Hanoi: US Defense Secretary Ash Carter discussed his call for an end to island-building in the South China Sea during talks on Monday with his Vietnamese counterpart, who told a news conference Vietnam had not been expanding its islands.
Carter and minister Phung Quang Thanh also signed a Joint Vision Statement to guide future military cooperation between the two former foes, who fought a 1955-1975 war and only normalized relations 20 years ago.
As part of the expanding cooperation, Carter announced the United States would help Vietnam establish a site to train its troops to participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations and would send a U.S. expert on peacekeeping to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.
On Sunday, Carter visited the Vietnamese navy headquarters and coast guard headquarters and pledged $18 million to help Vietnam buy U.S. patrol boats. [ID:nL1N0YM073]
Carter, who is on his second visit to Asia since becoming defence secretary earlier this year, has been urging countries in the region to stop island-building efforts in disputed, resource-rich regions of the South China Sea.
He reiterated that call at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference on Saturday, and discussed it with Thanh during their meetings on Monday.
Carter told the Shangri-La summit China was threatening security in the region with its maritime construction but acknowledged that other claimant countries to the disputed sea were also at fault. [ID:nL3N0YM04S]
"Vietnam has recently conducted consolidation on the islands under Vietnam`s sovereignty," Thanh told reporters later, noting that Vietnamese troops were stationed on nine "floating islands" and 12 "submerged islands" in the region.
"On the floating islands, we conducted embankment (consolidation) to prevent them from waves and erosion, to ensure safety for the people and the soldiers stationed on the islands," he said.
"On the submerged islands we only built small houses, which can accommodate a few people and we are not expanding. The scope and characteristic of our work is purely civilian."
Submerged islands feature underwater reefs, while floating islands are those with surfaces above the water surface or which can be built from submerged islands by adding steel structure, soil, rocks and concrete.
