the Philippines in 1991-92, the Pentagon has sought to
> establish a new military footprint in Southeast Asia.
>
> A sizable US presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay would profoundly alter
> Asia's strategic calculus. China's acquisition of anti-ship missiles
> and its buildup of ballistic missiles overtly aimed toward Taiwan also
> present a grave threat to US bases in the region. To counterbalance
> China's growing military capabilities, particularly its aggressive
> stance toward Taiwan, the US will require a joint force dependent on
> both naval and air power. A US presence at Cam Ranh Bay would also
> allow the US Navy to pressure China's fuel shipments in a future
> conflict, security analysts say.
>
> Vietnam obviously harbors suspicions about China's regional intentions.
> The two countries fought a brief but brutal border war in 1979, and the
> two historical antagonists supported opposite sides in Cambodia's civil
> war throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.
>
> Notwithstanding, US access to Cam Ranh Bay is not a done deal. Hanoi
> has so far been extremely careful not to pique Beijing through its
> engagement with the US. Recent critical statements by Rumsfeld and US
> Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have called on Beijing to
> "demystify" its military spending and clarify its strategic intentions
> for the region, which have annoyed Chinese leaders. That will make it
> trickier for Hanoi to convince Beijing that its rapprochement with the
> US is not actually aimed at strategically containing China.
>
> The strategic relationship is being promoted through vigorous,
> high-profile diplomacy. This year many top US officials have held or
> plan to hold high-level meetings with their Vietnamese counterparts,
> including US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Rumsfeld, Rice, and
> President George W Bush. The US president is due to visit Vietnam while
> attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting
> to be held in November in Hanoi.
>
> Last week, Hanoi said Rice's visit to Vietnam late this month would
> boost "mutual understanding and cooperative relations" between the two
> countries.
>
> "The continued exchange of delegations between Vietnam and the United
> States, including Rice's trip, will help promote mutual understanding
> and stable, long-term and win-win relations between the two countries,"
> the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said.
>
> On July 12, Hanoi publicly marked the 11th anniversary of its
> normalization of diplomatic relations with the US, which has gradually
> evolved from cooperation in locating the remains of missing-in-action
> US soldiers to recent full-blown bilateral trade agreements. Last year,
> then-prime minister Phan Van Khai met with Bush in Washington and
> pledged to raise bilateral security relations to "a new level".
>
> The more recent bilateral trade agreement, signed last month, will pave
> the way for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization this
> year. The last remaining hurdle to full-blown normal relations is the
> ongoing debate inside the US Congress over whether to approve permanent
> normal trade relations (PNTR) with Vietnam. Some US Congress members
> have expressed reservations about Vietnam's human-rights record,
> particularly in relation to religious freedoms.
>
> The Foreign Ministry has said PNTR is the final, important step for
> complete normal bilateral relations, which presumably will allow the
> two sides' emerging multi-level strategic relationship to evolve
> further, including possible joint military maneuvers.
>
> US fills Russia's gap
>
> The US is quickly moving to fill the gap left behind by Russia, until
> recently Vietnam's most important strategic ally. Throughout the Cold
> War, Moscow provided Hanoi with generous dollops of military and
> economic aid. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese, including senior
> military officers, studied in the Soviet Union and many still speak
> fluent Russian.
>
> Russia has supplied Vietnam's army with most of its military hardware,
> and Moscow's armaments sales to Hanoi still amount to roughly a third
> of the two countries' trade. At the same time, military-to-military
> contacts have not developed in recent years. And Russia's joint war
> games with China last August sent a clear message to Vietnam that it
> needs to look elsewhere for future strategic assurances.
>
> With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, economic relations were
> badly strained over the massive debts Hanoi owed Moscow. Against that
> backdrop, economic ties have sagged over a period that bilateral US and
> Vietnam trade has grown exponentially. In July 2002, Russia rushed to
> withdraw its military presence at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay, even though
> Moscow still had two more years on its 25-year contract to use the
> naval facilities for free.
>
> Officially, the Kremlin explained its Cam Ranh Bay closure as a
> cost-cutting measure, but many strategic analysts saw the move as an
> attempt to appease and please China as a new strategic partner. After
> the Russian withdrawal, Hanoi originally indicated new plans to turn
> Cam Ranh Bay into a sort of economic hub, similar to what the
> Philippines has attempted with its Subic Bay facilities. Provincial
> authorities now plan a number of projects, including a cement factory
> in Cam Thinh Dong, shipyards in Cam Phu and Cam Phuc Nam, industrial
> zones in Nam Cam Ranh and Bac Cam Ranh, and tourism areas for Bai Dai
> and Cam Lap.
>
> Vietnamese authorities are also mulling other projects, including
> upgrading Cam Ranh Bay's airport into an international gateway and
> rebuilding Ba Ngoi seaport into a container terminal. These plans would
> appear to indicate Hanoi's intention to scale down the military and
> build up the economic uses of Cam Ranh Bay's facilities. But if the US
> pushes for military access, and China doesn't openly demur, there are
> growing indications Vietnam would warmly entertain any and all US
> proposals.
>
> Sergei Blagov covers Russia and post-Soviet states, with special
> attention to Asia-related issues. He has contributed to Asia Times
> Online since 1996 and was based in Southeast Asia from 1983 to 1997.
> Nova Science Publishers, New York, has published two of his books on
> Vietnamese history.
>
> (Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
> contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
>
> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG21Ae02.html
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