Vietnam gives thumbs-up to U.S. regional
role as pivot stumbles
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[October 18, 2016]
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam supports
U.S. "intervention" in the Asia-Pacific if it helps keep peace and
stability, the defense ministry said, in a timely endorsement of a
continued U.S. presence amid uncertainty over Washington's faltering
"pivot".
Vice defense minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, met on
Monday with Cara Abercrombie, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for South and Southeast Asia, and told her Vietnam backed a
positive U.S. role.
The general's words of support, conveyed by a normally reclusive defense
ministry, come when the United States most needs them, with its
"rebalance" - aimed at boosting its Asian foothold and tempering China's
rise - now under strain in the run-up to a U.S. presidential election.
Vinh "affirmed that Vietnam will support the U.S and other partners to
intervene in the region as long as it brings peace, stability and
prosperity", it said in a statement.
At the dialogue, Abercrombie said the United States would not change its
rebalance strategy, the statement added.
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Uncertainty lingers in Asia over changes ahead at the White House and
whether a new leadership would give less priority to keeping China in
check as it grows increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, a
waterway vital to global trade.
Washington's traditional defense alliances in Southeast Asia are
currently being tested, with ties with Thailand frosty since a 2014 coup
and questions about the future of a tight military relationship with the
Philippines under volatile new President Rodrigo Duterte, a staunch U.S.
critic.
Relations between the United States and Vietnam, in contrast, have
warmed substantially in the past two years, much to do with jitters over
the South China Sea to which Hanoi has disputes with Beijing.
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![](../images/101816pics/news_y41.jpg)
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Vietnam's President Tran
Dai Quang after an arrival ceremony at the presidential palace in
Hanoi, Vietnam May 23, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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The latest affirmation of those ties came after the full lifting of
a U.S. lethal arms embargo on Vietnam in May, allowing closer
defense links and some joint military exercises between the former
enemies.
Two U.S. warships earlier this month made a call at a new
international port built at Vietnam's strategic Cam Ranh Bay in a
brief but symbolic return for U.S. combat vessels.
The U.S. ambassador to Vietnam last week admitted the U.S. dynamism
once seen in the region had "a little bit diminished", but said
there was still appetite for U.S. involvement.
Ted Osius also said a dramatic change in U.S.-Vietnam ties was "not
about to happen" because of Philippine leader Duterte's outreach
toward China.
(Reporting by My Pham; Editing by Martin Petty)
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