(#5335) Expanding trade with Vietnam

      It is interesting that although Vietnam is a one party rule that has not yet gotten back to a democratic political and social system, their authoritarian form of government still looks upon America as a friend. This is significant in that building new bonds with Vietnam can go a long way toward thwarting China from tough a negotiating position. One thing that all the countries on our planet seem to have as a common goal is to produce economies for their citizens. Taking that commonality to the next level with Vietnam is a strong strategic indicator that no one Asian country has a lock on economic possibilities.
     We know the Vietnamese people are a stout and sturdy people in many ways like the Ukrainians. So bringing them into an economic pact that favors western and eastern cultures opens the door for even better relations on a front of other issues and concerns. President Biden has accomplished a major foreign policy coup in bringing Vietnam into a prominent economic role. Billions of dollars of trade have already been confirmed to begin immediately including defense measures with Boeing to upgrade the Vietnamese Air force. Somehow this new alignment with Vietnam feels karmic in that what we tried to do by force half a century ago is now starting to be accomplished through desires by both countries.
     I was shocked a bit to hear of this collaboration with Vietnam but not shocked in a bad way. A pleasant surprise is what it is and a real feel good moment. I have no animosity toward Vietnam even though they were an enemy of my young generation all those years ago. Now that we see all the factors in the light of day that caused the Vietnam conflict and kept it going we see that no blame needs to be assigned to this current generation that is just trying to build on peace throughout the world. Joe Biden has really done a remarkable thing here and once again people who underestimate Joe should be well advised to stop it!