Sandwiched between giants, Vietnam seeks Obama’s assurance
The Southeast Asian nation seeks the full lifting of US weapons sales ban, and reassurances the Trans-pacific Trade Deal will make it through congress amid China’s growing economic and military clout in the region
Dwarfed by its communist neighbour and still bearing the scars of a war with the United States four decades ago, Vietnam has become a focal point of the race between the two powers for influence in the western Pacific.
The tussle over Vietnam will be on display during a three-day visit this week by President Barack Obama. The third sitting US president to travel to the country since the end of the war, Obama is expected to meet with the regime’s top leaders today.
Watch: Vietnam welcomes U.S. President Barack Obama
For its part, Vietnam will seek the full lifting of a US weapons sales ban, more aid to clean up a dioxin used as a defoliant during the war and unexploded ordnance, and reassurances a US-led Pacific trade pact will make it through Congress.
“There is a new mood in Vietnam in how it looks at America,” said Nguyen Manh Hung, professor emeritus at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. “It is less suspicious. His visit is very important to the Vietnamese for symbolic reasons.”