Secretary of State John Kerry said President Obama’s remarks in Vietnam and the lifting of the weapons ban against Vietnam is not meant to provoke China, and is instead a step toward normal relations with Vietnam.
“It was a restraint on normality,” Kerry said about the weapons ban, noting the U.S. does not embargo countries with which it has normalized relations.
“China shouldn’t read it any other way,” Kerry said in Ho Chi Minh City, where he was accompanying Obama on his three-day visit to Vietnam.
Obama’s commented earlier on Tuesday that the U.S. respects Vietnam’s sovereignty and that “big nations should not bully smaller ones.” Obama also called on countries in the region, including Vietnam, to settle its many disputes with China over land in the South China Sea peacefully.
A Chinese state newspaper warned the U.S. and Vietnam against creating a “regional tinderbox” after ending the arms embargo.
Kerry did warn China against acting “unilaterally” and “militarizing” disputed islands, atolls and reefs in the South China Sea, but underscored that the focus of Obama’s trip is to fully normalize relations with Vietnam.
“This is not about China,” Kerry said. “Nothing that we do here, or are doing here, is focused on China. It’s focused on the fastest-growing marketplace in the world.”
“We welcome the rise of a strong China that assumes responsibility as a super power, global leader” that “encourages peace and stability” in the world, Kerry said.
“I hope China will read this correctly because our hope is for normal respect for maritime law and for the relationships that are so key in this region in terms of” resolving the differences peacefully, Kerry said.
