Rumsfeld in talks with Vietnam military chief

HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld began key talks with Vietnamese military officials on Monday in the latest advance in ties between the former enemies who now cooperate on trade and security.

Vietnam is one of several states in Asia that the Pentagon has built close ties with to conduct its war on terrorism and to hedge against a rising China, which Washington says is too secretive about its military spending and strategic intentions.

U.S. military ties with Hanoi, 31 years after the end of the Vietnam war and 11 years after the normalization of diplomatic ties, have warmed gradually with ship visits and modest medical and educational exchanges.

Rumsfeld, the second Pentagon chief to visit Vietnam since the fall of U.S. ally South Vietnam in 1975, held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Van Tra, and was due to meet Prime Minister Phan Van Khai later on Monday.

Asked on Sunday if he sought basing rights in Vietnam, Rumsfeld said: "We have no plans for access to military facilities in Vietnam."

He told reporters traveling with him that Washington wanted to see "a relationship between our country and Vietnam evolve in a way that is comfortable to them and comfortable to us."

Pentagon officials have said Vietnam and other Asian states share with the United States a desire to have good ties with fast-rising China and a wariness about Beijing's double-digit military growth and growing power.

"They have China next door to them and they're careful to keep good relations with China, and they want a balance in relations with us and relations with China," said a senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

On Saturday, Rumsfeld told the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual forum of defense experts and officials in Singapore, that China should "demystify" its military spending and strategic intentions to ease fears among neighbors.

Rumsfeld said another U.S. Navy ship would visit Vietnam this summer, the fourth in four years.

Under the Pentagon's International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, Vietnamese pilots will go to the United States for English-language training.

Vietnam, a member of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations, will play host to President Bush at this year's annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, a key economic grouping.

Last week, U.S. and Vietnamese officials signed a pact that paves the way for Hanoi to join the World Trade Organization by year-end. The deal requires Vietnam to cut tariffs and other barriers on a host of American goods and services.