Alwaght- The USS Carl Vinson — the United States Navy's massive nuclear-powered aircraft carrier — arrived in Vietnam on Monday amid tensions
Monday’s visit by warship, accompanied by a cruiser and a destroyer, brings more than 6,000 crew members to the central coastal city of Danang, the largest such US military presence in Vietnam since the Southeast Asian nation was unified under Communist leadership after the war ended in 1975.
The visit comes amid tension with China which has asserted its sovereignty over Xisha islands and seven artificial islands in the Spratlys in maritime territory also claimed by Vietnam. China claims most of the South China Sea and has challenged traditional US naval supremacy in the western Pacific. South China Sea is a strategic region where more than $5 trillion of goods are shipped each year through some of the world’s busiest waterways.
US State Department official for political-military affairs, said earlier that US warships would maintain their "freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea.
China reiterates that matters concerning the South China Sea should be settled by negotiations among countries in the region, and those outside of it should not meddle in the name of so-called freedom of navigation.
Meanwhile, Shen Shishun, an Asia-Pacific expert at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that US-Vietnam military cooperation in the South China Sea should not cross the red line of violating China's core interests.
