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President Obama announced in Hanoi, Vietnam that the U.S. has lifted the arms embargo on Vietnam that dated back to the 1960s. The president said the U.S. will continue to analyze weapons sales case-by-case. (May 23) AP
President Obama speaks during a news conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang at the International Convention Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, May 23, 2016.(Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>President Obama said Monday that the United States' relationship with Vietnam is moving to a "new moment," including an end to the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>decades-long<span style="color: Red;">*</span>American arms embargo on its former war rival and billions in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>new business ties between the two nations.
"Just a generation ago, we were adversaries and now we are friends," Obama<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said during a news conference in Hanoi with Vietnamese President<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tran Dai Quang.
Obama also predicted eventual passage of another item that is part of the emerging American-Vietnamese relationship: The Trans-Pacific Partnership, the proposed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>12-nation trade deal currently stalled in the U.S. Congress.
Other signs of cooperation between the former combatants in the Vietnam War<span style="color: Red;">*</span>include<span style="color: Red;">*</span>new business sales,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>more military cooperation, research programs involving universities in both countries, and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>cultural exchanges that include the introduction of the U.S. Peace Corps to Vietnam, Obama said.
In announcing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>prospective of weapons sales to Vietnam,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama described the embargo<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as "a lingering<span style="color: Red;">*</span>vestige" of the Cold War that is no longer necessary as the U.S. and Vietnam continue the process of normalizing relations.
Obama<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said the decision to fully lift the arms embargo, which the United States partially lifted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in 2014,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>has nothing to do with the growing Chinese<span style="color: Red;">*</span>military presence in the region, though he also declared that the change<span style="color: Red;">*</span>will guarantee that Vietnam has "access to the equipment it needs to defend itself." Obama said that, as with any country,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>each weapons sale to Hanoi will be evaluated on a "case-by-case" basis.
"We examine what's appropriate and what's not," he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said.
USA TODAY
Vietnamese eager to show off country to world when Obama visits
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U.S. President Barack Obama started his visit to Vietnam on Monday, looking to bolster trade ties with the government, and possibly lift an arms export embargo. He also plans to meet with dissidents and push for greater human rights freedoms. (May 2 AP
Obama also said that the United States and Vietnam continue to have differences over human rights. His administration has protested the number of Vietnamese political prisoners.
In a nod to the war that ended in 1975, Obama thanked Vietnam's government for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>helping the U.S. locate the remains of missing soldiers, and he pledged to help the Vietnamese government with the ongoing removal of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>land mines and un-exploded ordnance left over from the conflict.
Obama, who met with Vietnamese leaders throughout the day in the capital of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Hanoi, also hailed the more than $16 billion in new business agreements between the two nations, including plans by VietJet to buy<span style="color: Red;">*</span>100 airplanes from Boeing and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>135 advanced engines from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Pratt & Whitney.
The president travels to Ho Chi Minh City, the nation's commercial center, on Tuesday.
USA TODAY
U.S., Vietnam: Once enemies in war, now partners in trade
The biggest mutual investment between the two countries involves the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership.
While the deal has drawn opposition from lawmakers in the U.S. Congress —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as well as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama predicted to his audience in Vietnam that the pact will be approved, though the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"politics of it will be noisy."
While critics say low-wage<span style="color: Red;">*</span>countries like Vietnam would take jobs from the United State under the trade deal, Obama said the TPP<span style="color: Red;">*</span>includes labor protections, and will open up markets for American products throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
"This is the fastest growing part of the world," the president said.
Just before the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>news conference in Hanoi, Obama confirmed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the death of Taliban leader<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Akhtar Mohammad Mansur in a written statement issued by the White House.
"We have removed the leader of an organization that has continued to plot against and unleash attacks on American and Coalition forces, to wage war against the Afghan people, and align itself with extremist groups like al-Qaeda," Obama said.
USA TODAY
Official: Taliban leader Mansoor likely killed by U.S. drone
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