China worries see weapons ban lifted
The Obama administration has announced the end of a a longstanding embargo on the sale of American weapons to Vietnam, a decision that underscores the growing concern in Washington about China’s expanding military clout, as well as the warming relationship between the former enemy nations.
United States President Barack Obama unveiled the new arrangement at a news conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang yesterday, the first day of his first visit to the country.
Obama insisted that the lifting of the embargo was more reflective of the maturing US-Vietnam relationship and a deepening cooperation in security and economic investment, four decades after the end of the Vietnam War.
Two years ago, the administration eased portions of the embargo that had been in place since 1975, to help bolster Vietnam’s maritime security in the South China Sea, where China’s move to exert more naval control of crucial shipping corridors has angered Vietnam, the Philippines and other nations that claim sovereignty over parts of the sea.
Obama said the latest step ‘‘was not based on China or any other considerations’’.
With US Secretary of State John Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran, in the front row at the Hanoi Convention Centre, Obama heralded ‘‘a new moment’’ in the bilateral relationship. The lifting of the ban ‘‘will ensure Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself, and removes a lingering vestige of the Cold War’’, he said.
Obama acknowledged, however, that the US and Vietnam shared a mutual concern over China’s provocations in the region.
He reiterated a pledge that the US would ‘‘continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows’’.
The new arrangement will allow the US to sell weapons to Vietnam on a case-by-case basis.
It was predicated on improvements in human rights and free speech protections in Vietnam, White House officials said. Ahead of Obama’s trip, human rights advocates in the US called on the administration to maintain the weapons ban until more progress had been made by the ruling Communist Party.
At the news conference with Obama, Quang said his country had made progress on human rights. ‘‘We need to work closely together and expand dialogue together,’’ he said.
China’s state news service Xinhua reacted negatively to Obama’s visit, accusing the US of having ‘‘shown no restraint in meddling in a regional situation’’ in the South China Sea.
Obama is the third consecutive president – after Bill Clinton and George W Bush – to visit Vietnam since the normalising of relations in 1995.
In addition to closer military cooperation, the US and Vietnam are partners in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Obama has made a centrepiece of his economic and foreign policy agenda.