At a state luncheon in Hanoi in Obama’s honor, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang thanked Obama for traveling so far to help achieve “another crucial milestone” in the U.S.-Vietnam relationship.
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“Upholding these rights is not a threat to stability but actually reinforces stability and is the foundation of progress”, Obama told the audience of more than 2,000, including government officials and students from five universities across the Hanoi area. “Vietnam will do it differently than the United States does….” And despite a history in which the U.S. tried violently to impose its will on this nation, Mr Obama said no other country should try such a strategy.
Barack Obama left the owner of a streetside restaurant in Vietnam “stunned” when he stopped off there for a $6 meal. But there has been a dramatic turnaround in relations since President Bill Clinton normalised relations with Vietnam and became the first post-war president to visit the country in 2000. Find us on Facebook too!
The removal of the arms embargo, a vestige of the Vietnam War, suggests USA worries about Beijing’s building of man-made islands in the South China Sea and deployment of advanced radars and missile batteries in the disputed region trumped concern about Vietnam’s human rights record.
“Congress will work with the administration to ensure today’s more expansive shift in policy aligns with U.S. interests”, said Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
(If the president wants to know what to do during his visit, he can pick up some pointers from TravlePulse President and CEO Mark Murphy here). The U.S. hopes to use any arms sales to Vietnam as a carrot to nudge it toward reforming its communist, one-party government and embracing free market principles.
Washington has trailed the three-day visit as a chance to cement ties with Vietnam, a fast-growing country with a young population seen as a key element in America’s diplomatic pivot to the Asia-Pacific.
President Obama’s easing of all remaining restrictions on arms sales to Vietnam is powerfully symbolic.
“Our [US] growing partnership with Vietnam is happening entirely independent of China”, Obama stated when asked about warnings from China that the United States and its allies were creating a “tinderbox” in the region.
The Deputy National Security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the meeting with dissidents was clearly a “source of considerable discomfort” for the Vietnamese government. President Barack Obama may say the decision is not based on China, but Beijing was the elephant in the room.
Before addressing the Vietnamese people on human rights, Obama met with six leaders from Vietnamese civil society. “Vietnam has made remarkable strides in many ways”, Obama said, but “there are still areas of significant concern”.
The United States has openly criticized China for militarizing the South China Sea by reclaiming lands, reefs, and rocks and turning them into artificial islands. “Disputes should be resolved peacefully”, he said, without naming China, which claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. The South China Sea is a crucial global waterway through which trillions of dollars of commerce passes each year.
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From Hanoi, Obama will fly to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.
