US President Barack Obama (right) with President of Vietnam Truong Tan Sang in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, yesterday.
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama yesterday said he spoke frankly to Vietnam’s leader about human rights but called for greater cooperation between the former war adversaries in areas from trade to security.
President Truong Tan Sang was only the second Vietnamese head of state to visit the White House since the normalisation of relations in 1975 and he was jeered on his arrival by hundreds of Vietnamese Americans, many waving the flags of the former Saigon regime and chanting slogans that were occasionally audible inside the White House.
But the two leaders looked upbeat during their meeting at the Oval Office, with Obama saying that Sang showed him a letter written by revolutionary Ho Chi Minh to former US president Harry Truman that voiced hope for strong relations, two decades before their war started.
“We all recognise the extraordinary complex history between the US and Vietnam, but step by step we have been able to establish a degree of mutual respect and trust,” Obama said.
Obama, however, said that he pressed Sang on human rights, a longstanding concern of US lawmakers and Vietnamese Americans.
“The United States continues to believe that all of us have to respect issues like freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly,” Obama told reporters at the Oval Office with Sang at his side.
“We had a very candid conversation about both the progress that Vietnam is making and the challenges that remain,” he said.
Several lawmakers have accused Obama of merely mentioning human rights and said he should have made progress a condition for further improvements in relations.
Sang, who acknowledged “differences” between the two countries on human rights, said that Obama had promised to visit Vietnam by the end of his second term.
Obama, who would be the third successive US president to visit Vietnam, is expected in the region in October for summits in Bali and Brunei.
Obama said that he hoped for greater cooperation in areas including defence although he was not specific. The United States has steadily increased military cooperation with Vietnam but maintains a ban on export of “lethal” weapons due to human rights concerns.
One factor that has increased ties between the United States and Vietnam is concerns over the rise of China.
Obama reiterated US calls for progress on an initiative backed by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to work with China on a code of conduct, which would set rules to manage disputes and prevent potential mishaps from escalating.
Obama hoped to “arrive at codes of conduct that will help to resolve these issues peacefully and fairly.” AFP
