CAM RANH BAY, Vietnam — Forty-five years ago, American cargo ships filled this vast harbor, unloading supplies day after day for U.S. troops fighting the Viet Cong.
Today the bays azure waters are largely empty, except for local fishing boats. The once-bustling American air base, formerly home to fighter squadrons and a combat hospital, is abandoned, a reminder of the U.S. militarys exit from most of Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War.
But the Pentagon is seeking a return engagement.
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta became the first Pentagon chief to visit Cam Ranh Bays deep water port since the war. He recalled the great deal of blood that was spilled in this war on all sides — by Americans and by Vietnamese.
He also made clear that the U.S. Navy is hoping that difficult history will not stand in the way of its return to the sheltered anchorage off the strategically important South China Sea.
Access for United States naval ships into this facility is a key component of the American relationship with Vietnam, and we see the tremendous potential here, Panetta told reporters, standing on the stern of a Navy supply ship anchored near the bay entrance, undergoing maintenance.
The vessel is one of only a handful of U.S. ships that the Vietnamese have allowed back to Cam Ranh Bay, about 200 miles northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, since diplomatic ties were re-established in 1995. It is unarmed and sails with a largely civilian crew, a requirement imposed by the Vietnamese government, which has prohibited military ships from docking since 2002 when the Russians closed the base they maintained there after the U.S. departure.
U.S. warships have called regularly at other Vietnamese ports since the guided missile frigate Vandergrift made a port call in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2003.
The Obama administration is reasserting the U.S. role as a Pacific power after a decade of wars elsewhere. Hoping to counter Chinas growing military might, Pentagon planners are seeking closer ties to countries on Chinas periphery and access to ports and other facilities to beef up the American presence in potential trouble spots.
It will be particularly important to use harbors like this as we move out ships from our ports on the West Coast toward our stations here in the Pacific, Panetta said.
Cam Ranh Bay is ideally located off the South China Sea. But a Vietnamese military officer accompanying Panetta said opening it up to U.S. warships was not possible because the port was a restricted military area. The officer refused to give his name.
Panetta, who flew to Hanoi later Sunday for talks with Vietnamese officials, said that being allowed to use ports such as Cam Ranh Bay is important to the new U.S. strategy. The Pentagon plans to rotate ships, troops and other military equipment into the region from the United States rather than establish permanent bases, as it did during the Cold War.
But Vietnam isnt eager to grant the U.S. permission to re-establish its military presence, even at a size far smaller than it was during the Vietnam War. The relationship will develop at its own pace, said a Defense Department official.
As a fallback, the Pentagon is considering asking the Philippines to reopen Subic Bay naval base and Clark airfield, two Cold War-era facilities also close to the South China Sea.
Vietnam views Chinas burgeoning military power as a threat, and Hanoi accused Beijing of sabotaging oil explorations in its waters twice last year by cutting undersea cables, a charge China denied. The countries both claim the Spratley Islands, in the waters between Vietnam and the Philippines, among other territorial disputes.
But Vietnam still is nervous about antagonizing China further by forging too close a military relationship with Washington, U.S. officials acknowledged.
American officials say closer military ties with Vietnam would be controversial in the U.S. as well because of long standing concerns about Hanois human rights record.
As Panettas motorcade wound through small villages circling the bay, women in conical hats squatted by the side of the road. There was little sign of the once-vast American presence. Hanoi maintains a small naval base on the site of the former U.S. installation, as well as a small civilian port in another part of the sprawling bay. There is a new airport and plans to open beach resorts where U.S. Air Force fighter pilots once swam in the ocean between missions.
During the war, the harbor was so busy that cargo ships carrying supplies for U.S. units had to anchor for weeks at a time outside the bay until there was room for them to enter and unload. Now fewer than five ships were visible.
Panetta was a young Army officer during the 1960s, though he did not serve in Vietnam. But he harked back to the war Sunday, arguing that the scars it left on both countries should not prevent them from cooperating half a century later.
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