The U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan will visit the port city of Danang in central Vietnam on Sunday. It is a rare occurrence for a U.S. warship to visit the southeast Asian country, as tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea persist.
The aircraft carrier will arrive on Sunday afternoon and remain in Danang until June 30, a spokesperson for Vietnam’s foreign affairs ministry said on Friday, according to local media.
After 48 years and the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War in 1975, this is only the third visit by a US aircraft carrier. The USS Theodore Roosevelt visited Vietnam three years ago to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.
In light of Hanoi’s frequent boundary disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea, Washington seeks to strengthen its formal ties with Vietnam this year.
