Obama Hosts Vietnam Communist Party Chief at White House

Vietnam Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is on a landmark trip to the USA as he is set to meet USA President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

The meeting coincides with the 20-year anniversary of ex- President Bill Clinton normalizing diplomatic ties with Vietnam, and it has drawn protest from some human-rights activists and lawmakers.

Vietnam’s Thanh Nien News writes: “Other issues, including the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, human rights, and bilateral defense cooperation, are also on top of the agenda”.

President Barack Obama said the “difficult history” between the USA and Vietnam is being replaced by a relationship based on mutual economic and security interests in a region where some nations are wary of China’s rise.

Last month, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met with Trong at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. Trong is the de facto leader of Vietnam despite holding no official government post. He also heads the party’s Secretariat and the party’s Central Military Commission. Trong invited Obama to visit Vietnam during a trip to Asia expected later this year. Officials see Vietnam as a country that could be a linchpin in Obama’s Asia policy.

As the United States seeks to woo Vietnam as part of Mr Obama’s “pivot” towards Asia, Hanoi also would not mind the United States directing at least a little hard talk at Beijing, which has been aggressively carrying out construction projects in the South China Sea. While Obama noted the invitation, he made no specific commitments to travel to Vietnam during his presidency.

Obama is the first post-Vietnam War president who didn’t come of age during that culturally searing conflict. John McCain, Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Trong will meet with President Obama in the White House on Tuesday.