President Obama has touched down in Vietnam. China is sure to be high on the agenda as Obama meets with the Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. Like many of China's neighbors, Vietnam has clashed with Beijing over disputed maritime territories and is looking for American diplomatic support for its maritime claims.
China isn't the only country using its fishermen as the tip of the spear in maritime territorial policy. CNN reports that Vietnam is now encouraging its fishermen to trawl the waters near the Paracel Islands, claimed by both China and Vietnam, in order to maintain the country's assertions of ownership. Officials say Chinese fishermen attacked 17 Vietnamese vessels trying to fish in the area last year. China has trained, armed, and directed its fishermen, organizing them into militias to call dibs on contested waters and report on foreign ships.
China isn't the only country using its fishermen as the tip of the spear in maritime territorial policy. CNN reports that Vietnam is now encouraging its fishermen to trawl the waters near the Paracel Islands, claimed by both China and Vietnam, in order to maintain the country's assertions of ownership. Officials say Chinese fishermen attacked 17 Vietnamese vessels trying to fish in the area last year. China has trained, armed, and directed its fishermen, organizing them into militias to call dibs on contested waters and report on foreign ships.
The United States is rescinding a decades-old ban on sales of lethal military equipment to Vietnam, President Obama announced at a news conference in Hanoi on Monday, ending one of the last legal vestiges of the Vietnam War. – New York Times
These two countries, bedeviled by decades of misunderstandings, violence and wariness, now have the chance to create a partnership that seemed unlikely even three years ago. – New York Times
By the time President Obama arrives here Sunday night, all-day voting in tightly controlled elections for members of the rubber-stamp Parliament will have just finished. In this Communist-ruled nation, the names that were not allowed to appear on the ballots tell more of a story than the 870 scrupulously vetted candidates permitted to compete for 500 seats. – New York Times
Wolverine Worldwide exemplifies a sharp shift among American footwear and garment producers away from China toward an emerging manufacturing hot spot: Vietnam. – Washington Post
The US is in talks with Vietnam to position military equipment in the South-east Asian country for the first time since the end of the war just over four decades ago, according to US officials. – Financial Times
Vietnam granted early release from prison to a Catholic priest who is one of its most prominent dissidents, a move widely seen as a goodwill gesture before President Barack Obama arrives on an official visit late Sunday night. – Associated Press
A BBC correspondent in Vietnam for U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to the country said on Monday he had been ordered by the Vietnamese authorities to stop reporting apparently because they suspected he had met one of the government's sharpest critics - Reuters
Richard Fontaine writes: At a moment of constrained defense budgets, rising Chinese assertiveness, and questions about the future trajectory of U.S. foreign policy, locking in the transformation of Vietnam from enemy to partner would say a great deal about American priorities. President Obama's visit represents the chance to begin writing that new chapter. - CNN
These two countries, bedeviled by decades of misunderstandings, violence and wariness, now have the chance to create a partnership that seemed unlikely even three years ago. – New York Times
By the time President Obama arrives here Sunday night, all-day voting in tightly controlled elections for members of the rubber-stamp Parliament will have just finished. In this Communist-ruled nation, the names that were not allowed to appear on the ballots tell more of a story than the 870 scrupulously vetted candidates permitted to compete for 500 seats. – New York Times
Wolverine Worldwide exemplifies a sharp shift among American footwear and garment producers away from China toward an emerging manufacturing hot spot: Vietnam. – Washington Post
The US is in talks with Vietnam to position military equipment in the South-east Asian country for the first time since the end of the war just over four decades ago, according to US officials. – Financial Times
Vietnam granted early release from prison to a Catholic priest who is one of its most prominent dissidents, a move widely seen as a goodwill gesture before President Barack Obama arrives on an official visit late Sunday night. – Associated Press
A BBC correspondent in Vietnam for U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to the country said on Monday he had been ordered by the Vietnamese authorities to stop reporting apparently because they suspected he had met one of the government's sharpest critics - Reuters
Richard Fontaine writes: At a moment of constrained defense budgets, rising Chinese assertiveness, and questions about the future trajectory of U.S. foreign policy, locking in the transformation of Vietnam from enemy to partner would say a great deal about American priorities. President Obama's visit represents the chance to begin writing that new chapter. - CNN
China warned President Obama on Tuesday not to spark a fire in Asia after he announced the lifting of a long-standing embargo on lethal arms sales to Vietnam. – Washington Post
He helped the United States fight a war in this country more than four decades ago. But Secretary of State John F. Kerry got a warm welcome Monday from Vietnamese residents during an unannounced public appearance in downtown Hanoi. – Washington Post’s Post Partisan
Lifting the U.S. arms embargo for Vietnam will lead to warmer ties between the two countries’ militaries, including maritime cooperation in the contested South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday. But Carter and President Barack Obama, who is visiting Vietnam, insisted the move was not directed at China, which is locked in a dispute with Hanoi and other neighbors over ownership of islands throughout the sea. – Defense One
With President Obama’s landmark announcement of the lifting of a half-century ban on lethal weapons sales to Vietnam, the stage is set for even deeper ties with America’s one-time adversary — and more port visits for sailors. – Military Times
President Barack Obama wanted to travel to Vietnam having already secured the Trans Pacific Partnership, the massive trade deal covering 40 percent of the global economy that over a decade would add $36 billion, or 11 percent, to Hanoi’s gross domestic product. But it doesn’t look like Obama will be able to deliver the deal before he leaves office. – Foreign Policy’s The Cable
Editorial: Barack Obama announced the lifting of the U.S. arms embargo on Vietnam on his visit to Hanoi on Monday, marking an important milestone in America’s rapprochement with its old adversary and its broader pivot to Asia. The decision also sends an unmistakable signal to Beijing’s leaders that their efforts to bully its neighbors have backfired. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
FPI Senior Policy Analyst Evan Moore writes: President Obama announced that the United States will lift its decades-old ban on arms sales to Vietnam…Though a closer strategic partnership with Vietnam will offer advantages, it will also test Washington’s ability to promote security in the region without weakening our commitment to human rights and democracy. – Foreign Policy Initiative
Max Boot writes: The only way to create a truly close and long-lasting alliance between the U.S. and Vietnam — something that is in both parties’ interests — is for Vietnam to gradually become a freer and less despotic place. The U.S. should use its leverage to gently nudge Vietnam in that direction. – Commentary
He helped the United States fight a war in this country more than four decades ago. But Secretary of State John F. Kerry got a warm welcome Monday from Vietnamese residents during an unannounced public appearance in downtown Hanoi. – Washington Post’s Post Partisan
Lifting the U.S. arms embargo for Vietnam will lead to warmer ties between the two countries’ militaries, including maritime cooperation in the contested South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday. But Carter and President Barack Obama, who is visiting Vietnam, insisted the move was not directed at China, which is locked in a dispute with Hanoi and other neighbors over ownership of islands throughout the sea. – Defense One
With President Obama’s landmark announcement of the lifting of a half-century ban on lethal weapons sales to Vietnam, the stage is set for even deeper ties with America’s one-time adversary — and more port visits for sailors. – Military Times
President Barack Obama wanted to travel to Vietnam having already secured the Trans Pacific Partnership, the massive trade deal covering 40 percent of the global economy that over a decade would add $36 billion, or 11 percent, to Hanoi’s gross domestic product. But it doesn’t look like Obama will be able to deliver the deal before he leaves office. – Foreign Policy’s The Cable
Editorial: Barack Obama announced the lifting of the U.S. arms embargo on Vietnam on his visit to Hanoi on Monday, marking an important milestone in America’s rapprochement with its old adversary and its broader pivot to Asia. The decision also sends an unmistakable signal to Beijing’s leaders that their efforts to bully its neighbors have backfired. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
FPI Senior Policy Analyst Evan Moore writes: President Obama announced that the United States will lift its decades-old ban on arms sales to Vietnam…Though a closer strategic partnership with Vietnam will offer advantages, it will also test Washington’s ability to promote security in the region without weakening our commitment to human rights and democracy. – Foreign Policy Initiative
Max Boot writes: The only way to create a truly close and long-lasting alliance between the U.S. and Vietnam — something that is in both parties’ interests — is for Vietnam to gradually become a freer and less despotic place. The U.S. should use its leverage to gently nudge Vietnam in that direction. – Commentary
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