Obama may boost arms sales to Vietnam

Obama seeking to counter China’s expansion effort

President Barack Obama considers expanding weapons sales to Vietnam in a move aimed at boosting regional defenses against China.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is considering broadly expanding weapons sales to Vietnam in a move aimed at strengthening ties with Hanoi and boosting regional defenses against China’s growing clout.

As Obama prepares to visit Vietnam this weekend, U.S. officials say he is leaning toward a partial lift — but has not ruled out a full suspension — of the ban on arms sales begun during the U.S. war in Vietnam and eased slightly in 2014.

At the same time, the Vietnamese government is examining a request to grant the U.S. Navy greater access to Cam Ranh Bay, a major supply point for the U.S. military during the Vietnam conflict, and a port with direct access to the contested islands in the South China Sea.

Obama has not made a final decision, administration officials say. But the changes, if approved, would mark a dramatic upgrade in U.S. relations with an authoritarian Communist government that the State Department considers a routine abuser of human rights.

Rights concerns

White House concerns about Vietnam’s lack of progress on civil liberties and political freedoms have held up a decision to end the ban on arms sales — first imposed on North Vietnam in 1964 and later extended it to cover the entire country after the U.S.backed South Vietnamese government fell in 1975.

In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton lifted the trade embargo with an executive directive to his agencies but left in place restrictions imposed by Congress to prohibit sales of weapons and certain high-technology material. The two countries restored diplomatic relations in 1995.

In 2014, Obama eased restrictions on sales of maritime surveillance and security systems to Vietnam. That change has allowed the sale of U.S. patrol boats with mounted machine guns, search-andrescue vessels and naval reconnaissance aircraft.

Last June, the U.S. pledged $18 million to help Vietnam buy Americanmade Metal Shark patrol boats, a deal that came through after a Chinese navy ship rammed a Vietnamese patrol boat in the South China Sea.

U.S. officials say Vietnam is expected to use about $12 million in U.S. foreign military financing this year to buy small patrol boats, communications equipment and English-language training.

Eyeing ‘rebalance’

Obama now is looking at wiping out other parts of the ban, according to senior defense officials and others briefed on the deliberations.

Closer military ties between the two former enemies dovetail with Obama’s push for a strategic U.S. “rebalance” toward Asia and the Pacific.

In recent months, the administration has refreshed its defense treaty with Japan and has sought congressional support for a 12-nation free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

It also has urged China to settle territorial disputes with Vietnam and other countries in the resource-rich South China Sea. Sen. John McCain, RAriz., a Vietnam veteran and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he expects Obama to lift the embargo and that Hanoi will grant the U.S. Navy greater access to Cam Ranh Bay.

McCain said it’s time for Washington to fully lift its ban on arms sales.

“Given the Chinese aggressive behavior in the region, it should not be inappropriate to allow (Vietnam) to have weapons with which to defend themselves particularly in the maritime area where the potential for confrontation exists,” McCain said.