By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2014 – If the United States lifts the
embargo against the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam, Army Gen. Martin E.
Dempsey would recommend providing materials for the Peoples’ Navy, he said
during a news conference in Ho Chi Minh City today.
In the first trip by a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
to Vietnam since 1971, Dempsey visited Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.
Forty-five years ago, the United States was in a conflict
with North Vietnam, and Dempsey was a cadet at West Point preparing to join
that war. “The challenge now is to think 45 years ahead,” the highest-ranking
U.S. military official said.
By 2050, there will be 9 billion people on Earth -- 7
billion of whom will live in the Indo-Pacific. “Where the people are is where
the issues are,” the chairman said.
Vietnamese reporters questioned Dempsey on China’s
territorial claims in the East China Sea. “We’ve been very clear that we don’t
take sides in the territorial disputes, but we do care very much how they are
resolved,” he said. “They should not be resolved through use of force.”
The United States has longstanding defense agreements with
nations in the region -- Thailand and the Philippines are treaty allies. “We
are interested in becoming a partner with a strong and independent and
prosperous Vietnam,” the chairman said.
Still, at its core the solution to the East China Sea issue
hinges more on stronger multinational response brokered through the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations rather than a question of “‘What does the United
States intend to do about it?’,” he said.
The United States and Vietnam have common interests. “We’re
encouraging many of our ASEAN partners and friends to take a multinational
approach to maritime security and maritime domain awareness,” he said.
Building capabilities for maritime domain awareness is
important to any effort in the region, Dempsey said, including patrol boats,
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets and search and rescue
equipment.
“Our advice is that we look at this regionally, not
country-by-country,” the chairman said. “We’re working our way forward in that
spirit.”
There is a growing sense among U.S. elected officials and
non-governmental organizations that Vietnam has made progress on the human
rights issues that initially led to the embargo being put in place more than
three decades ago.
“I think in the near term there will be a discussion on how
to lift it,” Dempsey said. “My military advice … will be if it is lifted that
we begin with assets that would make the Peoples’ Navy more capable in the
maritime domain. That would generate a conversation on what that means, but I
think the maritime domain is the place of our greatest common security interest
right now.”
This could include intelligence, surveillance,
reconnaissance assets and even some weapons they don’t yet have for their
fleet, the chairman said.
Vietnam is uniquely and importantly positioned as the 13th
largest economy in the world, he said. While it is located in Southeast Asia,
the nation is the springboard into the Indo-Pacific region.
“I do see Vietnam occupying a key geostrategic region,” Dempsey
said. “In terms of managing its maritime resources and managing the territorial
disputes -- I’d suggest as goes Vietnam, I think as goes the South China Sea.”
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