US President Barack Obama arrived in Vietnam late Sunday May 22,2016 ahead of a 3-day trip aimed at sealing the transformation of an old enemy into a
new partner to help counter China's growing assertiveness in the
region.
Four decades after a war with Vietnam that deeply divided opinion in America, Obama aims to boost defense and economic ties with the country's communist rulers while also prodding them on human rights, aides say.
His visit has been preceded by a debate in Washington over whether Obama should use the three-day visit starting Monday to roll back an arms embargo on Hanoi, one of the last vestiges of wartime animosity.
US President Barack Obama arrives to board Air Force One to depart for Vietnam and Japan from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S. May 21, 2016
U.S. President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for a trip to Vietnam and Japan.
U.S. President Barack Obama attends a press conference with Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang at the Presidential Palace Compound in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday May 23,2016
Four decades after a war with Vietnam that deeply divided opinion in America, Obama aims to boost defense and economic ties with the country's communist rulers while also prodding them on human rights, aides say.
His visit has been preceded by a debate in Washington over whether Obama should use the three-day visit starting Monday to roll back an arms embargo on Hanoi, one of the last vestiges of wartime animosity.
US President Barack Obama arrives to board Air Force One to depart for Vietnam and Japan from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S. May 21, 2016
U.S. President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for a trip to Vietnam and Japan.
U.S. President Barack Obama attends a press conference with Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang at the Presidential Palace Compound in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday May 23,2016
U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday lifted a decades-old arms export
embargo on Vietnam during his first visit to the communist country,
looking to bolster a government seen as a crucial, though flawed partner
even as he pushes for better human rights from the one-party state.
Mr. Obama announced the full removal of the embargo at a news
conference, saying the move was intended to step toward normalizing
relations with the former war enemy and to eliminate a “lingering
vestige of the Cold War.”
“At this stage both sides have developed a level of trust and
cooperation,” Mr. Obama said, adding that he expected deepening
cooperation between the two nation’s militaries.
Lifting the arms embargo will be a psychological boost for Vietnam’s
leaders as they look to counter an increasingly aggressive China, but
there may not be a big jump in sales. Vietnamese President Tran Dai
Quang thanked Mr. Obama for lifting the embargo.
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