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Vietnam eyes US weapons
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/435056/vietnam-eyes-us-weaponsVietnam eyes US weapons
EDITORIAL
Published: 30 Sep 2014 at 06.00
A debate that deserves immediate and close attention in the region is nearing a conclusion in Washington. The United States is close to deciding to end its arms embargo on Vietnam. Hanoi has applied to buy P-3 Orion, unarmed surveillance aircraft. The obvious reason for such a purchase is to allow Vietnam to keep a closer watch on its coastline and, more to the point, activities by China in the South China Sea.
US arms sales to Vietnam technically go back 60 years, when Ho Chi Minh's communist army defeated the French and took over the northern half of the country. Almost all official contact and commerce was banned between then-North Vietnam and the US. However, the actual embargo that seems likely to be ended in the coming weeks or months dates from 1975, when the communists overran Saigon and renamed it Ho Chi Minh City. It was a bitter war for the US, which has often shown signs of simply being a bad loser.
Diplomatic relations, trade ties, cultural exchanges and more were typically pried out of very reluctant hands in Washington. While relations today are on an even keel, the US still bans the sale of all important military or dual-use gear. The old excuse that Vietnam was a communist country with the goal of conquering its neighbours was abandoned years ago. Now the excuse of the cold warriors who still control part of the US State Department is that Vietnam has a terrible human rights record.
That is indisputable. Vietnam has never allowed freedom of speech, assembly or movement. Political prisoners number in the hundreds or thousands, and millions of Vietnamese have a well-founded fear of speaking openly, practising democratic politics or even contacting friends and relatives abroad. The Hanoi regime is arguably less tyrannical than immediately after the war, but it is certainly more anti-democracy and less tolerant than necessary.