Panetta’s visit to Cam Ranh Bay was the first by a Pentagon chief since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, and the highly symbolic trip reflected Washington’s efforts to deepen ties with its former enemy as it seeks to counter China’s growing power.
“Access for US naval ships into this facility is a key component of this relationship and we see a tremendous potential here,” he told reporters on the deck of the USNS Richard E. Byrd, an American naval cargo ship currently at the port.
With new plans to shift the majority of the US naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020, Panetta described the deep-water harbour as strategically vital.
“It will be particularly important to be able to work with partners like Vietnam, to be able to use harbours like this, as we move our ships from our ports on the West Coast, (and) our stations here in the Pacific,” he said.
Cam Rahn Bay is one the region’s best natural harbours and the United States sees it an ideal spot to bolster an American naval presence in the contested South China Sea.
Panetta’s trip reflected the transformation of US relations with Vietnam as well as a growing rivalry between China and the United States, with the South China Sea at the centre of the competition.
Looking out on a bay that was once teeming with US naval ships during the peak of the Vietnam war, Panetta spoke of the “arc of history” in which a bitter war had given way to a new era.
The Pentagon’s plan to send more ships to the Pacific, unveiled Saturday during a speech by Panetta at a security summit in Singapore, reflects US concern over China’s rising economic and military might. But Panetta insisted the strategy was not a challenge to Beijing.