US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday hailed the “remarkable transformation” of relations with Vietnam 20 years after ties were established, but warned that Hanoi’s poor rights record stood in the way of deeper bonds between the former wartime foes.
Kerry, on the last leg of a trip through the Middle East and Asia, is in Hanoi to mark the diplomatic milestone with the communist nation and hold talks on trade, human rights and regional security — including maritime issues in the contested South China Sea.
Kerry met Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang early yesterday at the Presidential Palace, shaking hands with the official in front of a giant bust of Vietnamese independence hero Ho Chi Minh.
The two nations “have again proven that former adversaries really can become partners,” Kerry said in a speech.
However, progress on human rights is essential for “a deeper and more sustainable” partnership between the countries, which fought a bitter decades-long war which ended in 1975.
“Only you can decide the pace and direction of this progress, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that America’s closest partnerships in the world are with countries that share a commitment to certain values,” Kerry added.
From an eight-fold increase in US visitors to Vietnam, to a 20-fold rise in the number of Vietnamese students studying in the US, the former enemies have come a long way in 20 years, he said.
Bilateral trade has surged from about US$450 million in 1995 to more than US$36 billion, even as the two countries work toward concluding the ambitious US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
“These aren’t just statistics. They’re a measure of one of the most remarkable transformations in the history of world affairs,” the US’ top diplomat said.
However, he cautioned that Vietnam needs to improve its rights record.
“Millions of people in Vietnam are already freely expressing themselves on Facebook,” Kerry said, adding that protecting free speech would “strengthen social cohesion and stability.”
The one-time presidential hopeful has said his political activism was inspired by his experiences patrolling waterways in the Mekong Delta on Swift Boats during the Vietnam War.
He served with the US Navy from 1966 to 1970 as a naval lieutenant and it was on his return after two tours of duty that he became a fierce campaigner against the war, which ended in 1975.
Kerry was to hold talks later yesterday with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, covering regional security and economic ties — including the TPP.
Workers’ rights issues — Vietnam does not allow independent trade unions have been a sticking point in the ongoing trade negotiations, which also include Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and other Pacific Rim countries, but not China.
Hanoi is also locked in a longstanding territorial dispute with Beijing over island chains in the South China Sea.
Kerry said that resolution of disputes in the South China Sea “should depend on who has the better argument not who has the bigger army,” and urged all parties to refrain from “provocative acts” in the contested waters.
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high Renaissance artistry. A decade-long project to clean and restore the largest of the four Raphael Rooms uncovered a novel mural painting technique that Renaissance painter and architect Raphael began, but never completed. He used oil paint directly on the wall, and arranged a grid of nails embedded in the walls to hold in place the resin surface onto which he painted. Vatican Museums officials
RSS