On his first visit to Hanoi, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the United States would lift its ban on arms sales and transfers to Vietnam.
(KHAM/AFP/Getty Images)
In the dispute over the South China Sea, Vietnam is a singularly important party. Just over 41 years after Vietnam defeated the United States and its allies, the White House has moved to dispense with another vestige of Cold War-era policy in the service of emerging strategic needs. On May 23, during his first visit to Hanoi and while standing beneath a bust of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Washington would lift its longstanding ban on weapons sales or transfers to Vietnam....
