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US warms up to Vietnam
By Tran Dinh Thanh Lam
HO
CHI MINH CITY - Vietnamese Minister of Defense Pham Van
Tra said his recent trip to the United States "will pave
the way for future visits by military delegations from
the two countries", but far beyond that it is the latest
sign of warming ties between the former enemies.
Tra's visit, which took place from November
8-12, will also have an immediate effect. This month, a
US naval vessel will visit Ho Chi Minh City in the first
such port call since the war between the two countries -
now trading partners - ended with the fall of South
Vietnam and the final departure of the last of the
American troops in 1975.
Indeed, for Vietnam in
the years since market reforms, trade numbers are most
important. The United States has become the biggest
importer of Vietnamese goods, having racked up an import
bill of US$3.1 billion from January to August this year,
according to the US Trade Service Agency in Hanoi.
That now puts the United States ahead of
Vietnam's long-time key export destinations, the
European Union and Japan, and is a huge increase over
its own total imports from Vietnam last year of $2.4
billion.
Vietnam's Ministry of Trade is even
more bullish and has predicted that exports to the
United States will increase 130 percent per annum in
coming years, with garments and textiles recording the
highest gains.
The numbers and the expectations
are the gloss on Tra's visit, which came amid a backdrop
of recent revelations of further atrocities committed by
US soldiers during the Vietnam War. The exposes,
documented in the US newspaper the Toledo Blade, have
shocked readers worldwide, but the government in Vietnam
has appeared uninterested in dwelling on these tragic
episodes.
Instead, veteran Nguyen Dinh, 67,
termed Tra's visit "very encouraging news". He sees it
as helping "push forward mutual understanding between
our countries".
Military relations between the
US and Vietnam have shown signs of improvement since the
visit of US defense minister William Cohen three years
ago, the first such visit since the end of the war.
"At the time, [Cohen] affirmed that the issue of
those missing in action remained the top priority ... in
military relations between the United States and
Vietnam," said Dinh. "Now that the two countries have
reached significant results, military relations could be
improved."
As of May, Vietnam has already handed
over to US officials the remains of some 805 soldiers
killed in action in Vietnam.
Before his visit,
Tra made assurances that his meetings with US Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice would focus entirely on "ensuring peace
and security in the region and in the world".
Observers say Vietnamese military officials
would like the US government to take a more active role
in the Southeast Asian region, although they remain wary
about China's reaction. Both Vietnam and the United
States want to maintain friendly economic and diplomatic
ties with China, which is viewed in Hanoi and Washington
as an extremely valued trading partner.
Despite
the bonhomie that surrounded Tra's visit, it is not a
relationship without its irritants. The US International
Trade Commission last July endorsed a finding by the
country's Commerce Department that concluded that
Vietnam had dumped catfish in the US market, after which
duties of up to 64 percent were slapped on Vietnamese
frozen fillets.
This hurt the fish industry in
Vietnam. Furthermore, last year Vietnam exported shrimp
worth more than $400 million to the United States, yet
now it is facing legal action from US shrimp farmers who
claim the Vietnamese exports are undercutting their
industry.
However, the two countries believe
they can still do business, and last month, they signed
an agreement to start direct flights between the two
countries.
Besides, US exports to Vietnam are
also on the rise thanks to large orders. From January to
August 2003, US exporters sent more than $944 million
worth of goods to Vietnam, a huge increase from the
previous year's $580 million.
From Vietnam's
point of view, that is not all. The country and its
World Trade Organization (WTO) trading partners have
scheduled a new round of negotiations for next month.
Vietnam is focusing on WTO entry in a bid to
have quotas lifted on its clothing exports to the United
States. Quotas for WTO members will be dropped at the
end of 2004. However, access to the US market allowed
garments to surpass oil as Vietnam's top export this
year.
Vietnam applied for WTO entry in 1995. At
the sixth round of talks in May, some WTO members said
Vietnam had not offered enough market access or
information. There was concern expressed about issues
that ranged from trading rights for foreign companies in
Vietnam to intellectual property rights, according to
the WTO website.
Just as much as it want to
develop economic relationships with the United States
and within the WTO framework, Vietnam wants regional
stability. Encouraging signs of these developing ties
between the United States and Vietnam have long been in
the air.
According to US ambassador to Vietnam,
Raymond Burghardt, "The United States and Vietnam have
seen an impressive growth in two-way trade, and the
long-term outlook for relations between the two
countries is 'almost positive'."
(Inter Press
Service)
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