Obama also broached the topic of U.S. -Vietnam relations especially post the Vietnam war, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the lifting of U.S. -imposed embargo on the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam as a way to improve the Southeast Asian nation’s security.
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That same day, Vietnam announced that its state airline would purchase 100 Boeing regional and long-range commercial aircraft, an order worth $11 billion before likely discounts.
The move “is a reflection of the fact that more and more countries in the region are coming to the United States more and more, to do more and more with us due to their general concern with the security environment in the region”, he said.
Experts in China said they expected that USA warships would sooner or later be granted access to Cam Ranh Bay, a deep-water port that served as the key US naval base during the Vietnam War.
President Barack Obama greets women at the door as he walks from the Bún chả Hương Liên restaurant after having dinner with American Chef Anthony Bourdain in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, May 23, 2016.
Critics said that by removing the ban, a vestige of the Vietnam War, Washington had put concerns about Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea first and given up a critical lever to press Hanoi for improvements in human rights.
U.S. officials said that lifting the arms embargo would make it easier for Washington to engage with Vietnam on such issues.
He referred in the speech to China’s growing aggression in the region, something that worries many in Vietnam, which has territorial disputes in the South China Sea with Beijing.
“Nothing that we did here or are doing here is focused on China”, Kerry told reporters, adding that removing the embargo was not unusual but rather reflective of a new normalcy in United States relations with Vietnam.
Talking to activists during a gathering in Hanoi city, Obama praised the Vietnamese people who are “willing to make their voices heard”.
The United States has repeatedly accused China of militarizing the South China Sea by turning contested reefs and rocks into putative military bases.
Obama must balance a desire for a stronger relationship with efforts to hold its communist leadership to account over what activists say is the widespread abuse of dissidents. But several activists who had been scheduled to meet with him before the speech were prevented from doing so, underscoring the gulf with Hanoi on human rights.
Obama’s hopes are for increased US trade with Vietnam.
President Obama won enthusiastic applause Tuesday with a supportive reference to Vietnam’s disputes with China, saying in a speech that “big nations should not bully smaller ones”.
The paper also implied that there was hypocrisy in the move to cozy up to Communist Vietnam.
“At your war memorial not far from here, and with family altars across this country, you remember some 3 million Vietnamese, soldiers and civilians, on both sides, who lost their lives”, he said.
Tens of thousands lined the road from Ho Chi Minh City’s airport, many waving and chanting “Obama, Obama” as his motorcade rolled towards the century-old Jade Emperor Pagoda in the city centre.
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The administration has reached an agreement with Singapore to service US aircraft carriers there, and an additional carrier battle group has been assigned to the Pacific.
