- Title: U.S. president receives state welcome in Vietnam
- Date: 23rd May 2016
- Summary: VARIOUS OF OBAMA AND QUANG GREETING VIETNAMESE OFFICIALS CEREMONY IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 7th June 2016 06:09
- Keywords: Vietnam Obama U.S. United States welcoming ceremony
- Location: HANOI, VIETNAM
- City: HANOI, VIETNAM
- Country: Vietnam
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0044J125AF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:U.S. President Barack Obama began his first visit to Vietnam on Monday (May 23), attending a state welcoming ceremony hosted by his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang.
The trip is part of his strategic "rebalance" towards Asia that could bring more overtures to the former enemy to boost its defence capability at a time of rising South China Sea tension.
The run-up to the visit has been dominated by a debate in Washington about whether to remove a decades-old lethal arms embargo on Hanoi, one of the last vestiges of wartime animosity, and give it easier access to procurements of U.S. military technology.
Vietnam's poor human rights record is a sticking point, but the Obama administration appears increasingly swayed toward giving Hanoi some leeway to build its deterrent against Beijing.
Obama, the third U.S. president to visit Vietnam since ties were restored in 1995, is also scheduled to meet two others in Vietnam's triumvirate of leaders, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as well as Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, later on Monday.
He will also meet National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan at the stilt house where late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh used to reside. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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