US gifts ship to Vietnam to boost patrols in disputed South China Sea

The United States is giving Vietnam’s coastguard a second cutter vessel, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday, vowing to maintain a routine military presence in the disputed South China Sea.The new security ship “represents another concrete symbol of our strengthening relationship”, Esper said at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam after a tour through South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.Washington intends to counter Beijing’s expanding influence in the region and the fiercely…