Regards, Ivan
Posted on 06/19/2005 10:37:22 PM PDT by MadIvan
America welcomed a Vietnamese communist leader for the first time yesterday at the start of a visit to seal an unparalleled series of military and intelligence deals between the former enemies.
Prime minister Phan Van Khai, once an official in the administration of the Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, will get the red carpet treatment throughout his visit.
Arriving at the head of a 200-strong delegation, the 72-year-old Vietnamese leader will sign a series of deals underlining the extraordinary turnaround in relations.
Vietnam will agree to despatch officers for training in the United States, to swap intelligence information and to exchange intelligence officers at the embassies in Hanoi and Washington to liaise on common threats.
The agreement is all the more notable coming on the 30th anniversary of North Vietnam's defeat of America and its South Vietnamese allies. The war cost America 58,000 lives and Vietnam more than a million.
But the administration of President George W Bush is increasingly concerned about the threat from an increasingly powerful China, one of Vietnam's oldest adversaries.
Tomorrow the Vietnamese leader will meet Mr Bush in the White House and will later see Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary.
A recent review of American intelligence on China estimated that the US had missed more than a dozen critical Chinese military developments in recent years. At the same time, the FBI has warned of increasing Chinese espionage activity in the US.
Such reports have fuelled America's search for Asian allies to counterbalance China's growing regional ambitions. Robert Zoellick, the deputy secretary of state, emphasised that America was looking for a rapid improvement in an already warm relationship with Vietnam.
''I hope that the relationship will continue to progress on a fast pace,'' he said.
US officials have noted that trade has increased 20-fold since relations were re-established 10 years ago.
But while the Vietnamese have been willing to agree some deals which would have seemed impossible a decade ago, they have been wary about suggesting that this is aimed against China. The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1979.
It is the Americans who are doing all the wooing on security issues. Speculation that the Americans are seeking a return to the naval base at Cam Ranh Bay have been described as premature.
In interviews before his trip, Mr Khai was careful to emphasise Vietnam's admiration for its huge northern neighbour.
He told The Washington Post: ''I would like to reaffirm to you that Vietnam will continue with the foreign policy of independence and sovereignty.
''We do not belong to any bloc. We do not have any ally. But we need to have fair play with all countries.'
There were also reminders of a prevailing communist ideology in Vietnam, which continues to anger congressmen and members of the 1.5 million-strong Vietnamese ethnic community in the US.
Pressed on his country's poor human rights record, Mr Khai said: 'During the last 70 years, the (communist) party has devoted all efforts to bring about the benefit for the people, which has been recognised by the entire population of the country.''
Human rights groups suggested that the ''entire population'' did not include those who are subjected to harassment and imprisonment for seeking the right to speak and write freely.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
That's exactly what I've told some people. And they disagree. "Put past differences asside".
To the victors go the spoils.
The thought of it makes me ill.
I'm with you Ivan.
But the VNs hate the ChiComs as much as we do. They'd like to crawl under our umbrella for protection. Particularly as they have territorial disputes with China.
Would be interesting to get our Navy base back in Cam Rahn Bay. Be a major thumb into the eye of China, and close off the rest of their coast. (they have to exit to the south as the Japanese and Taiwanese have them trapped in the north)
Yes, our leaders had best be careful about what they're doing with Viet Nam.
Leaders congratulate 55th anniversary of Viet Nam-Russia diplomatic ties
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1331639/posts
I'm sure that John Kerry and Prime minister Phan Van Khai have some mutual associates and friends from sKerry's good old days of unsanctioned peace activist visits and meddling.
Well, buying Reds seems to work better than bombing them. Best to leave 'never forget and never forgive' to the Irish and the Arabs.
sKerry will find a way to criticize a deal coming out of this meeting.
WTF???
My brother, you and I have brothers in the Faith who will die young of kidney failure, because these godless tyrants put them in prison camps where they were forced to eat rice with sand mixed in it. And for what crime? Holding unauthorized prayer meetings and other such horrible atrocities.
Yeah, that phrase should have been, "America's defeat of itself while engaged in combat with North Vietnam."
"America's defeat of itself while engaged in combat with North Vietnam."
Exactly.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
This whole thing makes my skin crawl.
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