VietNamNet Bridge – The Global Times, a supplement of the People's Daily newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, recently had a commentary slandering Vietnam, which said that Vietnam wants to use Cam Ranh port as "bait" in exchange for Russia’s support against China in the East Sea territorial dispute.

The Global Times cited the Itar-Tass news agency of Russia as saying that in an interview on June 19, Vietnam’s Ambassador to Russia Pham Xuan Son said that Vietnam and Russia are still discussing the establishment of a joint venture to provide maintenance services for civil and military vehicles in the port of Cam Ranh and affirmed that the two countries are cooperating in the field of oil and gas exploration and helicopter manufacturing.

Commenting on information from Itar-Tass, Chinese scholar Xu Liping told the Global Times that Beijing will not let Vietnam purchase weapons from the U.S. or let Russia contain China in the East Sea.

The newspaper of the Communist Party of China also quoted the statement attributed to an unnamed Russian expert as saying that Vietnam is trying to "warm” the relations with Russia because Vietnam is "incapable of self-confrontation with China" in the dispute for sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands in the East Sea.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on June 19, President Truong Tan Sang said: "We always follow the motto that Vietnam is a friend, reliable and responsible partner of the international community, living in peace with all peoples in the world on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. We always strive to ensure mutual benefit and definitely not to depend on any country both economically and politically."

Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed: "Vietnam does not join any military alliance against another country. This is the consistent foreign policy of Vietnam" in an interview with the Associated Press (USA) and Reuters (UK) on the East Sea situation and Vietnam’s solutions.

VGP/VNN