HO CHI MINH CITY, Dec 14: US Secretary of State John Kerry will seek closer trade and security ties between the United States and Vietnam in a visit that began today and in which he will also raise human right concerns.
For Kerry, 70, the four-day trip to the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta and the capital Hanoi will be as much about seeing progress in a country where he served as naval officer in 1968 during the Vietnam War, as about strengthening diplomacy with an old war rival.
While Kerry visited Vietnam 13 times as a U.S. Senator it is his first to the country as secretary of state. As he tries to negotiate peace between the Israeli’s and Palestinians, Kerry has often said there are lessons to learn from the reconciliation between the U.S. And Vietnam.
His visit comes as the United States strives to reach a trade deal with 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Vietnam. A Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is the centerpiece of U.S. Efforts to refocus attention on the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.
US lawmakers pressed Kerry before his departure for Vietnam to link progress on the TPP to Vietnam’s human rights record. A letter by 47 members of the House of Representatives to Kerry last week expressed concern over growing arrests of bloggers and other activists in Vietnam.
A 2012 State Department report on human rights in Vietnam cited restrictions on citizens’ political rights, limits on civil liberties and corruption as major problems in the country, along with arrests and detentions of religious groups.
A senior State Department official said Kerry intended to raise human rights concerns in his conversations with senior Vietnamese government officials.
While Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang is out of the country attending an Japan-ASEAN summit, Kerry will meet Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. (AGENCIES)
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