Introduction: Impact of the War
The Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973, intending to end the Vietnam War. All the involved parties sought a peaceful resolution to the problem at hand. The US was to withdraw all its troops from Vietnam within sixty days of signing the treaty, and North and South Vietnam, which had been divided along the 17th parallel, were to be re-unified eventually, without the use of force. However, in 1975, North Vietnam who had already gained an upper hand in the three decades that the war was fought, decided to take the matter of unification in their own hands in what was dubbed as the ‘Ho Chi Minh Campaign’. They invaded Saigon and completed the task, thereby not respecting the terms of the agreement they had entered into. The then-Defense Secretary, Robert McNamara had acknowledged the fact that he along with other advisers in his department had failed to ask the most ‘basic questions’ about the war. The entirety of thephenomenon had ‘lead to war weariness and dissent among home front populations’ according to Ashley Ekins.
Several manifestations of the bitter relations between the two countries that were unlikely to improve as long the ideological divide remained, came to the forefront. Along with commercial restrictions that had already been imposed on North Vietnam, the US decided to cease bilateral humanitarian aid and was against the country being provided financial aid from institutions such as the World Bank. In addition to that, an embargo on bilateral trade was placed, and Vietnamese citizens were forbidden to travel to the United States.
The US sought to improve ties with the People’s Republic of China in the same decade as they still felt the need to balance Soviet influence in South-East Asia at the height of the Cold War. Other factors such as Vietnam’s interference in Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge and Hanoi’s close ties with Moscow, explained why the US was not in a hurry to normalize relations, as opined by Hoang Ahn Tuan.
In 1986, both countries decided to discuss the future of ‘Amerasians’, as there were several children born out of liaisons between Vietnamese women and the American soldiers who had inhabited Vietnam during the war. Prior to this, in 1975, the then-American president, Gerald Ford, had announced plans of evacuating orphans from South Vietnam, and this mission was named Operation Babylift. According to David Lamb, both Washington and Hanoi wanted to use these Amerasians as leverage to settle larger problems between the two countries. However, this factor was not strong enough to bring in major reconciliatory measures.
The Faltering Economy
In spite of having won the war, Vietnam suffered for two decades, as economic progress was extremely slow. From 1975 until 1985, Vietnam had a centrally planned economy which was mirroring the Soviet economy closely. The personal interests of the citizens were not guarded too well due to over-centralization and the economic goal being the ‘revolution of the relations of production’. Consumption was greater than the national income, and there were frequent outbreaks of famines which pointed to the lack of basic commodities. According to Bui Tat Thang, in the period from 1976 to 1980, ‘average GNP was half the rate of population growth and national income grew at about one-fifth’. Around 80% of the population was linked with agriculture; the economy being predominantly agricultural rather than industrial, and 70% of the labour force was dependent on sectors pertaining to agriculture.
When the collapse of the Soviet Union was on the horizon, several socialist countries were on a path to reform their economies and Vietnam being one of them, adopted the Doi Moi Policy. This policy aimed at creating a globally-integrated, open market economy. According to B.T Thang, it sought to eliminate state-subsidized mechanisms, and diversify the ownership of publicly owned assets. Speeding up foreign trade and encouraging Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) were also a part of these reforms, and these reforms did help overcome several years of economic stagnation. Post-1989Vietnam became one of the big three global rice exporters, the US and Thailand being the others.
To mention some of the key dealings between Washington and Hanoi post the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, Tuan has referred to ‘negotiations on the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties (1992-95), the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) (1996-2000) and on Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) (2003-06) which paved the way for Vietnam's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. All these transactions were made possible only because national interests were prioritized over ideological differences, now that the Cold War had come to an end. 1991 was the year when the countries decided to return the remains of Prisoners of War (POWs) and Missing in Action (MIA) personnel, and the US Office in MIA Affairs was established at Hanoi, which happened to be the first official post-war US presence in Vietnam. It was in the same year, that both drew favourable conclusions regarding Cambodia and Washington lifted travel restrictions against Vietnam. In 1993, the US State Department and the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry opened offices at each other’s capitals, and in 1994, US President Bill Clinton dissolved the existing trade embargoes, which enabled the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties. The Clinton administration, which had propounded the National Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement (also known as the Clinton Doctrine) had influenced Vietnam’s ongoing market reforms, and also sought the expansion of individual freedoms, human rights, and democracy.
Why Bonds Will Continue to Grow Stronger
Several predictions have aimed at projecting China as the power that will eventually topple the US economy to become the richest country in the world, and there are several active ways in which they are in the race to become the best. This race has affected countries across the globe, including Vietnam. According to the Centre for New American Security, China has been defying several international maritime norms, as laid down by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), customary international law, and international standards for conduct at sea. China has made ‘extensive, unilateral territorial and maritime claims and through heavy-handed manoeuvres’ in the waters near its territory, especially in the South China Sea (SCS) and the East China Sea (ECS). This includes China claiming almost the entirety of the SCS with a ‘Nine-Dash Line’, alleging historical significance to their claims. However, the Spratly Islands, which lie right at the heart of the SCS, is claimed by not just China, but other neighbouring countries including Vietnam. By drawing the ‘Nine-Dash-Line’ around the SCS, China now has overlapping claims with Vietnam, as it trespasses the latter’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This provides an instance for the contravention of the UNCLOS which had allocated EEZs in 1982. (EEZs are those portions of the sea over which a country has exclusive rights, and it extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the coastline, and with the claim of the ‘Nine-Dash-Line’, China happens to infiltrate Vietnam’s EEZ, utilizing the resources over which Vietnam has the rights.) According to Vox, China has also been reclaiming land on the SCS to build islands, which act as military bases.
While this can be considered the major bone of contention between Hanoi and Beijing, there have been other issues that have worsened the relations between the two. China had exerted pressure on Vietnam to forego certain drilling ventures with the Spanish energy firm, Respol. The country’s actions have had long drawn condemnation from the US, who is trying to intervene in the matter.
However, the bigger issue of late has been the US-China trade war, in which Vietnam has a pivotal role to play. Fostering friendly ties with the US implies an advantageous position for Vietnam. According to the New York Times, companies such as Apple will consider launching manufacturing units in countries other than China, and Vietnam is a top contender for the same. Bilateral relations between the US and Vietnam made considerable progress under the Obama administration, and taking a leaf out of its page, the Trump administration continues to expand the scope of their ties. According to the findings of Lowy Institute, Vietnam paved the way for increased American expenditures with regard to defence. In 2017, Washington and Hanoi conducted the 8th Naval Engagement Activity together. The US has also been lending support for Vietnam’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, and while Vietnam might not be on the list of priorities for the US, things continue to take a positive turn.
What is remarkable about the relations between the two countries is that in the lapse of four decades, relations have turned around completely. One wonders if relations would not have soured in the first place, as Tuan has written, that there was a period of ‘positive cooperation’ between Vietnam and the US. Ho Chi Minh had written a letter to Harry S. Truman, requesting American aid to secure Vietnamese independence from France back in the 1940s. However, this letter was intercepted by Allen Dulles, who was then the Director of the Office of Strategic Services. Consequently, Truman’s administration took the call to help France strengthen its position over the colonies it possessed. Both have suffered because of each other, and American aid to South Vietnam paved the way for the bloodiest engagement of the Cold War, with an outcome not favourable for either side.
With the Doi Moi Reforms and the subsequent end of the Cold War, the relations between the two countries has improved drastically, and as pointed out by Tim Marshall the relations between the two will continue to improve in the coming ties. In the present decade, where China is a common enemy, it is important to let bygones be bygones, and to take an alternative stance which goes along the lines of the old proverb- ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ Despite having caused debilitating damage, the US has managed to improve ties with countries such as Japan as well. Economic interdependence and military cooperation between the US and Vietnam have been some of the key decisive factors in the amelioration of ties and presents to the world an example of how most global relations are sustained by good opportunities and circumstantial needs.
Improving relations between Vietnam and the United States
August 22, 2019
