U.S. and Vietnam: The Present and the Future

Event Details

Brantley Womack, a UVA professor, discusses the relationship between America and Vietnam. He begins his lectures by giving an overview of the current status of Vietnam in America?s foreign policy. He argues that despite the strategic significance of Vietnam, American continues to downplay its importance for a verity of reasons. Womack then moves to the future of US-Vietnamese relations. He contends that relations will be normalized in the near future, fist with the removal of the economic embargo and second with the establishment of formal diplomatic relations. Womack further argues that the major obstacles in the normalization of US-Vietnamese relations have been the issue of American MIAs and POWs, and the Vietnamese involvement in Cambodia. He continues stressing that because lifting the embargo would by far benefit Vietnam more that it would America and that the establishment of diplomatic relations is likely to be delayed, immediate improvements cannot be promised. He explains that the Vietnamese want increased American involvement in Asia so as to counter balance other regional powers. He concludes by warning that Vietnam has shown certain signs of instability that threaten the prosperity of the country. During the questioning session Womack touches on Catholicism in Vietnam, Vietnamese lobbyists, Laos, leadership in Vietnam, POWs in Vietnam, and establishing economic relations with Vietnam.