“The United States and Vietnam are committed to deepening their defense relationship”, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during his June 1, 2015 visit to Vietnam.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s visit to Vietnam on June 1, 2015 was another element in the ever stronger relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam.  In this case his visit highlighted the military to military ties between the two nations at a time when both are celebrating the 20^th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

It was forty years ago that the war in Vietnam came to an end, and it took twenty years after that for diplomatic relations to resume on July 11, 1995.  Since then political, economic, and security ties have greatly expanded.

Political leaders of both nations visit each other’s capitals as a was done in May by a bipartisan Senatorial delegation led by Senator John McCain.  In addition the General Secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party will visit Washington later in 2015.

Trade between the two nations is now 35 billion dollars with the United States being the largest importer of Vietnam’s products.

Meanwhile the militaries of both countries have increased their contacts with events such as ship visits, capacity building, and exchanges culminating in the signing this week of a joint vision statement for the bilateral defense relationship.

This vision statement is substantive evidence of the good military-to-military relationship between the two nations, one that continues to improve.  The statement builds on the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding on Advancing Defense Cooperation which focused on building strategic trust, as well as on Maritime Security, Search and Rescue, Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response, Peacekeeping Operations, and High Level Dialogue. 

Maritime Security cooperation has helped build up the capabilities of Vietnam’s Coast Guard with 58 million dollars to be expended over the next five years.  Some 18 million dollars are to go towards the purchase of American Metal Shark patrol vessels.

Navy to Navy relations occur during ship visits and occasional repair visits of military vessels other than warships at commercial ports.  Last April saw the first visit to Vietnam of a Littoral Combat Ship, the USS Fort Worth, and a joint practice of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES).

The relationship between both nations is posed to grow now that the U.S. has partially lifted the prohibition on lethal weapons sales to Vietnam under a Maritime Security focused exception to the ban on weapons sales.

Vietnamese personnel have attended U.S. war colleges at a rate of 1 or 2 per year since 2011.

Cooperation on issues remaining from the war are a key part of the relationship.  Dealing with the accounting of personnel missing in action and unexploded ordnance has seen significant positive progress.

Vietnam’s help for the United States accounting of missing service personnel has expanded in the past five to 10 years.  U.S. accounting efforts carry out four excavation missions annually.  As a result, 699 persons have been identified while 1,272 remain unaccounted.  Vietnam has asked for help in accounting for its own missing and in response the U.S. Agency for International Development will provide one million dollars toward the effort.

Still today, Vietnam has a heavy unexploded ordnance situation as a result of the war.  The U.S. is the largest supporter of Vietnam’s programs to eradicate the problem.  The State Department oversees the majority of U.S. explosive eradication programs and is providing over 10 million dollars in Fiscal Year 2015. U.S. Pacific Command provides unexploded ordnance training centered on underwater demining and victim assistance.

The recently signed Joint Vision Statement on the Bilateral Defense Relationship opens the door to greater military-to-military cooperation that would allow the United States and Vietnam to more effectively work together to promote regional and global security. 

“The U.S. goal is clear: we want to help Vietnam become a strong, prosperous, and independent country that respects the rule of law and human rights.”  U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osious