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FINANCIAL TIMES Washington’s warming relations with Vietnam In laying old conflicts to rest, there is a risk of stoking new ones
Barack Obama is the third US president to visit Vietnam since the withdrawal of US troops in 1973. His trip this week is nonetheless replete with historic resonance as Washington consolidates its strategic pivot to Asia and makes common cause with a former wartime enemy against China’s aggressive claims to the South China Sea. The Vietnamese government hopes that the visit will provide the occasion for a repeal of the US arms embargo, partially eased in 2014 but which remains one of the last vestiges of the war. That could be a step too far. That Vietnam is seeking closer military co-operation from Washington already carries potent symbolism. It signals the changes taking place as a result of Mr Obama’s determination to devote more of his country’s diplomatic, military and economic resources towards strengthening ties in Asia and countering China’s regional ambitions. There are even indications that the Vietnamese are willing to consider the use by the US navy of their former wartime base at Cam Ranh Bay. As a measure of warming relations there could be few stronger pointers. There is a danger however that lifting the arms embargo now would play into the Chinese narrative that it is the US that is militarising the South China Sea. It also risks provoking Beijing at a sensitive moment, ahead of a forthcoming international ruling in The Hague on the legality of Chinese claims to waters that the Philippines considers its own. While supporting the legitimate security concerns of its allies, Washington needs to be careful to make the case based on law, rather than on the balance of forces. The Hague ruling will shed legal light on China’s territorial ambitions which make much of South East Asia uneasy. Mr Obama should also be wary of being seen to reward a regime with a human rights record that has shown little signs of improvement. While Vietnam has made extraordinary progress in lifting millions out of poverty, it remains one of the most repressive political environments on earth. John McCain, the US senator and former prisoner of war argues that sales of technology for Vietnam’s maritime security should be unrestricted, but the transfer of other arms should be case by case and linked to human rights. This seems to be a balanced approach. President Obama has made engaging with difficult regimes a trademark of his administration, from Cuba, to Myanmar and Iran. He has also sought reconciliation in places where the US legacy remains contentious. That the US and Vietnam are forging stronger ties is something to be celebrated. While laying old conflicts to rest, however, Mr Obama must be alert to the dangers of stoking new ones down the line.
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