Vietnam rules out deal with US on Cam Ranh Bay
HANOI - Hanoi on Sunday ruled out the possibility of any
formal agreement with Washington on its request for
access to a Russian naval base on Vietnam's central
coast after Moscow's lease expires in 2004.
"Vietnam won't sign an agreement with any country on using
Cam Ranh port for military purposes," foreign ministry
spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh told the official Vietnam News
Agency.
But the ministry spokeswoman left open the possibility of US
access to the base on an informal or multilateral basis.
Vietnam has allowed port calls at Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh
City by warships from a host of foreign navies including former
foes, even though most have yet to reach any formal defence
agreement with Hanoi.
After talks here earlier this month, US Pacific commander
Admiral Dennis Blair announced Washington was seeking an
"arrangement" that would allow it to use Cam Ranh Bay for
port calls and support for its operations in Southeast Asia after
Moscow gives up its lease.
But he made clear Washington was not looking for any
permanent bases and was prepared to be "flexible" about the
arrangements it secured for its military in the region.
Viewed as one of the best natural harbours in the region, the
Cam Ranh Bay base was ironically originally built by the
Americans but lost to the then Soviet Union following the US
humiliation in the Vietnam War.
In its heyday in the early 1980s, before former Soviet president
Mikhail Gorbachev cut back Moscow's global role, the base
served as a Soviet listening post covering most of the Far East
and as a harbour for the Soviet nuclear fleet, according to
intelligence sources.
But last year a cash-strapped Moscow announced it would give
up the base when its 25-year lease runs out, as it can no
longer afford it.
Agence France Presse - February 10, 2002.
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