A US aircraft carrier will make a rare Vietnam port call as countries compete for favor in SE Asia

By DAVID RISING
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — An American aircraft carrier is due to make a port call in Vietnam on Sunday. The rare visit by one of the U.S. Navy’s biggest ships comes as Washington and Beijing step up efforts to bolster ties with Southeast Asian nations. The USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, was scheduled to arrive in Da Nang on June 25 and stay through June 30. The visit comes about a month after a Chinese navy training ship made its own port call in Da Nang as part of what it called a goodwill tour, which also took it to Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.