Hanoi boosts cooperation with Russia, Japan

Hanoi announced Sunday that it will cooperate with Moscow and Tokyo to realize its plan of building nuclear plants.

"This is a very important project," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said after witnessing the signing of an agreement worth an estimated $5.6 billion for Vietnam's first nuclear power plant.

He stressed that the two countries were also keen on ramping up cooperation in non-energy sectors, including banking and high tech.

Vietnam wants to build eight nuclear facilities in the next two decades. Initial government plans call for four reactors, with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts. At least one of them should be operational by 2020.

Earlier Sunday, during talks with Vietnamese officials, Medvedev said Vietnam was "actively developing" on various fronts, including the economy and defense.

"On all these directions, Russia will assist Vietnam, which is our close friend," he said.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet added that his country received invaluable assistance from the Soviet Union during the war against the US, which ended in 1975, expressing hope that investment cooperation would intensify.

On the same day, in a joint statement with his Japanese counterpart, Naoto Kan, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced that Hanoi had chosen Japan as a partner to build two nuclear reactors.

The statement also revealed that Vietnam will help supply Japan with rare-earth minerals used in high-tech products.

Japan's stockpile of the rare-earth minerals could be exhausted by March or April without fresh imports, AFP quoted officials as saying.

Kan told reporters that the nuclear and rare-earths cooperation will lead to even closer ties between the two countries.

Miao Hongni, a professor from the International Relations Institute at Communication University of China, said Vietnam has had a tepid relationship with China for a long time, especially regarding the South China Sea issue, so establishing bilateral cooperation with Russia and Japan is a way to counter China's presence.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Tan Dung said Saturday that Hanoi plans to reopen to foreign navies the Cam Ranh Bay port facility, formerly used by both the US and Russia.

However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin replied that Russia has no intentions regarding the Cam Ranh base.

The base in southern Vietnam was used by the US navy during the Vietnam War.

The Soviet Union and then Russia later used the facility, until Russia withdrew several years ago.

Agencies - Global Times