A U. S. aircraft carrier will port in Vietnam in March, military officials said Thursday, a first for the allies and former foes as they seek to counter Beijing’s growing might in the disputed South China Sea. The announcement came as U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited the
A U. S. aircraft carrier will port in Vietnam in March, military officials said Thursday, a first for the allies and former foes as they seek to counter Beijing’s growing might in the disputed South China Sea.
The announcement came as U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited the communist nation following a stopover in Indonesia on a brief Asia tour aimed at drumming up defense cooperation.
On his two-day trip to Vietnam, where he met with his counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich and President Tran Dai Quang on Thursday, Mattis zeroed in on freedom of navigation in the resource-rich South China Sea, a thorny issue between communist neighbours Hanoi and Beijing.
China claims most of the waterway — believed to hold vast oil and gas deposits and through which $5 trillion in trade passes annually — and has built up islands and military installations in the sea.
Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims in the waterway.
