US President Barack Obama landed in Vietnam late on Sunday for a landmark visit capping two decades of rapprochement between the former foes, as both countries look to push trade and check Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
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Obama said the United States and Vietnam had mutual concerns about maritime issues and the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Vietnam has said it would welcome the United States “accelerating” the lifting of a lethal arms embargo, and USA officials were finalising a decision on the issue. While the deal has drawn opposition from lawmakers in the U.S. Congress – as well as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders – Obama predicted to his audience in Vietnam that the pact will be approved, and should be.
Obama arrived at Noi Bai worldwide airport in Hanoi late on Sunday, kicking off his first visit as USA president.
Obama also said that the United States and Vietnam continue to have differences over human rights.
Therefore, it is advisable for Vietnam to stay cautious when dealing with the United States which is motivated by an insincere agenda, while Washington should exert restraint in actions counter-effective to regional stability and play a constructive role in promoting peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
Vietnam had been arguing for an end to the embargo, which was partially lifted in 2014. Incidentally, Mukherjee’s trip to China coincides with US President Barack Obama’s trip to Vietnam in what could largely be viewed as an attempt to support Vietnam amid South China Sea tensions.
“There always is an element of distrust in some sectors of Vietnam’s elite, the political structure”, said Murray Hiebert of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
On Tuesday afternoon Obama will fly to Ho Chi Minh City, the southern Vietnamese metropolis formerly known as Saigon which, in the 40 years since American troops hastily beat a retreat, has transformed itself into the country’s thriving commercial heart.
Obama told a joint news conference with Quang that disputes in the South china Sea should be resolved peacefully and not by whoever “throws their weight around”, but insisted that the arms embargo move was not linked to China.
“The decision to lift the ban was not based on China. but on our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process moving towards normalisation with Vietnam”, Obama said.
In Hanoi, Obama will meet Vietnam’s triumvirate of leaders, President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.
The State Department said both countries had announced a partnership to help tackle climate change in Vietnam, a country particularly vulnerable to flooding and creeping salinisation.
The “policy” part of the Washington government that wants the embargo lifted and the arms sales made also points to Vietnam’s historical role in opposing some of China’s aspirations in the region.
The visit comes at a time when America has rarely, if ever, been so popular among ordinary Vietnamese.
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Communist party-ruled Vietnam has always been suspicious of the BBC, whose Vietnamese-language service is routinely blocked in the country because it often reports on human rights issues. It has swelled 10-fold over the past two decades to about $45 billion, and Vietnam is now Southeast Asia’s biggest exporter to the United States. Before his trip, many activists asked that Obama meet with those affected by Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide used by the USA military that killed and severely injured many during the Vietnam War.
