Vietnam will participate in the first joint military exercise to be kicked off on September 2-6 between the navies of the US and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 
Vietnam warships. Photo: VnExpress
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Vietnam, as an ASEAN member, will join the drills that will take place under the agreement reached in 2018 by defense ministers of the US and ASEAN members, Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed at a regular press meeting on August 22.
The five-day ASEAN-US Maritime Exercise involving at least eight ships along with aircraft will take place off the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, the Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday.
The drills will begin at Sattahip naval base in Thailand’s Chonburi province and extend to the tip of Vietnam’s southernmost province of Ca Mau.
To carry out the exercise, a combined task force will be set up on a Thai patrol vessel, chaired by a Thai senior navy official and comprised of US and ASEAN members.
Participating from the US side will be Destroyer Squadron 7, which is part of the forward-deployed naval forces of the US 7th Fleet and involved in rotational deployments in Southeast Asia, the Bangkok Post quoted an ASEAN source.
Meanwhile, Nikkei Asia reported that the 10-country ASEAN and the US had agreed to the drills at a defense ministers’ meeting in Singapore last year. While details have not been announced, the US is expected to deploy a destroyer to the gulf, which neighbors the South China Sea.
In October 2018, ASEAN also conducted a joint naval exercise with China for the first time off the coast of China’s Guangdong province. China has proposed to hold such drills periodically in hopes of deepening its military partnership with ASEAN.
