 McCain supported Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' proposed weapons systems cuts, saying “It has long been necessary to shift spending away from weapon systems plagued by scheduling and cost overruns to ones that strike the correct balance between the needs of our deployed forces and the requirements for meeting the emerging threats of tomorrow.” Many other Republicans opposed these changes.In April 2009, McCain made yet another return visit to Hoa Lo Prison in Vietnam and advocated for stronger military relations between the two nations, as a counterweight to Chinese presence in the South China Sea.In May 2009, John and Cindy McCain attended the graduation of their son John S. "Jack" McCain IV from the Naval Academy, the fourth generation of John S. McCains to do so.