26 years ago, on 11/7/1995 US President Bill Clinton officially announced the normalization of diplomatic relations with Vietnam; At dawn on July 12, 1995 (Vietnamese time), Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vo Van Kiet officially announced the normalization of diplomatic relations with the United States.
The signing of diplomatic relations between the two countries is a miraculous turning point, a decision of historic significance, bringing the two countries' relations to a new chapter, closing the past and looking towards the future. It can be seen from that good start, that the two countries' relations have made remarkable progress in all fields: politics and diplomacy, economic and trade relations, defense and security, science and technology, education and training, environment and health, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, war issues, protection and promotion of human rights, people-to-people exchanges, and culture culture, sport and tourism.
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President Bill Clinton (left) and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet announced the decision to normalize relations in 1995.
1. In the field of politics - diplomacy.
In August 1995, the United States and Vietnam upgraded the previously established liaison offices of the two countries to become embassies. The relationship between the two countries is getting closer when there are continuous high-level visits. In turn, the US presidents made official visits to Vietnam such as: Bill Clinton (2000), George W. Bush (2006), Barack Obama (2016) and Donald Trump (2017, 2019). Vietnam also has visits to the US by late Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (2005), President Nguyen Minh Triet (2007), Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (2008), President Truong Tan Sang (2013), General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (in 2015), Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (in 2017).
These visits have enhanced understanding, created momentum for relations, through declarations to establish a comprehensive partnership in all fields between the two countries. Many famous US politicians have made visits or organized activities to strengthen ties between the two countries such as Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator John McCain visited Vietnam officially. Most recently, on October 30, 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Vietnam to show support for a strong, prosperous and independent Vietnam.
Through many dialogues, Vietnam and the United States have discussed and jointly resolved humanitarian issues and war legacy: efforts to find missing US service members, demining mines, dioxin decontamination, etc. Coordinating the search for soldiers missing in the war plays a key role in the process of normalizing Vietnam-US relations. This is a matter of cooperation that originated between the two countries after the war, first of all for humanitarian reasons, contributing to building trust between the two sides about the goodwill of harmony and healing the wounds of war.
As the first US President in history to come to Vietnam in 2000, US President Bill Clinton said that the US and Vietnam are doing things that no other country has ever done before, helping the sacrificed in the war returned to their families. President Clinton also brought along hundreds of thousands of pages of documents to provide Vietnam with more information to search for its missing people.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and delegates attending the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam - US joint operation to search for missing soldiers, December 12, 2018 in Hanoi.
Annually, the Joint POW and Missing Service Command conducts four major phases of search and excavation in Vietnam, during which specially trained U.S. military and civilian personnel will investigate and excavate hundreds of cases to make the most complete statistics of these cases. Since August 2011, Vietnamese excavation teams have also regularly participated in these excavations.
The removal of unexploded ordnance after the war is also an urgent issue that needs to be solved today because of its dangerous level to people and the environment in Vietnam. Explosives are left over after the war, mainly as unexploded ordnance, including large areas of cluster bomb contamination from the war with the United States. The United States is the largest single donor to unexploded ordnance/UXO remediation in Vietnam, to which the United States has contributed more than $140 million since 1994, and in December 2013, two countries have signed a memorandum of understanding on continued cooperation in the disposal of mines and unexploded ordnance. The efforts of the United States in resolving the issues left by the war have laid the foundation for the US-Vietnam defense relationship.
2. In the field of security and defense.
Over the past 26 years, security and defense cooperation between the two countries has developed rapidly, marked by the organization of more and more high-level military and political security dialogues to enhance mutual understanding, know, trust and support each other. On the basis of implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on defense cooperation signed by the two sides in September 2011, bilateral relations in this field continue to be promoted. The United States is ready to support, share experience, information, and train personnel for Vietnam's maritime law enforcement forces, as well as provide Vietnam with some equipment for law enforcement at sea (providing ships and boats for patrolling the sea), cooperation in the field of military medicine and consultation on defense mechanisms among ASEAN countries, ASEAN expanded.
Since June 2015, the two countries have signed the Joint Vision Statement on defense relations between Vietnam and the US with 5 major contents including: Strengthening policy consultation; cooperation in overcoming war consequences such as clearing mines and dioxins; United Nations peacekeeping cooperation; overcoming consequences of natural disasters, seeking relief; cooperation in the field of maritime security on the basis of international law and the laws of each party.
3. Regarding the economic field.
In 1994, when the US just lifted the embargo on Vietnam, two-way trade was about 500 million USD, now it has over 75 billion USD, more than 150 times. During the global financial crisis in 2008, the US economy was challenged, but many large US corporations and companies continued to increase investment in Vietnam.
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Senator John Kerry, now the US secretary of state, is at the forefront of efforts to lift the embargo on Vietnam.
Previously, Vietnam has attracted a series of big names from the US such as Intel, Microsoft, Jabil, Microchip, IBM, P&G, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo. After that, corporations Boeing, Chevron, AIG, Exxon Mobil, General Electric... also looked for investment opportunities in Vietnam. Recently, despite being heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, many information shows that Vietnam continues to attract large US technology corporations such as Google and Apple. Currently, Ford Corporation has decided to increase production capacity by investing in an assembly plant in Hai Duong; General Electric has also increased its investment in a wind turbine plant in Hai Phong; US major energy corporation AES is licensed to deploy LNG gas project in Son My; Technology companies in Silicon Valley have plans to redirect investment in electronic equipment production to Vietnam. . .
In short, 26 years is not too long, but what Vietnam and the US have achieved is really impressive. Leaving behind many suspicions and hatreds, the Vietnam-US relationship has turned to a completely new page with outstanding cooperation in all fields. Believing that, in the coming time, the two sides will continue to put aside differences, respect history and move forward, for a future of mutual trust, peace and prosperity.
On May 25, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the representative of West Virginia State (USA) signed a memorandum of understanding to further enhance cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and energy.