Posted on 06/13/2005 5:25:00 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Wed Jun 8, 1:49 AM ET
HANOI (Reuters) - Communist Vietnam said a visit by a senior U.S. defense official will firm up ties between the former Vietnam War enemies and boost understanding between their armies, state-run media reported on Wednesday.
U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Peter Rodman held talks with Vietnam's Defense Minister Pham Van Tra and his deputy Nguyen Huy Hieu on Tuesday at the start of the two-day visit, the defense ministry-run Quan Doi Nhan Dan daily said.
A front-page article in the newspaper quoted Tra as telling Rodman that he believed the visit "would contribute to enhancing friendship and mutual understanding between the two armies."
The United States is seeking to build closer military ties with Vietnam, but will let them evolve in the long term instead of pushing hard, officials said before Rodman arrived.
State media said Rodman visited a military facility in Hanoi which specializes in bomb and land mine disposal techniques.
He was also due to meet officials from the Police Ministry, the National Defense Academy where Vietnamese military officers are trained, and the Foreign Relations Institute.
Rodman's visit to Hanoi comes ahead a planned June 21 meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Bush in Washington. Khai will be the most high-ranking Vietnamese to visit the United States since the Vietnam War.
Vietnam and the United States mark the 10th anniversary of their normalisation of relations in July.
Pentagon is doing its own diplomacy now.
Ping!
weird.
Thanks for the ping.
I guaranty you that Vietnam is not trying to encircle China. It is merely trying to avoid being gobbled up by it.
The more you think about it, the more it looks like this may be the final shoe to fall in the Vietnam War.
The Chinese and Vietnames already went to war once in the seventies: this is nothing new. The Vietnamese don't trust the Chinese, and with good reason.
Exactly, and now that China needs Vietnam's oil, you can bet the Vietnamese are more worried about their neighbor.
I really want to know what you think about this.
Why would you want to line yourself up with someone that you had beat--albeit with help from the Media, McCain, Kerry and Congress?
The Chinese and Vietnamese have despised each other for 3,000 years. Interestingly for the most part the Chinese have never been able to decisively beat them.
What I meant was that U.S. is encircling China, by enlisting Viet Nam.
That's probably what the Chinese think. I'm not sure I even agree with that though. The US is trying to block China's expansion into surrounding territories. That's not quite the same as encircling them. The idea of encircling implies that we have aggressive intentions, which we don't.
The Chinese have always been the bankers, merchants and related business owners of Asia. Because of this trait, they've always been resented by other Asians.
Either way, China would not get what it wants, which is fine with me.:-)
China should be added to Bush's axis of evil IMHO...
Agreed. There is a lot of work to be done here by the American diplomats and military, though. It's just a question of whether the peacenik diplomats can hold their noses and get the job done, knowing that the whole purpose of this effort on their part will be to improve the US military strategy vis a vis China.
In case of Viet Nam, China repeatedly tried to conquer them. Part of N. Viet Nam was sometimes under Chinese control during their history.
By adding N. Korea, he came about as close as he could come to doing that.
Heck, even adding NK caused a leftist conniption.
Why don't we just send Kerry, he's pretty tight with those guys.
"Why don't we just send Kerry, he's pretty tight with those guys."
Hmmm, good idea!
The Chinese area of Saigon, Cholon, was a thriving community back then also. Our headquarters was there, only spent a week in a block of French Colonial small hotels that we used.
True...but in all honesty, I don't think even the Chinese are all that thrilled with Kim Jong-Il lately...
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