Background Briefing on Secretary Kerry's Travel to Vietnam
Special Briefing
Senior State Department Official
En Route Vietnam
January 11, 2017
MODERATOR: Welcome back aboard, guys. We have [Senior State Department Official], who is going to talk to you about our stop in Vietnam. This is a background discussion. He will be a senior State Department official. He will – our official will start out with just a few opening comments, sort of lay out the trip for you, some of the goals and objectives and the itinerary, and then we'll take some questions and we'll go from there. Okay? And then, obviously, once we get on the ground you guys are free to file away. Okay?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Thank you.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: So the Secretary is on his way to Vietnam for his fourth trip as Secretary of State. But it represents much more than that. For nearly half a century, he's had an association with this country, was instrumental in our normalization as a U.S. senator, and as Secretary of State has represented the rebalance to Asia and an increasingly close, cooperative relationship with Vietnam.
So he arrives in Vietnam on – in Hanoi specifically on Thursday night as a very trusted partner and interlocutor. The Vietnamese are looking forward very much to his visit. We begin on Friday with two official meetings in Hanoi, first with the Acting Foreign Minister and then with the Prime Minister Phuc. His kind of engagement will cover the relationship, our security cooperation, some of the challenges we all face together in the region and around the world – in the region including, of course, South China Sea, the particular case of North Korea. The areas of cooperation that we have expanded on in recent years across the board – climate change, trafficking in persons, trafficking in wildlife, health issues, and even more broadly, environment and education.
It's going to be a busy day on Friday, because from Hanoi he continues down to Ho Chi Minh City, and the first stop there will be the Ho Chi Minh technical education university, which parenthetically I will mention is a university that has benefitted from some American assistance, a USAID grant of several million dollars, and the university has cooperative partnerships with a number of universities in the United States in Texas and Arizona and Illinois, and some private sector relationships with U.S. industry, including General Electric and Texas Instruments. It has about 20,000 students.
The first order of business for the Secretary there will be to commemorate the signing of a letter of interest between Fulbright University Vietnam, FUV, and OPIC. That's the U.S. Organization of Private Investment Corporation[1]. This is very symbolic of a close relationship we have with Vietnam on education. Fulbright University Vietnam Secretary Kerry has been personally involved with, and many of his good associates and friends from Massachusetts in various institutions of higher learning. It's been an evolution of many years. It has its roots with our Fulbright Program, which has swapped some 1,000 Vietnamese and American academics over the years, and a predecessor program on economic training under Fulbright.
This has all transformed into the birth of Fulbright University Vietnam. It was launched last year when President Obama was in Vietnam last May but now is coming into fruition. When the university is established it's going to be an independent, non-profit center for higher learning with full academic freedoms – very U.S.-style, the very first U.S.-style institution of higher learning in Vietnam. FUV hopes to have students in place by next year, and when they get to that point they expect to have very significant independence in establishing their curriculum, choosing their faculty, et cetera.
OPIC, the U.S. agency, is interested, as is FUV, in establishing a relationship that can provide financing for the physical plan to begin building the campus. There are other avenues of U.S. assistance for FUV as well, but it's very, very exciting. We've heard the Secretary talk about it in recent days.
After that, the Secretary will be giving a policy speech that will cover the span of our relationship between Vietnam and the United States. We have a comprehensive partnership that's been in place since 2013. And we have areas of collaboration across the board, and I cited a few of them, like security, education, and people-to-people ties.
In addition to the establishment of Fulbright University Vietnam, we have the birth of a new Peace Corps program for the first time in Vietnam, which is really quite remarkable. When you think of the history of Peace Corps, when it was established in the early 1950s, we had American boots on the ground coming to Vietnam. Now I like to say we'll be having American loafers and sandals coming to Vietnam when we have Peace Corps volunteer teachers we expect, hopefully, to arrive next year. And then the Secretary will give the Peace Corps program some attention while he's in Vietnam.
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: That evening? We're on Friday evening now. The Secretary will have a meeting with the Ho Chi Minh City party chair, party chairman. And the party chairman will also host a dinner. We expect some of their conversation will address issues that are important in this part of Vietnam, in the south, like education, like the environment, and entrepreneurialism. Ho Chi Minh City is really the center of growth and commerce and creative entrepreneurialism.
Saturday, the Secretary makes a visit to Ca Mau province in the delta. It's very important for Vietnam and for our relationship. The delta of Vietnam thrives and survives on the Mekong River, which is under siege from hydroelectric dams upstream, climate change, and other adverse impacts on a river that provides livelihoods for millions of people, many of whom are at the very downstream point, which is the delta of Vietnam.
And while the Secretary is there, of course, he can give attention to some of our initiatives, like the Lower Mekong Initiative which was launched a few years ago. Vietnam was an original partner. And of the various pillars that we have that cover a variety of sectors, quite importantly, Vietnam self-identified, self-selected themselves as co-chairs of the environment pillar under the Lower Mekong Initiative. So they really understand the impacts of climate change and the importance of a good environment for their livelihoods.
Where the Secretary is going in the delta also happens to be the site where he earned his Silver Star in the late 1960s during his service as a Navy officer.
QUESTION: The exact site?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: That's right. Joining the Secretary will be the former Vietnamese interpreter who came to the United States and returned to Vietnam a few years ago to open up the first FedEx office and is quite successful, also a Vietnam – an American Vietnam veteran who has also come back and is very successful in the finance sector. A USAID representative of our Lower Mekong policy project will also be there joining the Secretary to talk about some of our environment projects and programs in the delta.
In sum, that's the components of a visit that both the Secretary and the rest of us as well as the Vietnamese are looking forward to. He began his service as Secretary of State very early on – I think it was his second official trip to Asia – and was able to make it to Vietnam just about every year of his tenure. And as this is his final global trip, it says quite a bit about the importance of the Asia Pacific to the United States that he's including Vietnam on his last trip.
So that will be the visit. Happy to take any questions that you might have.
QUESTION: So is he going to his old base? Will he go to his old base?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: He served a couple of places in Vietnam.
MODERATOR: Yeah, I don't think – I don't think he's going necessarily to a base. The trip down the Mekong is for two purposes and – I mean, maybe because of the Lower Mekong Initiative he will get a chance to visit some of the sites where he actually patrolled, but I don't think there's any plans to go to the base again. As a young Naval officer in the Vietnam War, he found himself based out of several locations because the war was moving around.
QUESTION: It's my understanding that human rights abuses have gotten worse in Vietnam over the last year and particularly in recent months since it's become clear that the TPP is not going to pass. Is he going to raise that in any different way than he has in the past? Is there anything he's – what is he – how is he going to express his concern about that to the government?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Let me address that in two parts. So on human rights, there have been some developments over the past year that we would characterize as a bit of a setback. In the larger picture, however, in recent years, the trend has been positive and encouraging. There are less political prisoners now than a few years ago. Social media has opened up as a venue for discussion and opinion.
As we always do with the Vietnamese, we raise our human rights concerns, give our good counsel and advice on how to partner with civil society and how to embrace what, in fact, the Vietnamese have done with their own constitution, and that is the rights of individual human beings, the right to practice one's religion, to dissent and participate in the process.
So I think we can expect on his trip that human rights and concerns about civil society will certainly be talked about, as we always do. We have a number of annual dialogues on human rights generally, on labor specifically, on religious freedoms.
The second part I would offer is that Vietnam has been undergoing in the last couple of years a number of legal reforms, changing laws, making adjustments to their framework. Some of that was a requirement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but they are enduring changes and our encouragement to Vietnam is to continue these kind of reforms because they bring benefit to Vietnam itself regardless of its trading relationships with others.
So in fact, in the national assembly there have been some actions that have been quite encouraging, and those will be enduring for the country going forward.
QUESTION: Do you feel you have much leverage, though, with the TPP gone?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I think when you look at the region as a whole, human rights is very much part of our dialogue, part of our engagement. And I don't know that in any circumstance it would be accurate to assess that there's leverage. Countries have their sovereignty, have their own principles and practices. But I think through encouragement, through continued dialogue, we've achieved success in the region.
And in the case of Vietnam, what I would frame as quite positive is the fact that we have open dialogue. And this is very characteristic of the new relationship between the United States and Vietnam: Everything is on the table. And I can share my firsthand experiences of dialoguing with the Vietnamese. Nothing is verboten, nothing is considered inappropriate to raise when it comes to human rights concerns and civil society. And we also meet regularly with civil society while we're there in Vietnam. So this is positive. They are open to hearing. They are open to talking about some of their shortcomings, where they want to make progress, where they need help in this realm.
QUESTION: How disappointed are they by TPP disappearing? Is that a big blow for them?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I think what we've seen from the Vietnamese is they're quite pragmatic. They went through a leadership change about a year ago themselves, and so they understand the kind of transition that will be going in the United States and how politics and domestic issues have been impacted. We'll hear from them on this trip what their views are about TPP, but thus far, at my level and others representing the U.S. Government, I think we've heard a very pragmatic response.
They are still keen on trade. Trade between our two countries, in fact, has tripled in recent years. Investment has gone up some 23 percent since 2015, and we have about a billion and a half dollars invested in Vietnam through U.S. companies. We are the largest market for Vietnam, and they are a growing market for us. So trade, regardless of any new arrangement, remains very important between our two countries, and so I think Vietnam is quite focused on that. We are focused on the continual effort to ensure that the playing field is level for U.S. companies.
QUESTION: And has Vietnam become relatively more interesting as a U.S. partner now that Thailand has gone autocratic and the Philippines is quite erratic? And in terms of your other relationships in the immediate region, you've got some problem cases. Does that make Vietnam more important and can it help (inaudible) relationships?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The partnership between our two countries has been evolutionary and has been growing in recent years incrementally. I mentioned the comprehensive partnership that was established in 2013. The general-secretary of the party came to Washington at the invitation of President Obama in 2015, the first time ever for the party head. Of course, President Obama made a historic visit to Vietnam last year, during which a number of announcements were made, including the lifting of a Cold War relic, the arms embargo that dates back to the 1960s.
These steps have, I think, reflected a growing interest on the part of both countries for the sake of the relationship irregardless of what is happening elsewhere in the region or the world. And so we see a growing commitment from both sides and we are seeing the results of that, as I mentioned in a number of areas – environment, education, security, people-to-people ties.
QUESTION: And what were you going to tell them about the South China Sea and the maritime disputes?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I think we're quite consistent with our position on the South China Sea. Freedom of navigation and overflight are very important principles that apply to all countries. We very much encourage a rules-based approach to working through and with China – South China Sea issues. We don't take any sides; we're not a claimant, but we are an Asia Pacific country and those principles are very important to us. And so I think we will be talking with Vietnam about these matters, hear their views as well.
QUESTION: But do they want you to back their claim? Will they be disappointed to hear again that you're staying neutral?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: No, I think we have found with the claimants in Southeast Asia that they welcome the U.S. posture that focuses on a rules-based approach, on the principles of the Convention on the Law of the Seas that we adhere to, and the freedoms of navigation and overflight, the importance of this region to commerce, our consistent calls for ceasing any militarization of the region and for dialogue. So I think what we hear from Vietnam is quite consistent with the other claimants in Southeast Asia.
QUESTION: Will he be announcing any sort of initiative? The Mekong and this river he once steered Swift Boats on has been so affected, as you mentioned. Will there be any sort of new initiative for that or anything he can announce as he leaves public office?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I don't have the specific details, but I believe he will be addressing a new initiative that addresses food security. But in terms of the broader delta, it's a sustained commitment to partnership through the Lower Mekong Initiative, the climate change arrangements that have been negotiated internationally to which Vietnam adheres. And we will hear from Vietnam about its concerns with the environment and the delta. There are other environmental challenges elsewhere in the country that Vietnam has experienced over the last year, and I think those kind of things will be discussed.
MODERATOR: Okay, you guys good? Thank you.
[1] Overseas Private Investment Corporation
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