Viet Nam Human Rights
President Obama’s visit is a hallmark of Vietnam-US relations
24/5/16
The President of the
United States of America (USA) Barack Obama started an official May 23rd-25th visit
to Vietnam, at the invitation of Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang.
Barack Obama is the third
consecutive US President to visit Vietnam. In 2000, President Bill Clinton paid
the first-ever visit to Vietnam after the Vietnam War. The next US President,
George W. Bush, visited Vietnam in 2006. Ten years later, President B. Obama is
the third US president to visit Vietnam.
The visit is expected to
be a hallmark of the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the USA. In
fact, bilateral relations between Vietnam and the USA saw big developments in
recent years. These developments included the historic visit of Vietnamese
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to the USA last year. Both the
Vietnamese and US sides hope the visit of US President B. Obama will strengthen
the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, accelerate the implementation of
signed agreements, promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation, increase
mutual understanding, and narrow differences.
Since the normalization
of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the USA in 1995, the two sides have
followed the motto “Shelving the past, looking toward the future” to develop
bilateral relations. After two decades, bilateral relations between Vietnam and
the USA continue to develop very fast in various areas.
Regarding politics,
Vietnam and the USA established the current comprehensive partnership in 2013.
Since then, the two countries have reached a number of practical and positive
outcomes in both the bilateral and multilateral domains. The two sides
regularly exchange visits of high-ranking delegations. In the USA-Vietnam joint
vision statement made during the visit of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu
Trong to the USA in 2015, the two sides recognize positive developments and
practical outcomes of the bilateral relations over the past 20 years in all
areas, including politics. The two sides actively seek to promote mutual
understanding and to settle any remaining issues in bilateral relations.
The two countries
continuously boost cooperation in other areas. The most successful area of
cooperation between Vietnam and the USA is trade and economic cooperation.
Trade and economic cooperation have now become the engine for bilateral
relations between the two countries. Two-way trade has continuously enjoyed an
increase of some 20 percent per year since 1995. While two-way trade was valued
only at US$ 400 million in 1995, it reached US$ 45 billion in 2015. The USA is
now Vietnam’s biggest export market.
The USA is ranked 7th among
the 101 foreign investors in Vietnam. US investors are running 748 projects,
with a total registered capital of US$ 11 billion. Vietnam, the USA and other
partners finished negotiations and signed an agreement on the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) in February 2016. TPP is still awaiting approval from the two
countries’ governments, before it comes into effect. But TPP will facilitate
and boost trade and economic cooperation between the two countries in the
future.
Recently, Vietnam and the
USA also fostered cooperation in dealing with war legacies in Vietnam,
education and training, science and technology, health, environmental
protection, response to climate change, human rights, and defense and security.
Both Vietnam and the USA
attach importance to promoting bilateral defense relations. A number of
high-ranking US defense delegations visited Vietnam in recent years. The two
sides have made concrete steps forward in dealing with war legacies. The two
sides also share some views on issues related to peace, stability, cooperation
and development in the region and world. The two Defense Ministries signed a
Vietnam-USA joint vision statement on defense relations in September 2015.
Bilateral security cooperation was marked by a visit of Vietnamese Police
Minister Tran Dai Quang (current State President) to the USA in March 2015.
During the visit, the two sides signed several deals to boost cooperation in
security and law enforcement.
Evidently, cooperation in
health, environment and humanitarian aid between the USA and Vietnam brings
about good outcomes. The two sides are implementing a number of concrete
projects to support war victims and to deal with leftover unexploded ordnance (UXO).
Since 1993, the US side has provided some US$ 94 million via non-governmental
organizations for UXO clearing in central Vietnam. The US side also funded US$
84 million for the project to clean dioxin pollution in Da Nang airport and US$
11 million to support Vietnamese disabled people and victims of Agent Orange
(dioxin) in the 2014-16 period.
Cooperation in education
and training between the two countries is also impressive. As of January 2016,
as many as 28,000 Vietnamese students studied in the USA. The community
of Vietnamese students in the USA is the largest compared to other
communities of students from Southeast Asia and 7th largest
among all foreign students communities in the USA. Vietnam and the USA also
cooperate in building the Fulbright Vietnam University.
Vietnam and the USA are
also actively cooperating in international forums and mechanisms, such as UN,
ARF, EAS, APEC and ADMM+.
But a number of issues
still remain in bilateral relations between Vietnam and the USA. Due to
differences in history, culture, political system and development level, the
two countries have different views on such issues as democracy, human rights
and religion. The two sides hold annual dialogues in a frank and constructive
manner to promote mutual understanding. However, the two sides have also agreed
not to let the differences prevent development of bilateral relations.
One year ago, President
B. Obama received Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the White House.
Now he is Vietnam’s guest. The relationship between Vietnam and the USA has
experienced ups and downs throughout the history. But the two countries are
enjoying a new opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations amid the changing
regional and global context.
The visit of US President
B. Obama is widely expected to serve as another push for the bilateral
relations. With the good will of both Vietnam and the USA, relations between
Vietnam and the USA will likely enter a new development phase toward more
practical outcomes on the basis of mutual understanding and respect.
The Vietnamese people and
the American people as well as people around the world are observing US
President B. Obama’s visit to Vietnam. They also expect that this visit will be
successful and that relations between the two nations will reach more
achievements in the future.
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All comments [ 10 ]
The much-awaiting visit to Vietnam by US President Barack Obama is expected to leave a new hallmark in the two countries’ comprehensive partnership.
the visit is deemed as a move to affirm the positive trend of development in one of the world’s special relations.
Putting the past behind and looking towards the future is the policy that Vietnam and the US have pursued over the past 20 years since the two nations formally declared normalisation of bilateral relations in 1995 and after over 40 years since war ended in Vietnam in 1975.
I hope that the cooperation between the two countries have been expanded across security-defence, education, science-technology, and climate change adaptation.
Vietnam and the US are now reliable partners on Asia-Pacific and global issues.
President Obama will focus on the future rather than the past to deepen the security and economic ties with Vietnam – an increasingly important regional player.
Vietnam and the US are standing on new opportunities to enhance the bilateral relations in the light of regional and global changes.
Obama’s visit to Vietnam is hoped to be a foundation and catalyst to drive the rapport forward.
Certainly, there are major differences in the political system and the perception of democracy, human rights and religious freedom between the two countries. It will not be easy to find a common voice.
However, the Vietnam-US relations over the past two decades have proved that any relationship can be promoted if it is built on mutual respect and respect for differences.
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