This statement was underlined by US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink in an interview given to the People’s Army Newspaper on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the normalization of relations between Vietnam and the US (July 12, 1995-2020).

Reporter: What are the most outstanding achievements that Vietnam and the US have gained after 25 years of the normalization of relations, Mr. Ambassador?

Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I think the last 25 years was amazing. We have done an excellent job over the last 25 years. The most important thing that we have done is that we built a partnership and friendship. We, both of us, see the other as being a vitally important partner. Our partnership is the strongest it has ever been and it is in the best shape for each side’s national interests. And I think to achieve that, we firstly had to start to work in humanitarian and war legacy issues, primarily related to the repatriation of remains of US servicemen missing in action during the war in Vietnam (MIA).

Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink in aninterview given to the People’s Army Newspaper. Photo: Van Hieu.

We actually normalized trade relations a year before we normalized our bilateral relations in 1995. I think that it has been breathtaking growth in the bilateral trade relations. 25 years ago, we had very little bilateral trade. Last year, we reached USD 77 billion in two-way trade turnover.

Reporter: Apart from celebrating the 25th year of the bilateral diplomatic ties, this July marks five years of official US visits by Party General Secretary Nguyen PhuTrong (July 7, 2015-2020). How does the official visit contribute to boosting the relations between Vietnam and the US, Sir?

Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: This was the first time ever a General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam officially visited the US. I was honored to be there to support the visit. General Secretary Trong and US President Barack Obama had a fruitful meeting together. The two sides negotiated an outstanding joint vision statement.

In my opinion, the visit achieved two main objects. Firstly, both sides agreed to respect international law, each other’s political systems, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Secondly, the joint statement that we negotiated demonstrated the breadth and depth of our partnership.

This year is the fifth anniversary of General Secretary Trong’s visit to Washington but I think it was an exceptional visit that helped accelerate our cooperation. The point it made was that meetings, phone calls, and exchanges between US and Vietnamese leaders have been exceptionally important to our bilateral partnership and friendship.

Reporter: From your point of view, what are the major hindrances in the bilateral relations?

Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: Well, there are no major obstacles. I think the main barrier to normalizing relations before 1995 primarily related to humanitarian and war legacy issues. However, we have done tremendous work there and there is trust between the two sides.

On the other hand, we should look at our trade and economic relations. The US and Vietnam have effectively cooperated in fields of energy, healthcare, IT, smart city, and transportation infrastructure, contributing to heightening the two-way trade volume. However, there are several market access barriers in Vietnam that we think need to be addressed so that the two countries can continue boost their economic and trade ties.

Reporter: Is the COVID-19 pandemic seen as a challenge to the relations of the two countries, Mr. Ambassador?

Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: We have partnered with Vietnam from the beginning of the pandemic and up to now we have provided USD 15 million in assistance to Vietnam for COVID-19 related issues, including combating the disease and assisting with economic recovery.

The health sector cooperation has been built for over 20 years. Since 1998, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has partnered with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and other healthcare counterparts. We have worked together and provided technical advice to Vietnam on how to build healthcare capacity and how to fight COVID-19. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has also been here for over 20 years, providing assistance to the local healthcare sector. In fact, over the past 20 years, we have provided over USD 700 million to help build Vietnam’s health sector capacity. And that cooperation is expended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I want to add two another points. One, I think the work that Vietnam have done controlling the COVID-19 disease is the best in the world and the US is very proud to have a partner like Vietnam. Secondly, we are very grateful to Vietnam, during the pandemic Hanoi has donated millions of masks and other protective equipment to US healthcare workers and that deed has helped save lives in the US.  It is said that the COVID-19 prevention and control effort is a perfect example of our partnership and friendship that we have built over the last 25 years.

Reporter: Could you please give us an assessment of the bilateral defense cooperation?

Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: Similar to what I have said about the overall status of our bilateral relationship, I think that the relationship between the two militaries is also the strongest it has ever been. I think the quality of our senior level dialogues between military leaders is at an all-time high. I mentioned that the US Secretary of Defense has visited Vietnam three times just since I have been the US Ambassador to Vietnam. Meanwhile, General Ngo Xuan Lich, Vietnamese Minister of National Defense paid a visit to the US as well. General Lich and his US counterparts have met multiple times, including in other countries and at multilateral forums. Our dialogues at the Assistant Secretary of Defense level and lower levels are also very active and productive.

In addition, the two sides have exchanged views regularly on regional security matters. We are increasing training and educational exchanges between the two countries. We are very excited by what we see as a long-term investment in Vietnam and the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) through the training programs. We have cooperated together in various fields such as education and training, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and UN peacekeeping. I think these programs are exceptionally critical.

Since 2012, the US has actively provided assistance to enhance the Vietnamese military’s capacity, especially its maritime capacity. It is based on our belief that the US is stronger, more secure, more prosperous when our partners, friends and allies are strong and successful as well, not just Vietnam but many of our friends and partners across the region.

In addition, we hope to extend our Memorandum of Understanding to Promote Bilateral Defense Cooperation this year. We would also like to see how the two sides can expand our military cooperation.

Reporter: Over 25 years ago, the search for MIA American servicemen played an important role in fostering the progress of the normalization of relations between the two countries. How will the US support Vietnam in searching for Vietnamese soldiers missing in action during the war, Sir?

Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: Actually, the US and Vietnam began their cooperative relations via MIA activities in Vietnam. Since 1985, Vietnam has helped us locate 727 missing soldiers. It is tremendous. And I am very pleased to tell you that the US is significantly expanding its assistance and cooperation with Vietnam in locating Vietnamese soldiers missing in action. USAID has signed an agreement to increase Vietnam’s DNA capacity so that when Vietnam finds missing remains of soldiers, they can have a greater ability to identify the remains. So we see that this kind of cooperation is the right thing to do. It is the morally right thing to do. It is also very practical because we can help one another and that is the most important issue. There is no limit to what we can do in the future.

Reporter: Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador!

Reported by Ngoc Hung-Hung Hieu