US-Vietnam relations: More than just a bilateral issue.

At the invitation of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, three faculty members from the University, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Quang Minh, Dr. Bui Thanh Nam, and MSc. Pham Quoc Thanh, participated in the International Conference “US-Vietnam Relations: Striving for Stability, 2010-2020” held at the University of Montana (USA) from April 11-13, 2011.The conference was attended by professors, researchers, experts, and foreign ministry officials from both the United States and Vietnam, including Mr. Desaix Anderson, U.S. Chargé d'affaires (chargé d'affaires) to Vietnam from August 1995 to May 1997, and Mr. Raymond Burghardt, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam from 2001 to 2004. The main purpose of the conference was to assess U.S.-Vietnam relations in the new regional and international context, especially 15 years after the normalization of relations between the two countries and as Vietnam increasingly integrates into the region and the world. Since 1995 alone, bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam have made unprecedented strides. While the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) was only signed between the two countries in 2001, by 2010, the total value of bilateral trade had reached over US$18 billion. Although some issues remain stemming from the war, such as the issue of missing American soldiers and prisoners of war (MIA/POW), Agent Orange, the Vietnamese community in the US, and differences in viewpoints on human rights, democracy, and religious freedom, recent bilateral relations between Vietnam and the US have demonstrated an open, constructive, and comprehensive spirit of cooperation, benefiting both countries and contributing to the overall stability and security of the region. While emphasizing the subjective factors of both countries as the driving force and decisive element in bilateral relations, the statements all stressed the importance of the changes taking place in the Asia-Pacific region in the early years of the 21st century. The regional security environment is witnessing complex and intertwined changes, both continuous and abrupt, encompassing both traditional and non-traditional security issues. Facing these challenges, countries in the region are striving to form new political and security cooperation mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994, ASEAN Plus 3 (APT) in 1997, the East Asia Summit (EAS) in 2005, the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM+) in 2010, and most recently, the Trans-Pacific Strategic Partnership (TPP). Prominent in all these mechanisms is the power competition between major powers, primarily between the United States and China, and the leading and central role of ASEAN. In this complex context, the Vietnam-US relationship is no longer, and not just, a bilateral issue. All scholars, experts, and participants in the conference agreed that the most important issue now is for both sides to build trust in each other. Trust is everything; doubt will only lead to hesitation and uncertainty. The conference also unanimously agreed that the best way to build trust in Vietnam-US relations is to strengthen comprehensive and regular exchanges in a constructive, open, and respectful manner at all levels and in all fields, both top-down and bottom-up, with universities and research centers playing an indispensable role.