After The Cold War America's Vietnam Policy Research

Vietnam’s important geographic location and abundant natural resources make itstrategically important. With the end of the Cold War, out of its national interest, theUnited States has transformed its foreign policy toward Vietnam from militaryincursion and containment into engagement. Therefore, the research question of mydissertation is trying to explore the future development and its impact of the UnitedStates’ foreign policy toward Vietnam, on the basis of which I hope to draw aconclusion of the principle for the United States to adjust its foreign policy towardVietnam.During the Cold War, containing the Soviet Union dominated the United Statesforeign policy. For this reason, the purpose of its Vietnam policy also served thatstrategy. The founding of China in1949and the subsequent outbreak of Korean Warmade the United States recognize Vietnam in a more specific way as “a piece ofchess” to help the Soviet Union to implement its Expansion strategy in SoutheastAsia.Due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, theUnited States had to readjust its foreign policy toward Vietnam. In consideration ofeconomic and strategic interest, the Clinton administration took positive steps tonormalize the United States foreign relations with Vietnam. However, since then therehad been no breakthrough in the development of the bilateral relations between theUnited States and Vietnam. This partly because the United States still focused itsattention on Europe and the Middle East at that time, and partly because the Clintonadministration’s foreign policy toward Vietnam was greatly influenced by the ColdWar mentality which paid great attention to the ideology. In general, the Clintonadministration’s foreign policy toward Vietnam failed to come up to expectation.With China’s rising influence in Southeast Asia, the factor of China has becomean important reference in the formulation of the United States foreign policy towardVietnam during the George W. Bush administration. In order to restrict the potentialrisks posed by China’s rising influence, the United States began to rearrange the position of Vietnam in its global strategy. Therefore, because both the United Statesand Vietnam shared common interest in “balancing China’s rising influence inSoutheast Asia”, the bilateral relations between the two countries made great progress.However, the growing strategic convergence between Washington and Hanoi shouldnot be mistaken for strategic congruence. Vietnam has always been unwilling tobecome a tool to contain China for the United States, and there are still structuralcontradictions such as differences in ideologies and social systems between theUnited States and Vietnam. Based on these facts, the policy applied by the George W.Bush administration to hedge against China’s rise didn’t achieve the desired effects.In his first term, the Obama administration claimed the strategy of “pivot toAsia” in high profile, the essence of which is to rebalance China’s rise by supportingEast Asian nations. Under this strategy, China’s growing presence in the South ChinaSea provides the latest opportunity for improved bilateral relations between theUnited States and Vietnam, especially in the field of military and security cooperation.However, Vietnam has always been unwilling to improve its bilateral relations withthe United States at the expense of the deterioration of Sino-Vietnam relations.Besides, structural contradictions such as differences in ideologies and social systemsstill exist between the United States and Vietnam. All these facts narrow down theachievement of the Obama administration’s Vietnam policy in the first term.On January21st,2013, President Barack Obama has officially kicked off hissecond term. With the impact of uncertainty of the global economy and growingtensions in the Middle East, it would be unlikely for the Obama administration tomaintain positive momentum of the Vietnam policy of his first term.