ONLY a few hours into a three-day state visit to Vietnam, Barack Obama, America’s president, made the announcement which his hosts had long awaited. After meeting the country’s new president, Tran Dai Quang, at his butter-yellow palace in the capital, Mr Obama declared that his administration would lift an embargo which for decades has prevented American firms from selling weapons to the country. The decision is another milestone in warming ties between the two old enemies, fuelled by mutual anxiety over China’s growing clout. It also illustrates America’s readiness to overlook human-rights issues when it sees strategic interests on the line.
The decision will have little immediate effect on Vietnam’s military capabilities or its tense territorial dispute with China over rocks and islands in the South China Sea. The embargo has already been loosened twice, first in 2007 and again in 2014, allowing the sale of some naval equipment. It will take years for the Vietnamese, who are short on cash and largely reliant on Russian kit, to integrate American hardware (and an option to buy American arms might well encourage Moscow and other competitors...Continue reading
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