A Vietnamese submarine arrives at Cam Ranh Bay off the southeast coast of Vietnam, Jan. 3. (Photo/Xinhua)
The Vietnamese ambassador in Moscow has pledged to give Russia priority access to its military port of Cam Ranh Bay as enticement for support against China in its ongoing territorial dispute in the South China Sea, reports the Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece.
Pham Xuan Son announced the promise at a press conference on June 19, a day before three vessels from the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet completed logistical supply at the bay, a key inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam. The ambassador said the two sides were still discussing a joint-venture to provide maintenance services to military and civilian vessels at the bay, adding that Vietnam considered its cooperation with the Russian military "very important."
In a separate interview, Son told Russian media that 95% of Vietnam's weapons are purchased from Russia, and also noted that the two countries are currently cooperating in the fields of oil exploration and helicopter manufacturing, and were in talks to build Vietnam's first nuclear power station.
Vietnamese defense minister Phung Quang Thanh said during the inter-governmental security forum Shangri-La Dialogue last month that all commercial enterprises and military are welcome at Cam Ranh Bay. The statement had been perceived as extending an olive branch to the United States, given that the decision coincided with Ted Osius, the new nominee for US ambassador to Vietnam, suggesting that it may be time for Washington to consider lifting a ban on the sale and transfer of lethal weapons to the former American enemy.
Chinese scholar Xu Liping told the Global Times that whether it is allowing Russia to contain China in the South China Sea or buying weapons from the US, China will not allow Vietnam to get its wish.
Citing the views of Russian academics, the Global Times said Hanoi is trying to cozy up to Moscow because it does not have the ability to take on China by itself in the ongoing territorial dispute over the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, which escalated last month when China's deployment of an oil rig near the islands resulted in violent anti-China rioting across Vietnam. Russia has so far taken a neutral stance in the dispute, just as China had taken a neutral stance after Russia made the much-maligned decision to invade Ukraine's Crimean peninsula earlier this year.
Top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi visited Hanoi last week in an attempt to ease tensions between the two countries, though reports say no obvious progress was made during Yang's talks with Vietnamese deputy prime minister Pham Binh Minh. However, both sides said they would continue to maintain high-level contact in an effort to resolve the dispute.
