Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following statement at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam:
“I am Senator John McCain, and it is always a pleasure to be back in Vietnam. I am joined by my colleague Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
“We have come to Hanoi at an important time: Next year is the 20th anniversary of the normalization of our relations. For those of us involved in that process, the progress we have made in this time has been astounding. At the same time, we recognize that we can do so much more together as partners, and that we need an ambitious agenda as we head into next year, especially in light of troubling recent events in the East Sea. In short, now is the time for Vietnam and the United States to take a giant strategic leap together. That is why we are here.
“For our part, the United States is ready to meet this challenge with new thinking and action. We are ready to conclude a high-standard Trans-Pacific Partnership, with Vietnam as a full partner. We are ready, in the context of TPP, to work with Vietnam to meet the criteria for U.S. recognition as a market economy. We are ready to increase our military cooperation and ship visits as much as Vietnam permits – not by establishing bases, which we do not seek, but through agreements for increased access, as we are concluding with other countries in the region. We are also ready to increase our security assistance to help Vietnam improve its maritime domain awareness and build its capacity to defend its sovereign rights.
“To that end, I believe the time has come for the United States to begin easing our lethal arms embargo on Vietnam. This will not, and should not, happen all at once. Rather, it should be limited at first to those defensive capabilities, such as coast guard and maritime systems, that are purely for external security.
"The strategic effect of China's dredging and land reclamation makes it the most significant change to the South China Sea dispute since the 1988 Battle of Johnson South Reef. If completed as envisioned in the CGI designs, China will have its first airstrip in the Spratly islands - and a base from which to impose its interpretation of the surrounding features' sovereignty.
