U.S. And Vietnam Share Strategic Interests
http://www.strategypage.com/on_point/2016052501552.aspx
May 25, 2016
The Obama Administration's decision to permit sales of U.S. weaponry to Vietnam is another step toward publicly acknowledging that a trans-Pacific coalition is forming to oppose China's imperial expansion in southeast Asia and east Asia.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. are key members of this coalition, which began emerging over a decade ago. Public evidence of extensive cooperation is indisputable. South Korea and Japan are firm U.S. allies. The U.S. Navy has conducted Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea that tacitly support Filipino territorial integrity.
Given the Vietnam War, Vietnam has been something of the Odd Man Out. However, South Korea and Vietnam have agreed to conduct senior officer training exercises that are a wink away from cooperative planning exercises and policy coordination. In August 2013, Vietnam and the Philippines announced that they were developing joint military and diplomatic plans to counter aggressive Chinese territorial expansion in the South China Sea.
On May 23, the coalition further solidified when President Barack Obama, while visiting Vietnam, officially ended the U.S. weapons embargo on Hanoi. Obama insisted the U.S. decision to terminate the weapons embargo and expand trade links with Vietnam was not aimed at any nation.
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Mad Poet Strikes Again.
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