This weekend, an American aircraft carrier will make a port call in Vietnam amidst rising tensions in the South China Sea.
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) is due to arrive in Danang, Vietnam on Sunday, representing the third time an American aircraft carrier has ever been called upon in the country.
In 2018, the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) made a port call to Vietnam, followed by the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) two years later.
The scheduled arrival of the USS Ronald Reagan coincided with America’s desire to strengthen ties with Vietnam.
Hanoi has experienced increased hostilities with Beijing surrounding border boundaries in the South China Sea, making Washington’s port call even more significant.
How Chinese-state media reacted to the port call
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang stated that “Recently, Vietnam has received visits from naval vessels from different countries, and this time it will be a visit from the USS Ronald Reagan,” adding that the carrier’s visit is a “normal friendly exchange for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development in both the region and the world.”
When the news of the USS Ronald Reagan’s expected port call broke, Chinese language media outlets reported that Beijing’s new H-6K bombers had successfully locked onto the American carrier with its weapons radar undetected.
While no verification affirming this rumor exists, Chinese-state media outlets did divulge that the bomber group had carried out “combat patrols in the South China Sea” this week.
Additionally, in May the U.S. confirmed that a Chinese fighter performed an “unnecessarily aggressive” move when the jet “flew directly in front of the nose of [an] RC-135, forcing the U.S. aircraft to fly through its wake turbulence.” The People’s Liberation Army has ramped up provocations in the Pacific in recent months and certainly does not like the idea of an American carrier visiting its backyard.
China is watching: What does the presence of a U.S. carrier in Vietnam mean?
The USS Ronald Reagan’s Vietnam port visit also comes as Washington appears to get closer to Taiwan.
Beijing considers the island nation as part of its territory and has pledged to eventually “unify” Taiwan with the mainland. Since 1949, Taiwan- officially recognized as the Republic of China (ROC), has governed independently from China.
As explained by the Council on Foreign Relations, “Beijing claims that Taiwan is bound by an understanding known as the 1992 Consensus, which was reached between representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Kuomintang (KMT) party that then ruled Taiwan. However, the two sides don’t agree on the content of this so-called consensus, and it was never intended to address the question of Taiwan’s legal status.”
Industry experts have warned that potential for kinetic conflict between China, Taiwan, and even the U.S. could arise if the PLA invades the island. The USS Ronald Reagan’s port visit to Vietnam surely indicates to Beijing that America is present in the region.
CVN-76 is a Nimitz-class supercarrier first commissioned in the early 2000s. As an homage to its presidential namesake, the ship’s motto is “peace through strength.” The presence of the USS Ronald Reagan in the Pacific symbolizes America’s strong commitment to peace in the region.
Maya Carlin, a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
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