Popular Mechanics

A Navy Aircraft Carrier Will Visit Vietnam

 Kyle Mizokami,Popular Mechanics Tue, Feb 27 12:35 PM AKST 

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From Popular Mechanics

The U.S. Navy is sending an aircraft carrier to Vietnam for the first time since the Vietnam War more than forty years ago. The reason for this courtship is an attempt to woo one of China’s neighbors and rivals to counter rising Chinese military influence in the region.

The USS Carl Vinson, part of the U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet, will visit Vietnam in early March. US Navy aircraft carriers were a frequent sight off the coast of Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, during the Vietnam War. North Vietnam’s victory in 1975 means that, in effect, Carl Vinson will be visiting the same government that the Navy bombed during the war. Relations between the United States and Vietnam were normalized in 1995, and Washington lifted the embargo on weapons sales to the country in 2016.

Vietnam, which shares a border with China, has long resisted the power and influence of its much larger neighbor. Hanoi has had several wars with Beijing over the past two thousand years to maintain its political independence, the latest taking place in 1979.

Beijing’s insistence that it controls 90 percent of the South China Sea has trampled competing claims by its neighbors, including Vietnam. The United States, which opposes Beijing’s claims, has been soft-selling the idea of military ties to many of China’s neighbors, Vietnam included.

Meanwhile, this summer the hospital ship USNS Mercy will visit Vietnam as part of a broader tour of Southeast Asia. A report in Defense News says the Mercy will visit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Vietnam as part of the Pacific Partnership program, an annual program that provides free medical and humanitarian services to remote communities throughout southeast Asia. While the services the Pacific Partnership program are important to these communities, the program does raise the profile of the United States throughout the region and generate positive publicity.

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World

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Flexes Muscle Deep in South China Sea in Defiance of China

Breitbart 5 hours ago 

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1 Mar 20180 The USS Carl Vinson, a massive nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, reportedly sailed deep in the South China Sea amid U.S.-China tensions over Beijing’s territorial disputes with several American allies in the region. “It shows resolve, and gives decision space to our leaders,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Doug Verissimo, the ship’s commanding officer, referring to the presence of the warship on the South China Sea, the Australian Broadcasting Network (ABC) reported. The captain noted: When they put a carrier strike group somewhere it helps to show that the United States is interested. We don’t have a lot of these, so when you put one in a certain area, it has some influence. Of course, it ...

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World

US aircraft carrier to dock in Vietnam for first time since 1975 amid tension over China’s rising sea power

 Nicola Smith,The Telegraph Wed, Feb 28 7:04 AM AKST 

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The US navy is to dock in the Vietnamese coastal city of Danang in March, in the first visit of an American aircraft carrier to the country since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

The USS Carl Vinson will arrive in Vietnam during the navy’s multinational disaster response exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, but its presence is also being widely perceived as an attempt to counter China’s military influence in Asian waters, where the East and South China Seas are the scenes of escalating territorial disputes.

Vietnam, which borders China, has long resisted its power and influence, but Beijing’s insistence that it controls almost all of the South China Sea has threatened competing territorial claims, including from Hanoi.

China’s assertion has also challenged US naval supremacy in the western Pacific, prompting Washington to attempt to woo Asian allies with the idea of closer military ties.

US aircraft carriers were a common sight off the coast of Vietnam in 1960s and 1970s, during the war. Relations between the two nations were normalised in 1995 and Washington lifted an embargo on weapons sales to Hanoi in 2016.  

US navy jets take off from the deck of USS Constellation south-east of Saigon, on bombing missions during the Vietnam war, 1972 Credit:  Bettmann

The news comes as the Japanese government is reportedly considering the deployment of surface-to-ship missile units across southern Okinawa to counter China’s rising maritime powers.

Officials are exploring plans to deploy a unit on the main Okinawa island in addition to other smaller islands in the region, with a view to bolstering its defences against Chinese vessels, government sources told Japanese media.

The deployment plans, which are expected to be detailed in the new National Defence Guidelines to be drafted by the end of the year, reportedly focus on advanced Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles with a range of more than 62 miles.

Territorial confrontation in the South China Sea

There are reportedly plans to install missile units on both Okinawa island and the smaller island Miyakojima, which would ensure that they can cover the strategically-located Miyako Strait which runs between them.

An administrative command centre was also likely to be set up on Okinawa’s main island to manage surface-to-missile units deployed across the region, according to Kyodo news agency.

The Miyako Strait in the East China Sea has emerged as a regional hotspot of tension, with Chinese naval vessels regularly fuelling tensions by passing through its waters every year over the past decade.

Miyako island also lies to the southeast of a disputed group of islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which emerged as a growing source of bilateral tension between the two nations.

Q&A | South China Sea dispute

Reports of the missile unit deployments coincide with a growing number of incidents involving increasingly assertive Chinese vessels venturing into waters close to the disputed islands.

Last week, three Chinese patrol ships reportedly entered Japanese territorial waters near the disputed islands, while last month, the Japanese government confirmed that a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine also had sailed around them.