US offers new support for Vietnam maritime security

Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday the United States would help Vietnam better police its seas amid an ongoing territorial squabble with China, as he met with the communist country's top leaders in Hanoi. Kerry, who arrived in Vietnam on Saturday on a trip aimed at shoring up ties with Southeast Asia, said the U.S. would provide $32.5 million to help Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, patrol "territorial waters". "Peace and stability in the South China Sea is a top priority for us," Kerry said, adding that "no region can be secure in the absence of effective law enforcement in territorial waters". Speaking to reporters in Hanoi alongside Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, the one-time presidential hopeful said his government's support would include training and new fast patrol vessels for coast guards. But he also carried warnings over Vietnam's human rights record. Washington is eager to underscore its commitment to Asia after its eastwards "pivot" policy was shaken earlier this year when the U.S. government shutdown forced President Barack Obama to cancel a trip to the region, allowing China to occupy center stage at key regional summits. The region is beset by political and territorial tensions, including bitter maritime disputes between an increasingly assertive China and a number of its neighbors including Vietnam. China and Vietnam, which fought a brief border war in 1979, are locked in a long-standing territorial dispute over the South China Sea, and frequently trade diplomatic barbs over oil exploration, fishing rights and the Spratly and Paracel Islands, which both countries claim. Vietnam's authoritarian rulers have also been struggling to control intense domestic criticism of their handling of relations with Beijing. Kerry repeated the U.S. standpoint that it is "strongly opposed to coercive and aggressive tactics to advance territorial claims," and said the U.S. was particularly concerned about the situation in the East China Sea. China raised regional tensions with its declaration on November 23 of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, which covers islands at the center of a dispute between Beijing and Tokyo. "This move clearly increases the risk of a dangerous miscalculation or an accident and it could escalate tensions even further," Kerry said. "The U.S. does not recognize that zone and does not accept it. China's announcement will not change how the U.S. conducts military operations in the region," he added. However, he added the new pledge to help Vietnam's maritime security had "nothing to do with" China's move, but was in fact "part of a gradual and deliberate expansion (of support) that has been planned for some". China claims sovereign rights to the whole South China Sea, believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits. The sea is also claimed in whole or part by Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Kerry will meet with Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung later Monday. He hailed deepening trade and security ties between the former foes, but said in order to capitalize on the relationship, Vietnam "needs to show continued progress on human rights and freedoms, including freedoms of religion, expression and freedom of association." On Tuesday, Kerry will head to the Philippines, a longstanding U.S. ally, where he will tour the devastated city of Tacloban, which was hit by a typhoon last month.