Time for a Closer U.S.-Vietnam Relationship

The United States has a curious history of forging particularly close relationships with countries with which it was once at war – just ask Germany, Japan, and the United States’ colonial parent the United Kingdom. Recent trends suggest that it is time for the United States to add Vietnam to that list. Officially Communist, Vietnam might seem like an odd partner for the United States. However, U.S. security interests in Southeast Asia, the clear preference of Vietnamese officials for closer ties, and the opportunity to improve governance and human rights protections in Vietnam should make a U.S. push for closer relations, an uncontroversial priority. 

Vietnamese leaders have already demonstrated a concrete interest in closer economic and security ties with the United States. In 2015, the Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, visited the United States as part of an unprecedented high-level meeting aimed at strengthening relations. This was in part an attempt by Vietnamese leaders to reduce their country's dependence on (and resulting vulnerability to) their powerful Chinese neighbors. In addition to Vietnam's disproportionate economic dependence on China, the two countries remain locked in a tense territorial dispute in the South China Sea.  Perhaps reflecting these concerns, polls show that the Vietnamese public’s opinion of the United States is much more favorable than its opinion of China. The combination of clear strategic incentives for Vietnam, support for closer ties with Vietnamese leaders, and a positive view of the United States among the Vietnamese public should make the opportunity to tighten the relationship a clear case of low-hanging fruit for U.S. policymakers and diplomats.

Vietnam’s poor human rights record remains the main sticking point for US policymakers. However, past U.S. policy toward the Vietnamese government has failed to produce any serious improvement in the country’s human rights situation in the decades since the Vietnam War. In fact, the primary leverage that the United States has over Vietnamese policy is precisely through the potential economic and security benefits that a closer bilateral relationship would offer. The United States, therefore, has a chance to incentivize improved human rights practices in Vietnam through carrots instead of sticks.

There are several ways in which U.S. policymakers can capitalize on this opportunity. Although the Vietnamese government seems to have reduced its focus on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) since it became clear that the United States would not participate, it remains committed to boosting international trade as an economic priority. U.S. and Vietnamese officials could revisit some of their respective proposals and goals from the recent TPP negotiations as a starting point for a new bilateral trade agreement. Additionally, the Obama Administration ended a long-standing U.S. arms embargo on Vietnam in 2016, which opened the door for defense procurement deals and other forms of military cooperation. The United States could work to secure Vietnamese participation in multilateral exercises, such as the Rim of the Pacific drills. Offering incentives on both the economic and military fronts in exchange for U.S. expert assistance on issues like the rule of law, human rights, and transparency in daily governance, for example, could prove more effective than top-down mandates on human rights issues directed at senior leaders in Hanoi.

So far, the Trump administration has provided little detail on how it will approach issues in Southeast Asia, beyond taking a tough line on China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea. The administration should recognize the opportunity that strengthened bilateral ties with Vietnam would provide to secure US interests and positions in this critical region.

Robert C. Thomas is an Asia-Pacific Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP). He is also a government security contractor and the Managing Editor of Parabellum Report. Robert expects to receive his MA in Ethics and Public Affairs from George Mason University in 2017.