US-Vietnam military exercise likely
Hanoi (dpa)- Former battlefield enemies Vietnam and the United States are discussing conducting joint military search-and-rescue exercises in the future, the commander of the US Pacific Command said Saturday in Vietnam.
Admiral William Fallon said no agreement has been reached but told reporters in Hanoi that during his talks with officials there was "significant interest from the Vietnamese side" in joint at-sea search exercises after more than 200 Vietnamese fishermen were lost at sea in May in Typhoon Chanchu.
"It might be possible to do a kind of an SOS exercise focusing on search and rescue," Fallon said Saturday, adding that the manoeuvres would be humanitarian in nature and draw on US Navy ships' experiences from the 2004 Asian tsunami.
The proposed naval exercises in the South China Sea would be the first direct cooperation between Vietnamese and US military forces since American forces were pulled out of the Vietnam War in 1973.
Since last year, the former enemies have taken tentative steps toward establishing military ties.
Fallon, who commands all US forces from Hawaii to Madagascar, arrived in Hanoi on Friday and met with members of Vietnam's newly formed communist government, including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh and other top officials.
It was Fallon's first time in Vietnam since he was a combat-status pilot here 36 years ago. He said he flew "mostly reconnaissance" on the communist capital, which was heavily bombed by US planes during the war.
"But that was a long time ago. Today, we want to focus on the future," Fallon said.
During the long and bloody Vietnam War between the communist north and the US-backed south, 3 million Vietnamese and 58,000 American troops were killed. In 1975, North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon, the southern capital, uniting the country under communist rule that continues today.
The US enforced a trade embargo against Vietnam for years and only established full diplomatic relations with Hanoi in 1995. However, relations have steadily grown.
Fallon arrived in Hanoi little more than a month after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited and 10 days after two US Navy ships spent the country's independence day on shore leave in Ho Chi Minh City.
US President George W Bush is expected to visit in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held this year in Hanoi.
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