Vietnam Communist Party chief prepares for maiden US visit

President Obama will meet with the leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam next week, the highest-ranking party official to ever visit the White House.

Obama’s trip to Vietnam has not been announced by the White House.

Obama will welcome Nguyen Phu Trong to the White House on Tuesday.

“He happens to be the top notch fellow…”

“We don’t consider the keeping up with in exchange to use on the Vietnamese”.

Trong s visit will address economic integration and send a pointed message to Beijing, Vietnamese economist Bui Kien Thanh told AFP in Hanoi.

HA NOI (VNS) – Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has re-affirmed the Vietnamese Party and State are making efforts to boost relations between Viet Nam and the U.S. for the long-term benefit of both peoples.

In a speech reviewing Vietnam-US cooperation, he described normalization of relations as “one of the most important achievements of my presidency”, and said it helped lift the burden that had been weighing down the American spirit since the Vietnam War, AP reported. Stronger ties with the US would likely anger China, Vietnam’s big neighbor to the north. It might also alienate hard-liners in Vietnam’s Politburo.

“It s not a typical meeting for the president, certainly”.

Sang welcomed the goodwill of both sides during the on-going Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and expressed his belief that the partnership, once signed, would contribute to economic ties between the two countries. The visit underscores the converging interests of the two countries at a time of China’s assertiveness over a territorial dispute with Vietnam in the South China Sea, and reflects a gradual shift in strategy among Vietnam’s Communist elite.

Vietnam held about 125 political prisoners at the end of 2014, fewer than in previous years, in part because of a drop in convictions, according to the U.S. State Department.

Ernest Bower, a Southeast Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and worldwide Studies, said Trong’s visit was “historic and timely” and aimed to break down trust barriers.

“Like in any relations between two countries in the world, Vietnam and the US have differences on a number of issues such as perception on democracy, human rights and trade”, Trong wrote in his reply to questions from The Associated Press. He is the authoritarian country s most senior politician, although not the most powerful.

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