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Hanoi / AFP
US President Barack Obama told communist Vietnam on Tuesday that basic human rights would not jeopardise its stability, in an impassioned appeal for the one-party state to abandon authoritarianism.
In a sweeping speech, which harked back to the bloody war that defined both nations but also looked to the future, Obama said that “upholding rights is not a threat to stability”.
Vietnam ruthlessly cracks down on protests, jails dissidents, bans trade unions and controls local media.
But the US leader said bolstering rights “actually reinforces stability and is the foundation of progress”, in his speech to a packed auditorium including Communist Party officials.
The visit is Obama’s first to the country and the third by a sitting president since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Direct US involvement in the conflict ended in 1973.
Obama’s visit has formally reset the relationship between the former foes with the lifting of a US arms embargo.
Trade has dominated the trip, with multi-billion-dollar deals unveiled, as well as further endorsement by both sides of the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Immediately after his speech, Obama flew to Vietnam’s boisterous southern commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City, where he was to meet tech-startup entrepreneurs later on Tuesday.
He has been cautious to avoid hectoring his hosts—an increasingly important regional ally—on human rights.
“Vietnam will do it differently to the United States,” Obama said.
“But these are basic principles that we all have to try to work on and improve,” he added, referring in particular to the importance of a free media.
Activists barred
His speech, punctuated with humourous asides and references to Vietnamese culture and history, was greeted with warm applause and cheers.
Earlier Obama met civil society leaders, including some of the country’s long-harassed dissidents.
Better US-Vietnam ties must not threaten Beijing, says ChinaÂ
BEIJING/ AP
Improved relations between the US and Vietnam must not lead to greater pressure on China or threats to its interests, an official Chinese newspaper said on Tuesday.
While China applauds the spirit of reconciliation between Hanoi and Washington, “whatever common interests the two countries pursue, they should never compromise China’s national interests and threaten regional security,” the English-language China Daily said in an editorial.
The comments point to Beijing’s underlying concerns about closer ties between its chief regional rival and its southern neighbor, with which it is in dispute over ownership of islands in the South China Sea.