| Hanoi 19 August 2009 |
Senator Jim Webb is on a five-country tour of Southeast Asia. In Burma on Sunday, Webb won the release of an American imprisoned for visiting opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. On Wednesday Webb came to Vietnam, where he said the U.S. should do more to "balance" China in the region.
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| U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.,speaks during a news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, 19 Aug 2009 |
Vietnamese are worried about China's recent claims to sovereignty over 80 percent of the South China Sea. Vietnam and five other Southeast Asian countries dispute the Chinese claims. And Webb said the U.S. should be on their side.
"The United States should be much more specific in terms of defending the sovereignty of these areas," said Webb. "And I don't necessarily mean that militarily, I mean it in terms of our diplomatic position, our position as a nation, and our willingness to be a balancing force against, not against, but a balancing force with China in the region."
Webb served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and his wife is Vietnamese-American. He has long advocated closer U.S.-Vietnam ties, and in July he chaired a Senate hearing on the South China Sea territorial dispute. During his visit, several Vietnamese government newspapers have run articles denouncing the Chinese territorial claims.
Webb's visit is also part of a broader diplomatic effort by the U.S. to rebuild ties to Southeast Asia. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made two visits to the region so far this year.
"There are good feelings from the American people towards this region," said Webb. "But we are trying to re-emphasize, and Secretary Clinton also is trying to re-emphasize, how vitally important this region is to the United States."
Vietnam has recently jailed several bloggers and political dissidents. Webb said he did not plan to raise that issue with Vietnamese leaders on this trip.
4 comments:
So Vietnam is having problems with China making claims of the territories in South China Sea? How do Cambodia feel when its territory of Kampuchea Krom and Koh Tral were gobbled up by Vietnam. If Vietnam was a victim of China for territorial lost, why is Vietnam a perpetrator of land grabbing from Cambodia. Now Vietnam is crying to America? I remember not too long ago these two were enemies, now they shake hands and denouncing China? What a bunch of wishies-washies.
China should add Vietnam to her collections of states, after all, Dai Viet(Vietnam) belongs to China one time. The term "ONE CHINA" means uniting all the territories thay were lost by China. So Vietnam should be very seriously concern about this.
nicely put 1254. we should use these to bully the yuon of how we feel about koh tral and khmer krom. if they go farther crying about china to usa then we should cry even louder about our lands! these is why i like china more than any countries. china is our friend and we are china's friend. the yuon think they are superior then us loas and khmer.but always crying for their own crimes. these are why i never trust the yuon. we have learned all their tricks.now we need to carry big sticks and talk soft to the yuon from now on.
People, when they have never become victims they don't know how hard or painful it is to be the victims. Vietnam always was and is a perpetrator when it comes to land encroachments and annexations. Now, it can feel the pains when it become a "victim" of territorial disputes with China. Vietnam took more than enough territories from Cambodia, I hope it can understand Cambodia's pains when it feel the pains of China's violations of its territorial lands or waters.
you know, sometime i wonder, why youn is so obsess in expanding its territory. if youn were to exist, it definately will need to be big. it wants to swallow up indochina to make itself bigger. if and when indochina became part of vietnam, the bastard is not going to stop there, soon will be siem, burma etc., like a cancer, it will spread. why? maybe to protect itself from china. dai viet was under the crack of china for 1,100 years. it got a big opportunity of a life time to free itself during the mongols invasion of china. i wouldn't be surprised if "dai viet" allied with the mongols just to fight china for independence. khmer call viet "youn" reference to the barbaric personalities of the mongols. the "youn dynasty" of mongols ruled china until it became weak, defeated, and driven out of china. khmer encountered some battles with youn in the early part of our history to defend our territory from youn attempting to expand southwest.
so youn greatest fear is "big red", that is china.
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