Vietnam “would welcome U.S. accelerating lifting of arms embargo”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vietnam would welcome the United States "accelerating" the lifting of a lethal arms embargo, which would reflect trust between the two countries and recognition of its needs to defend itself, its Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, May 12, Reuters reports.

Vietnam's comments on a topic that has long been a source of friction with the United States comes just over a week ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama, and amid debate in Washington over whether to remove the ban, which was eased in late 2014.

The arms embargo is one of the last major vestiges of the Vietnam War era. The United States has not indicated publicly it would remove the embargo and has long said such a move would depend on Vietnam showing progress on human rights.

"We welcome the United States' acceleration to fully lift the lethal arms sales ban on Vietnam," the ministry said in response to Reuters questions.

"This is consistent with the development trend of the comprehensive partnership ... demonstrating trust between the two countries."

Lifting the embargo would mark a major step forward in ties 21 years after normalization began, Reuters says.

The ministry said it welcomed the "many supporting voices" in the United States that had called for the removal of the embargo.