US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday (24/05), which has a promising vision for the future of US relations with Vietnam, a key within a continent that, as made clear from his arrival in White house, would be one of the priorities of its foreign policy.
Third American president to visit Vietnam since the ties between the two countries were re-established in 1995, Obama made the "rebalancing" strategy with the region one of the pillars of its foreign policy.
Vietnam, where the United States were at war until 1975, has become an essential part of this strategy, in a context of growth of the Chinese military and cries of Beijing for greater sovereignty in the South China Sea.
"We have shown that progress and human dignity advance better with cooperation rather than conflict. This is that Vietnam and America show the world", he said in the capital Hanoi, a day after announcing the end of the arms sales embargo Vietnam, in place for decades.
On Tuesday, Obama stressed the conciliatory tone to one of his last official visits before the end of the second term.
"Great nations should not bully the smaller," he said on the territorial conflict with China amid applause. Obama also called for a "peaceful solution".
Criticism of human rights violations
Earlier, Obama met with dissidents and journalists detained during the communist regime by position themselves against the government and denounce the violation of rights. Several dissidents invited to the meeting were prevented from approaching the president.
"I think this indicates that although there has been modest progress, there are still people who find it very difficult to meet and organize peacefully on issues with which they care deeply," Obama said.
Amnesty International denounced on Tuesday the illegal arrest of six dissidents. According to the organization, the Vietnamese authorities make a campaign of intimidation against dozens of activists.
Obama is the third American president to visit Vietnam, after Bill Clinton in 2000 and George W. Bush in 2006. The diplomatic tensions between the two countries were eased under the Clinton administration in 1995, two decades after the end of war.
On Wednesday, Obama travels to Japan to attend the G7 Summit and visit the Peace Memorial Hiroshima. It will be the first American president to visit the monument that honors the victims of the atomic bomb dropped on the city by the US at the end of World War II.
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