Posted on 02/09/2002 10:46:34 PM PST by stilts
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.
I notice they didn't rule out an informal agreement.
Which means in Vietnamese: "Yes, but let's not scare China too much. Hey, we gotta live next door to them!"
fyi
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