A US naval supply ship has completed extensive repairs near Vietnam's coveted Cam Ranh Bay - a fresh sign of quiet co-operation between the two former enemies that analysts believe sends a strategic signal to China as it grows more assertive in its claims to the South China Sea.
US 7th Fleet officials have confirmed to the South China Morning Post that the contract to repair the USNS Richard E. Byrd was completed over 16 days last month. They described it as a commercial rather than military engagement but said it was part of an effort to "further build capacity for emergency and voyage repairs".
It is the closest in modern times the US navy has been yet to Cam Ranh Bay - the highly strategic deep-water base built up by the Americans during the Vietnam war which fell into Soviet hands at the height of the cold war - and comes ahead of the 15th anniversary of restored ties between Hanoi and Washington.
It is only the second US ship to be repaired in Vietnam.
The 40,000-tonne civilian-manned ship was handled by the state-backed Cam Ranh Shipyard in nearby Van Phong Bay, close to the resort city of Nha Trang. Vietnam's rapidly expanding shipyards are also showing they can cope with a range of military vessels from the US and other nations - all part of a broader policy quietly building a range of strategic friendships in the face of China's naval build-up.
Dr Carl Thayer, a veteran analyst of Vietnam's military and the South China Sea at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said the move was highly significant on several fronts.
"It's laying the groundwork for more visits and a broader military relationship and it will make Vietnamese officials more comfortable with US vessels," Thayer said.
"At the same time, it sends a strategic signal, albeit indirectly, to China - Vietnam can justify all this in commercial terms but the significance will not be lost on Beijing."
Seventh Fleet spokesman Commander Jeff Davis said the ship's presence was not a military-to-military engagement activity but rather a commercial visit to a civilian shipyard. "We view this as an opportunity to build an emergency repair capacity," he said, noting that it saved "US taxpayer dollars through reduced transit times".
"We have contracts with commercial shipyards in several Asian countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Korea and India to provide voyage repairs. By using commercial shipyards in several countries, we shorten vessel downtime due to port loading at any one facility."
Analyst Thayer said he also noted that the other countries doing such work in the region were either allies or strategic partners of the US.
"It is very interesting to see Vietnam apparently moving closer to those countries in American strategic thinking - that significance will also not be lost on Beijing.
"It has its own logic, but it also feeds into things going on in the relationship - it provides an opportunity to quietly build and develop the broader military courtship," Thayer said.
The wide-ranging repair work and cleaning, which cost more than US$382,000, has been kept quiet in Vietnam, and Hanoi officials have yet to formally comment on it. Speaking privately, officials in Hanoi are alarmed by China's growing presence in the South China Sea, where the two countries claim both the strategic Paracel and Spratly archipelagoes and are pursuing rival oil deals with international firms.
At the same time, the fiercely independent nation is attempting to maintain good relations with major powers without being beholden to any.
The US, meanwhile, is increasingly asserting its own interests by patrolling what it insists are international waters in the area.
In sweeping testimony to the US Congress last week, US Pacific Commander Admiral Robert Willard voiced concern over China's ongoing military build-up and also noted US military ties with Vietnam "continued to improve".
He also said that regional countries had warned him that the US could not take its security relationships for granted in the face of a China seeking its own access and influence.
US-Vietnamese military ties have grown gradually from annual ship visits to discussions about co-operation across all sectors of the armed services.
Washington has eyed a comprehensive agreement to service and re-supply its ships - something it uses to ensure access to a range of strategic ports - while Hanoi is keen to be cleared to purchase a wider array of weapons and materiel from the US.
It is currently eyeing coastal radar among other equipment.
US officials have long dropped repeated hints about being allowed to return to Cam Ranh Bay, which could soon be rebuilt by Russian technicians to help accommodate six Kilo-class submarines Moscow is selling Hanoi.
It is not yet known where the submarines - a deterrent against China's build-up - will be housed but Russia stationed nuclear-armed submarines in Cam Ranh - the best natural harbour in the region - through the 1980s, along with an electronic spy base covering the region.
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