August 2008 Archives
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To crown it all, Ivashov did not rule out a possibility to resume talks with Vietnam regarding a possibility for Russia to deploy its battleships in Cam Ranh port.
Russia’s largest overseas navy base was liquidated in 2002. The agreement signed between Russia and Vietnam in 1981 stipulated the use of two berths for Russian battleships and submarines, about 30 warehouses and a runway for all kinds of planes. Cam Ranh used to play the key role in the plans of the Russian Navy, because it was the only base that was capable of providing the presence of Russian vessels in the Indian Ocean and in the Persian Gulf area. The annual rent made up $300 million. |
| Roger Mitton, Asia Sentinel | |
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... Either way, Dung will lose out. And it is unlikely that he will give any more guarantees about political stability, nor is he likely to hear any more rousing cheers from businessmen in the near future. |
A year ago, in August 2007, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung confidently addressed a gathering of regional businessmen at an Asean 100 Leadership Forum at the Melia Hotel in downtown Hanoi. At the end, after answering a few soft questions, Dung paused, eye-balled his admiring audience, and said: "One thing I can guarantee you - political stability." The executives en masse and applauded loudly and vociferously, almost as if they were cheering a stock market bull run, not the unelected prime minister of an undemocratic communist regime... 
