IB9803311-28-01Congressional Research Service
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The Library of Congress
The Vietnam-U.S. Normalization Process
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UMMARY
U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic and economicrelations remained essentially frozen for morethan a decade after the 1975 communist vic-tory in South Vietnam. Washington and Hanoihave incrementally improved relations inrecent years. The slow pace reflects continueddebate in the United States and Vietnam overimproved relations.Bilateral relations took a major stepforward in February 1994, when PresidentClinton ordered an end to the 19-year old U.S.trade embargo on Vietnam. The followingyear, the United States and Vietnam settleddiplomatic and private property claims andopened liaison offices in Washington andHanoi. In April 1997, a U.S. Ambassador wasapproved by the Senate and took up his post inHanoi. In March 1998, President Clintongranted a waiver from the Jackson-Vanik amendment that smoothed the way for Over-seas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)and Export-Import Bank support for U.S.business in Vietnam. On June 2, 2000, Presi-dent Clinton announced an annual waiver of Jackson-Vanik amendment restrictions forVietnam, the third consecutive year he hasdone so. Each time, joint Congressional reso-lutions of disapproval of the President’s actionwere introduced and rejected.On July 13, 2000, the U.S. and Vietnamcontinued their normalization by signing asweeping bilateral trade agreement (BTA),which was approved by Congress and signedby President Bush in 2001. Under the BTA,the U.S. will extend normal trade relations toVietnam. In return, Hanoi agreed to a rangeof trade liberalization measures and market-oriented reforms. To mark the improvementin relations, President Clinton visited Vietnamin November 2000, the first trip by a U.S.President since 1969.Each step in improving bilateral ties hasbrought controversy, albeit at diminishinglevels. U.S. opponents in Congress and else-where have argued that Vietnam maintains apoor record on human, religious, and laborrights. Opposition has also come from groupsarguing that Vietnam has not done enough toaccount for U.S. Prisoners of War/Missing inAction (POW/MIAs) from the Vietnam War,though this argument has diminished in recentyears.Forces favoring normalization haveincluded those in Congress and elsewherereflecting a strong U.S. business interest inVietnam’s reforming economy and Americanstrategic interests in working with U.S. friendsand allies to promote stability and develop-ment by integrating Vietnam more fully intothe existing East Asian order.Within Vietnam, divisions over the courseof the country’s reforms have paralyzed Viet-namese leaders in recent years. Reformers inthe Vietnamese government seek closer tieswith the U.S., especially in economic relations.However, conservatives have resisted foreigninfluences that might undermine the Vietnam-ese Communist Party’s monopoly of politicalpower.
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