Trump administration eases ban for US diplomats at Vietnam War anniversary
Knapper is also not expected at the main event, which includes a parade and speeches Wednesday, the actual anniversary of South Vietnam's surrender and the American evacuation from what was then Saigon on April 30, 1975.
Critics of the attendance ban welcomed Burns's presence, but insisted it was not enough. They said the Trump administration had already shown a lack of understanding about the importance of postwar reconciliation with a country that is now a strategic partner in efforts to counter China's influence across the region.
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'From where I sit, they don't have a clue,' said John Terzano, a founder of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, who has been returning to Vietnam since 1981.
He said the United States had bumbled into the war and stayed too long because leaders at the time, like Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, saw Vietnam only through the lens of arrogance or parochial interests. Washington was now at risk of making similar mistakes, he added.
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'The ambassador is not here,' Terzano said. 'And the symbolic nature of that matters.'
The Trump administration did not give a reason for the ban, though some US officials speculated that the White House did not want to be seen as celebrating an anniversary of defeat around the 100th day of Trump's second term.
Analysts noted that the United States and Vietnam had elevated their ties in 2023 to a comprehensive strategic partnership as a step forward — not because of the war or a hunger for reconciliation, but rather because of urgent shared interests, which can transcend diplomatic squabbles.
'The US values its closer ties with Vietnam because of its strategic competition with China, while Vietnam hopes its closer ties with the US will greatly help its quest for security and prosperity,' said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.
Few countries in Asia are more hostile to China than Vietnam is. Vietnam's people see their national identity as embedded in their resistance to dominance from Beijing. As China's southern neighbor and former colony, Vietnam has frequent disputes with China over territory in the South China Sea, even as it welcomes Chinese investment.
Roughly 30 percent of Vietnam's exports went to the United States last year, producing a large trade imbalance. But China is Vietnam's largest trading partner, and Trump's tariffs and his destruction of the US Agency for International Development have shaken Vietnam's bond with the United States. USAID recently suspended funding for removing land mines left behind from the war, and the cleanup of Agent Orange, an herbicide that causes cancer and birth defects.
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Vietnam's goal has long been balanced relations with great powers.
In an essay published Sunday in the state news media, To Lam, Vietnam's top leader and the general secretary of the Communist Party, stressed the power of personal reconciliation among former enemies.
'I have witnessed many moving encounters between Vietnamese veterans and American veterans — those who once stood on opposing sides of the battlefield, who once confronted each other at gunpoint, but who can now shake hands, converse, and share sincere understanding without lingering resentment,' he wrote. 'Today, Vietnam and the United States — once former adversaries — have become comprehensive strategic partners, cooperating for peace, for the benefit of both peoples, and for the security and stability of the region.'
Yet Xi Jinping, China's leader, who recently visited Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, and the Trump administration have each warned Vietnam not to support the other.
The US ambassador's absence at the 50th anniversary commemorations may now be seen as another attempt to pressure Vietnam into compliance.
'For many Vietnamese, the message is: 'You have to choose,'' Vuving said. 'For some others, the message is 'Vietnam's Communist regime is incompatible with a US partnership.''
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