#11
Novye Izvestia
April 4, 2002
CAM RAHN BASE WILL BECOME GREEN
Russia used Cam Ranh Bay for free, but the Pentagon is prepared to pay
Author: Vladimir Urban
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

PRIME MINISTER MIKHAIL KASIANOV VISITED VIETNAM LAST WEEK AND ANNOUNCED THAT CAM RANH WOULD BE FREE OF THE RUSSIAN MILITARY PRESENCE BY JULY 1.

The United States is likely to use the naval base in Vietnam when the Russian Navy withdraws from it.

A dismantlement commission chaired by Rear Admiral Alexander Ivliev of the Pacific Fleet has been sent to the Cam Ranh naval base. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov visited Vietnam last week and announced that Cam Ranh would be free of the Russian military presence by July 1.

Two landing ships will be assigned to ferry "military equipment" from Cam Ranh to Primorie (Maritime territory, Russian Far East). Actually, Russia is not going to end up with a great deal. According to sources at the Pacific Fleet headquarters, the base was leased by the Soviet Union for 25 years on the condition that everything Russia built there would eventually be left to the Vietnamese, and that the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam would be allowed to do as it thinks fit with the base. Hanoi may get some benefits in the near future. Admiral Dennis Blair of the US Pacific Command visited Vietnam in February and suggested the use of Cam Ranh airfield and port to support American operation in Asia. Russia used Cam Ranh for free, but the Pentagon is prepared to pay for the return to Vietnam. It is prepared to pay $5-7,000 for every landing/takeoff and $10- 15,000 for every day an American ship spends at Cam Ranh.

Hanoi demanded from Moscow $200 million of annual rent. It was its persistence and eagerness to get the Russian military to pay for Cam Ranh that eventually persuaded President Putin to withdraw from Vietnam. This is Vietnam's chance to replenish its state treasury depleted by three years of an economic crisis.

Beijing was particularly worried by Blair's visit to Vietnam and his sensational announcement. So far, the leadership of China has failed to elicit from Vietnam a coherent answer on the future of the Russian base which will cease being Russian soon. The problem is, Washington doesn't intend to sign any long-term treaties on Cam Ranh with Hanoi. It hopes to make use of the scenario already tested in Central Asia where NATO troops settled "for the duration of the counter-terrorism operation". The American presence in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan has been gradually evolving into permanent military bases.

Analysis of the Russian General Staff say that the Pentagon plans to make Vietnam a transit point in operations in the Indian Ocean and the Philippines. Official Hanoi was already invited into the American- Indian program of joint patrols in the strategically important strait between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. In return for Vietnam's consent, US Administration promises it at least $500 million to build an international port at Cam Ranh Bay. It isn't hard to predict that Vietnam will welcome its former enemy.

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