U.S. and Vietnam Agree To Lift Military Arms Embargo

On Monday, May 23, 2016, President Obama announced the United States (U.S.) would be lifting a 50-year military arms embargo with Vietnam. Obama along with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, explained that the embargo lift was to help improve relations between the two nations.  Both leaders denied that the deal was in response to China’s aggressive campaign in the South China Sea (SCS).

The Vietnam War ended in April 1975 with the fall of Saigon and U.S. withdrawal from the country, thus allowing the North Vietnamese to launch an aggressive campaign to reunite the country under the communist doctrine. Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam were restored in 1995, and by 2014 the Obama administration began easing sanctions on Vietnam by allowing the country to purchase maritime surveillance and security systems to strengthen itself against China.

While Vietnam and China both share a communist ideology, it has been China’s campaign of claiming territorial rights to 80% of the SCS that has escalated tensions. China has already claimed several atolls in the SCS, which Vietnam insists is in their sovereign territory. Conflict between the two nations occurred in 2014 when China installed a disputed oil rig in the SCS, and began intentionally ramming Vietnamese vessels anywhere near the oil rig. Tensions counted to mount between the two nations, when the Vietnamese coast guard seized a Chinese fueling ship this past April, which the officials claimed was in violation of being in Vietnamese waters.

In reality, Vietnam and China’s relationship has been turbulent for nearly 40 years in a series of conflicts from 1979-1988, known as the Sino-Vietnamese Wars.  Vietnam views China as unpredictable and dangerous. To better protect itself, Vietnam for years had a multi-billion dollar deal with Russia for military equipment, but now has expanded partnerships with Spain, the Netherlands, and Israel.

Vietnam, a country of 90 million, is a key partner in regards to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a U.S.-led trade deal to counter China’s growth.  The deal is currently stalled in congress, as a number of U.S. senators have called Vietnam regime one of the most oppressive regimes in the world, second only to North Korea under Kim Jung Un.

Quang, a former police chief and head of the Ministry of Public Safety, has only been president of Vietnam since the beginning of April. Many Vietnamese activists and journalists say it is the Ministry of Public Safety who harasses and detains protestors who only expressed freedom of speech.

Vietnam has been run under the communist political system since 1954. The Vietnamese government has been cracking down and arresting environmental protestors over the poisoning of fish at Ha Tihn along with targeting bloggers, journalists, and ethnic minorities.  In a means to prevent civil unrest, Quang had Facebook and other social media outlets shutdown, while Obama was in Hanoi.

Obama noted that the sale of arms to Vietnam will correlate to their human rights compliance and each request for weapons will be handled on a case-by-case basis. At a news conference on Monday, Obama acknowledged that Vietnam has made some progress in regards to human rights, but did not address questions in regard to the 100 political prisoners jailed, or Nguyen Van Dai, a human rights lawyer who has been unlawfully been detained and beaten according to Dai’s wife.

The Obama administration insists that the lift of the arms embargo on Vietnam is part of ending Cold War hostilities, and opening new economic and military relations. In reality, the deal is clear that the U.S. intends to supply Vietnam with the resources required to mitigate Chinese aggression.