US President Barack Obama pressed Vietnam to respect rights to freedom of speech, a free press, and to associate and demonstrate that are written into the country’s constitution.
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Obama said the move removed a “lingering vestige of the Cold War”.
“Vietnam hasn’t delivered”, John Sifton, Asia policy director at Human Rights Watch said before the decision was announced. Activists regularly accuse Vietnam of treating government critics abysmally.
Nations are more successful when people can freely express themselves, assemble without harassment and access the internet and social media, Obama said.
But the U.S. leader said bolstering rights “actually reinforces stability and is the foundation of progress”, in his speech to a packed auditorium including Communist Party officials.
“Vietnam will do it differently than the United States does”.
“I would caution China to not unilaterally move to engage in reclamation activities and militarization of islands”, he said.
Arms sales to Vietnam would come after a gradual increase in USA interaction and aid to Vietnam over the years. He planned a visit to the Jade Pagoda, considered one of the most lovely pagodas in southern Vietnam and a repository of religious documents that includes more than 300 statues and other relics.
Like a growing number of American tourists, Obama seems to be enjoying himself in Vietnam.
Following the signing of the 2015 Joint Vision Statement on Defense Relations between the two sides last June, a full lifting removes remaining restrictions on Washington’s latitude to provide Hanoi with weapons for its defense, even though any actual sales would still have to meet strict requirements and will be approved on a case-by-case basis (See: “US, Vietnam Deepen Defense Ties”).
“As we go forward the United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever global law allows and we will support the right of all countries to do the same”, Obama said. He also predicted it would lead to greater regional cooperation.
According to the statement, one of the newly signed deals was related to US engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney’s plans to sell 135 advanced engines to Vietnamese air carrier Vietjet and Boeing’s plans to sell 100 aircraft to airline.
Stating that the relationship between the two countries has “reached a new moment”, Mr Obama also denied that the decision was made due to any geopolitical concerns regarding China.
“In one fell swoop, President Obama has jettisoned what remained of U.S. leverage to improve human rights in Vietnam – and basically gotten nothing for it”, he said.
The communist nation holds about 100 political prisoners.
In the meantime, Chinese analysts say the USA intends to check China by taking advantage of Hanoi’s maritime disputes with Beijing.
Obama said there had been “modest progress on some of the areas that we’ve identified as a concern”.
Reports said that the trip will focus on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal (TPP) and the trade embargo that prohibits Washington from selling arms to Hanoi.
Obama’s visit to Vietnam highlighted how misguided USA policy was toward Vietnam in the 1960s, just like its perceptions of the Middle East today, Eland recalled.
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He says the U.S.is ready to help Vietnam as it works to fully implement its commitments under the agreement.
