Vietnam: President Obama of the United State is on an official visit to Vietnam for the first time, and the Vietnamese President . The meeting between the two countries will see to bolster both countries who were former war enemies, and also also allow for discussion about human rights in Vietnam, the arms embargo ban, Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal (TPP).
Obama in a news conference on Monday lifted the arms deal embargo that has been on Vietnamese for a half-century. He said this is to reward the country for the modest progress the country has made on human rights in the one-party state.
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang shake hands at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam
Obama said;
At this stage, both sides have established a level of trust and cooperation, including between our militaries, that is reflective of common interests and mutual respect.Every U.S. arms sale would be reviewed case by case. This change will ensure that Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself and removes a lingering vestige of the Cold War.
Obama said that although Washington is not taking sides on the dispute between China and Vietnam on the Souch China sea dispute, it does support a diplomatic resolution based on "international norms"and not "not based on who's the bigger party and can throw around their weight a little bit more," a reference to China.
US lawmakers and activist urged president Barack Obama to press the communist leaders for more freedoms before lifting the embargo as the country holds 100 political prisoners and more detentions and arrest were made this year.
Obama said that the countries have their differences on human rights, but noted a modest improvement by Vietnam.
The president arrived in Hanoi, the capital, late Sunday and was greeted by Vietnamese dignitaries. This makes Obama the 3rd sitting president to visit the country after the end of the war, and 2 decades after president Bill Clinton restores relations with the country.
He was greeted by the new Vietnamese president, Tran Dai Quang, at the presidential palace.
After his 3-day trip in Vietnam, Obama will be travelling to Japan for an international summit, and a visit to Hiroshima, and will be the first sitting president to visit the site of the first atomic bomb attack that killed 140,000 people and another bomb killed 70,000 people 3 days later in Nagasaki.
Watch President Obama Press conference with Vietnamese president, Quang:
PS (The video starts from the 25:00 mark)