U.S.-Vietnam Relations: Background and Issues for Congress. Updated January 3, 2008

摘要

After communist North Vietnam's victory over U.S.-backed South Vietnam in 1975, U.S.-Vietnam relations remained essentially frozen until the mid-1990s. Since then, bilateral ties have expanded remarkably, to the point where the relationship has been virtually normalized. Indeed, since 2002, overlapping strategic and economic interests have compelled the United States and Vietnam to improve relations across a wide spectrum of issues. Economic ties are the most mature aspect of the bilateral relationship. Since the United States extended conditional normal trade relations (NTR) to Vietnam in 2001, bilateral trade -- primarily imports from Vietnam -- has increased more than sixfold, to the point where the United States is now Vietnam's largest export market. The final step toward full economic normalization was accomplished in December 2006, when Congress passed and President Bush signed H.R. 6111 (P.L. 109-432), extending permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to Vietnam. For years, the United States has supported Vietnam's market-oriented economic reforms. Since 2002, the United States and Vietnam have expanded political and security ties, symbolized by reciprocal summits that have been held annually since 2005. Vietnam is one of the largest recipients of U.S. assistance in East Asia; estimated U.S. aid in FY2007 surpassed $90 million, much of it for health- related activities. In September 2007, the House passed the Vietnam Human Rights Act, H.R. 3096, which would freeze some non-humanitarian U.S. assistance programs at existing levels if Vietnam does not improve its human rights situation. A wave of arrests of dissidents in 2006 and 2007 heightened U.S. concerns about human rights in Vietnam.