 Thank you Dr. Bailey, thank you to our panelists and it gives me great pleasure now to introduce our next speaker, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan. Before taking on his leadership position over at State Department, Debsack Sullivan had a long career in law. He was the Supreme Court law clerk and has held senior positions at Justice, Defense and Commerce. He's also a member of our USIP Board, so it gives me special pleasure to introduce him. And I just want to note that his mother was a USO volunteer, his father served in the Navy and his uncle Bill was a Foreign Service Officer for 32 years. So clearly public service is a strong held tradition for Deputy Secretary Sullivan and I understand he particularly and personally prioritized joining us today. So please join me in welcoming Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan. Thank you for that kind introduction Nancy. I'm honored to be here today with so many distinguished guests and supporters of the US-Vietnam relationship. I'd like to recognize in particular the esteemed delegation from Vietnam that's traveled so far to be with us today led by Lieutenant General Nguyen Chinh Vee. I consider it a distinct privilege to celebrate the unique history of our two countries, particularly the recent history. The gulf that the United States and Vietnam have bridged over the last two decades is nothing short of remarkable and a testament to our common interests, mutual respect and bold resolve to overcome a very difficult past and look toward the future. As Nancy mentioned I have a personal interest in this subject because my as Nancy said my uncle was a career Foreign Service Officer for 32 years and focused a lot of his attention on Southeast Asia. He was a political officer at our embassy in Saigon, a mid-level officer who had some junior officers assigned to him named Holbrook and Negra Ponte. I think they went on to do other things in their careers. But then he became DCM shortly when Maxwell Taylor was sent to be our ambassador, helped him transition into his role as ambassador to South Vietnam and then was sent by President Johnson to be ambassador to Laos from 1964 until March of 69. He was our ambassador in Ventian. When he returned to Washington he returned to the the East Asia Bureau and was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. But his principal assignment for the next four years was the senior State Department official working with for Henry Kissinger in August of 69 as you know President Nixon tasked then National Security Advisor Kissinger with establishing secret channel secret peace talks with North Vietnam and my uncle was the senior State Department representative assisting him and participating in in the negotiations that led ultimately to the Paris Peace Accords in January of 1973. So in the course of that experience he met all of his counterparts from North Vietnam from Le Duc Tau on down. And as a consequence in the mid-1980s as I understand it from my uncle when the government the now Socialist Republic of Vietnam was thinking about writing its relationship or getting our relations the relationship between the United States and and Vietnam back on track they reached out to my uncle in 1988 he visited Hanoi in in 1989 with then Foreign Minister Nguyen Co-Tac and they established in 89 the U.S. Vietnam Trade Council which was one of the was one of an early vehicle for establishing some momentum which ultimately led of course to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations in 1995. So I have a very personal interest in in this topic and in our relationship with Vietnam and over the last two decades the development of our relationship has been extraordinary. Our bilateral trade has grown to a level that would have been unthinkable to the Foreign Minister and my uncle in 1988. Trade in goods between the United States and Vietnam in the last two decades has increased by 8,000%. In the last decade alone U.S. exports to Vietnam have increased by over 300% and American companies have invested billions in Vietnam to our mutual benefit. And of course the growth between our two countries encompasses a great deal more than than trade and investment. Politically our engagement with Vietnam continues to need reach new heights. Just last month President Trump made his second visit to Hanoi in less than two years this for his second summit with Kim Jong-un while in Hanoi President Trump invited Nguyen Phu Trong to visit Washington this year and what will be his second visit as General Secretary of the Communist Party and his first visit as President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. One consequence of two presidential visits to Vietnam and of Secretary Pompeo's visits to Vietnam I've been joking with my colleagues I'm gonna have to come up with a creative rationale for another senior U.S. government level visit by some deputy secretary of state to go but I'm working on that but these leader level exchanges are emblematic of the tremendous progress we've achieved since normalizing our diplomatic relations 24 years ago. We've moved past conflict and division toward a flourishing partnership that spans political security economic and people to people ties. Today Vietnam is an increasingly close friend and partner of the United States we share a range of strategic issues and a common desire to promote peace security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Today the United States and Vietnam work side by side to tackle some of the world's most pressing security challenges from the final fully verified denuclearization of North Korea to peacefully resolving tensions in the South China Sea. Our defense cooperation has grown significantly. In 2017 we transferred to Vietnam the former U.S. Coast Guard Cudder Morgenthau a vessel that was active in the Vietnam war ironically. Today it's the largest ship in Vietnam's fleet. In 2018 a much larger ship a massive ship the USS Carl Vinson made a historic port call to Da Nang. The first U.S. aircraft carrier visit to Vietnam since the war. Our people to people to ties are stronger than ever. In the past two decades American tourists to Vietnam have increased from fewer than 60,000 to over half a million. My account my family among them my wife and my my eldest son were in Vietnam this fall on a as tourists. I hadn't anticipated serving in government in fact I was thinking about retiring from my law firm and my wife and I were planning trips and that's one trip I desperately wanted to go on was a trip to Vietnam so my wife planned this great trip to Vietnam. Lo and behold November 8th happened one thing led to another I became deputy secretary of state and my son inherited my spot on the trip to Vietnam. But I'm getting there event I promise you I will be there we're coming up on a on a rationale for another senior level visit. But it's the number of students we have Vietnamese students studying here in the United States has jumped from fewer than 800 to over 31,000 putting Vietnam in the top five countries in the entire world sending students to the United States a remarkable and in quite wonderful achievement. None of this would have been possible of course without work to build a foundation of trust to expand our relationship. The humanitarian mission to identify and bring home American soldiers missing in action was instrumental in establishing this trust and remains our sacred and solemn duty. We will not rest until we have achieved the fullest possible accounting of those missing from the war and we will continue to work hand in hand to remove exploded unexploded ordinance and clean up dioxin in Vietnam which has been a priority for this admission at this administration from my first days and my first discussions on this topic with Secretary Mattis who felt as passionately or more passionately than I about that as a moral obligation for the United States. The United States views the Indo-Pacific as vital to our interest in a short in ensuring global peace stability and prosperity. Southeast Asia and Vietnam in particular has emerged in a set as an essential partner in these endeavors. We look forward to working with Vietnam to build a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and reach new milestones in the US-Vietnam relationship. The future of our bilateral relationship is very very bright and I can only imagine what the late Foreign Minister and my late uncle must be thinking if they're looking down now at this this event here is how our relationship has developed over the 40 30 years since that first outreach from Hanoi to my uncle here here in the United States. So thank you very much for allowing me to share these thoughts including personal thoughts with you today. This is a very important event I know they've been terrific panel discussions in the program will will continue and I'll turn it back over to USIP's Executive Vice President Ambassador Bill Taylor for the next panel. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Secretary bringing that that personal personal touch to to this issue this is great. The third panel which I have the pleasure of moderating will be on the topic of the road ahead ah thank you Nancy. The road ahead so we're now looking forward now we're looking we've talked about the work that's been done talking about the work that's ongoing right now and now we're looking forward and to do this help us do this we've got a great panel which I'm going to invite to come up as as I speak and Elizabeth is already doing it so thank you Elizabeth so this is the order in which I will ask the first questions on Tim's art very good we got eager people to do this right so I will ask the first question to senior lieutenant general Wen Qi-ving who who's already been introduced Nancy introduced him this morning General Ving welcome please come up I will ask the second question to Patrick Murphy who is the acting assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs Patrick welcome the third question then we'll go to Elizabeth Becker who is standing right here Elizabeth is the former New York Times correspondent author of when the war was over Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution Elizabeth Pulitzer prize winning author and journalist also award-winning senior foreign policy editor for NPR I get this right very good and then Ambassador Hakeem no ambassador has also been with us here this morning and you will hear more from him at lunch he formerly before he was the ambassador here he was a deputy minister of foreign affairs and I notice ambassador you studied in cave and I'll be on an airplane to keep this this this evening so I'm glad to do this and finally Tim Reiser known to everyone in this room foreign policy aid senator Patrick Leahy and I'll I'll just said his WikiLeaks page is what sorry his Wiki page says one of the most powerful staffs in Congress so this this is undoubtedly true so I'm going to leave this podium as I say as I say this is an opportunity to look forward so general general being we've talked about the work on unexploded ordinance we've talked about the work on dioxin you've described that work how are we go and there was a question earlier on today in the I think at the end of the first panel so a woman stood up and asked how are we going to keep this momentum going how are going to keep this issue in front of us how as as Vietnam veterans and war veterans on both sides pass on which we will do how do we maintain our obligations to the children and the grandchildren so this is again in the spirit of looking forward I'd be interested in your thoughts on that question general thank you very much when I took a break I received a question from various reporters they asked me when will this program end and after we successfully overcome the consulances and war legacies how does it affect the future of the US Vietnam relations this is a burning question that I'd like to answer I think that this program today we sit here we realize that we have overcome 30 years of excellent cooperation and we have achieved significant outcomes for the benefits and interests of our two countries and our two peoples however the cooperation in overcoming consequences of war closely related to overcoming the consequences of UXO and agent orange and dioxin we need to continue this momentum but when when the last remained US soldiers I return and repatriated to their families and when it will end until the land areas of Vietnam does not possess any risk of dangers towards our people particularly the children in recent years facts and evidence have teach us had talked about one thing our cooperation does not only aim at overcoming war legacy but we contribute and participate in the development course in resolving environmental issues in exchanging experience on science and technologies for mutual development and it is in line with the UN sustainable development goal and millennium millennium goal and we not only we show the past but we look forward to the futures our future generations when they look back on what we we have done they they look at all of those and diverse when they are completely unaware of the world whether or not will they move forward with these activities I think that for the youth there are two proposals first young generation should be proud of their nation and of their past struggle for national independence they are very proud of that they are proud of the past built thanks to the efforts of the predecessors and for American young people and for the future generation of America I think that they will be very proud of the past of their predecessors when American predecessors take the initiative to overcome the consequences of the world so that no one is left behind and I think that the future generations will continue to take effort to continue doing what we are doing now beside overcoming the war legacy and besides the issues of the virtue we're doing this for our two nations this is a role model for the world to see to apply and they will see that there is a mutual respect between us and Vietnam it create a very favorable foundation for us to expand our cooperation in various areas and it lay a synergy and a strong foundation for the trust I think that just is something that not only this current generation looks for but the future as well thank you thank you thank you very much and the answer that that it depends on our children it depends on on the next generation to maintain this I think is important for us to have since Secretary Murphy same kind of question that is how do we maintain the momentum from the US side from the US government side but more broadly we've got it we've got a range of participants here private government non-government how do we maintain that focus and momentum that that we've heard about earlier today in terms of the work that's already been going yeah thank you very much I think the first observation to make in looking forward is that we are shaped by history in this relationship but not held hostage by history it's taken a lot of work and you've heard a lot about that today but I do want to acknowledge first that we ride on the shoulders of great giants courageous leaders on both sides our many Americans and Vietnamese who sacrificed and the the leadership of key members of our Congress senators Kerry McCain Webb congressman Pete Peterson our first ambassador in the in the new relationship with Vietnam and it carries forward now senator Leahy and many of his colleagues who focus on this region and over the years the commitment particularly of families of those who sacrificed to help build the confidence in the foundations and Kelly McKee is is here today in the leading our operations to full recovery those activities continue when we have a strong commitment to our families and our Americans to help the Vietnamese continue their own recovery efforts and other legacies like unexploded ordinance and remediation of of dioxin so specifically those activities will continue we have the Benoit airbase that is our next area of focus and we have committed funding and that commitment has carried over from one administration to a next but we are building on these foundations to expand what we are doing we heard today from deputy secretary Sullivan the remarkable statistic that Vietnam is now in the top five of source countries of students coming to the United States there's also the incredible opportunities that they have inside Vietnam itself and we have been incredibly proud to partner in building Fulbright University Vietnam FUV down in Ho Chi Minh City which is the first kind of academic institution that has an independent curriculum independent faculty and can provide the kind of education familiar to us Americans inside Vietnam and that's an incredible partnership took a lot a lot of work to establish but it's built on the foundations of four decades as the general referred to building confidence and building and building trust this is an important year and next year will even be more important next year is the 25th anniversary we like to commemorate our milestones but the 25th anniversary of normalized relations between the two countries and we will look to find a whole variety of ways to celebrate it it will fall during a very interesting year for Vietnam Vietnam will once again assume the chair of ASEAN and over the years since the last time Vietnam did this ASEAN has grown in its importance it nests very importantly at the heart of our Indo-Pacific vision and strategy and as chair of ASEAN Vietnam will host close to 2,000 meetings over the course of a year it's really remarkable but most importantly the big leader level meetings that occur towards the end of the year the East Asia summit the US ASEAN summit and that a variety of minister cabinet level meetings during the during the year that is an opportunity for Vietnam to exercise what it's increasingly demonstrating and as that is leadership leadership in the in the region leadership in partnering with the United States on important issues like non-proliferation like maritime security and the all important foundation of ties between countries people to people ties so we're going to have a lot to show for that in the meantime we are hoping to host later this year deputy prime minister and foreign minister Phan Binh Minh laying the groundwork for what we hope will be a visit as the deputy secretary previewed by president general secretary Chong that is what builds strong relations is when leaders gather together also we hope to see this year progress on a commitment that was made in 2016 but we need to see implemented and we're making we're making progress on this and I see it over the horizon and that is getting our first ever Peace Corps volunteers on the ground in Vietnam as I like to say in my lifetime going from boots on the ground to sandals and loafers on the ground I can say that as a former Peace Corps volunteer but think about that bringing peace and not conflict and the kind of partnership that that entails we have come a long long way from where we were not that long ago with with Vietnam so these are the kind of things that we're going to be working on we can't do it alone you've referenced civil society and non-governmental organizations some of those partners are here today and we look forward to working with all of you on those processes Patrick thank you we'll come back there are a couple of good things Elizabeth yes yes you've covered conflicts and negotiations it's on or it will be on when you talk right now this one's on you've looked for ways to and look watch people circling for reconciliation I'd be interested if you have thoughts on lessons that you've learned that work or lessons that you've learned that don't work that you might give to general then or to secretary Patrick Murphy for as they go forward again with the idea that this panel is looking forward what advice do you have based on what you've seen I wouldn't be so presumptuous but but thank you what I I covered since I covered the war out of Cambodia I was in Laos when the first POW came out and I first visited post-war Vietnam in 1979 and I covered the first attempt at that peace under President Carter so it's been a long road and the first thing I want to say is that when I was invited to the panel and was thinking about lessons learned from the Vietnam United States experience I remembered asymmetrical warfare and I think this was asymmetrical peacekeeping it's so highly unusual that a developing country like Vietnam was on the winning side and the United States was not and to give you a sense of what it was like covering it right after 1975 the Vietnam Laos Cambodia desk was known affectionately as very lost causes there was a deep freeze no one wanted to talk about it it was very hard the refugee issue was okay but what what is astonishing about this long road and I won't even go into the third Indochina war in the Vietnam Soviet Union versus Cambodia China I mean it was layer upon layer of difficulty that I don't know any other peacekeeping attempt has had to face so what I saw happening and it took so many years was that the United States very early said this is our issue it took a while for Vietnam to understand that and I thought that made sense it took them a while and it took them a while to understand that their money was not going to come immediately but then Vietnam found their issue and in asymmetrical peacekeeping when you have such an unusual um disbalance between wealth power then you're going to have to look that way and so if I were if if you're I would say the model of Vietnam in the United States was first the United States within its own people and government they were divided and it took a long time for the Americans to degree on an on one issue and it was not easy and a lot of people lost their careers and a lot of people were very disappointed I don't know the Vietnamese side but I do know that I interviewed Nguyen Co-Talk and General Vessey during their talks and I know Nguyen Co-Talk was very disappointed and General Vessey was too so it's a long decades 20 years before diplomatic relations so I think that's what will be looked at in the future by Institute of Peace what does asymmetrical peacekeeping look like peacemaking thank you Elizabeth both asymmetrical we will come back to this this is worthy of pursuit but before we do let me ask Ambassador Ngoc who is managing this relationship here for the Vietnamese government and we'll have challenges I mean Secretary Murphy talked about the upcoming meetings many of which will be at high levels as well when you look at the next year or two while you're here maybe longer what do you how do we maintain this momentum how do we maintain the focus that we've talked about here today Ambassador thank you Ambassador Taylor I think on on the US side we need the continued bipartisan support for US-Vietnam relations no matter it's Republican or Democratic administrations I think the support from both Republican Democratic parties are very crucial to the continued cooperation between our two countries and I think for the past several decades we were lucky that we were able to build and consolidate the support in the United States and on our side I think we have very clear and long vision to strengthen and broaden cooperation and friendship with the United States and today we discussed a lot about the war legacy issues and I think it paved the way it laid the very solid foundation not only for the past for the current but for the future cooperation in the next 25 years thank you ambassador Tim uh it's on whenever you start speaking it will it will be on it's a magic you know it's magic so Senator Leahy this morning talked about the role that US veterans in non-governmental organizations played in the in the early days when we're thinking about you unexploded ordinance and Agent Orange the accent what did we learn from that how how did we overcome the resistance there and you mentioned earlier that there was resistance and how how because that may have lessons for us as we move forward recognizing that that resistance so how can how do we how do we get where we are now well let me just say first of all one of the things I've learned in the 33 years I've worked in the Senate is that when everybody has said everything and you're the last person to speak there's no need to repeat what's already been said I wish more people in the Senate actually would learn that um I also want to thank USIP this was actually general vins idea uh when I was in Vietnam last he asked me about the idea of that he had of convening something like this and really to educate people about what we've been doing all these years which a lot of people other than those in this room who have played such a critical role in it uh aren't aware of in either country but particularly in this country so this was an opportunity to inform people that for the United States while we all remember 1975 a lot has happened since and it's been the result of the work of so many people here who have many of whom been mentioned and I really have for myself just tried to carry on the work of others and so when I think back though early in the process in the 1980s when the United States government was not ready really other than the MIA issue to engage with Vietnam it was with the with the addition of General Vessie and Fred who was there it was Vietnam veterans on their own initiative not knowing how they would be received going to Vietnam and reconnecting with people who they had once fought against it was NGOs who wanted to begin to do humanitarian work there who took the initiative it was and in the case of Agent Orange it was Charles Bailey and the Ford Foundation long before the United States government was prepared to take on that issue because it was such a sensitive and difficult one that did the groundwork for helping to define the problem in a way that we could conceivably take it on so to me the lesson there is that really for other countries who perhaps have similar experiences it's often private citizens who act first who take the initiative and who show governments what needs to be done and and then people like myself learning from them have been able to carry on in ways that have brought us to this point and you know has been said and I think General Vinh said exactly how I would you know from the beginning of this our goal was to get beyond these issues to be able to really focus on the new challenges that Vietnam and the United States face and yet we recognize that there was a lot of unfinished business that we had to address and it took a long time it took a lot longer than we wish it had but we can see today I think by virtue of the fact that we're all here how much has been accomplished and that you know we have a long way to go but we now know that what's possible and and we have the kind of partnership that will make that possible. Tim thank you and thank you for your leadership on this whole event and on this whole issue. Before I open it to questions from the audience so get ready get your questions ready here. Someone is probably not going to ask about asymmetric peace building so let me do that. I mean at the Institute of Peace we we think about peace building and negotiating and the idea of asymmetric is is an interesting one which you should have take this opportunity to elaborate on a little bit Elizabeth. Oh thank you Bill. Well one of this is this this was a long process and there's no way I'm going to review 30 years of negotiations but just to give you an idea of what I was thinking of we've heard tourism mentioned twice within the constant people-to-people and all of my distinguished panelists have talked about America's not truly understanding what's happened since 1975. The one time that they really concentrate on what's happened since 1975 is when they're in Vietnam and we've all been to the museums. I was just in Ho Chi Minh City last week. I went to the War Museum and I was with a group of very educated Americans who do not much about Vietnam they said did this really happen did this really happen did blah blah blah. So I thought do you know what they could really use they could use the reconciliation house next to it. The United States and Vietnam could have a nice wonderful house that they've seen the war now let's see what we've done with reconciliation and it would be commemorating what you all have done in this extraordinary day. So that's asymmetrical. Very good. Thank you. Elizabeth. I'm just a gentleman. Let me introduce to you a reconciliation house as you mentioned. Let's go to Da Nang Yopot. Another place that we have a commemorative stellar to commemorate for the both Vietnamese and American young people. They also mentioned that there's a place with a very heavy battlefield but now is the best place for cooperation. I think it's a very good destination in terms of reconciliation between the two countries. So let me okay people have been waiting to ask these questions here. Let me start right here the lady in blue. Yes and there's a there is a mic coming if you would identify yourself and if there's a particular person on the panel you'd like to address it to over to you. Okay so my name is Patricia shake and I'm with Roots of Peace the organization that was mentioned in panel one. We do development work in Vietnam and we've done this since 1997 largely through private sector funding. My question is to Tim Reiser. It concerns the US budget and with the increased pressure on the US budget on the non-military side and also with respect to the increased attention being paid to health issues both for our own citizens that have been victims of the war and Vietnamese citizens and also because Vietnam is a model for development and so they're not really a developing country that we think of in the poor sense. How does the US government if well should it commit some of its funding to development purposes because there are a large number of of minority groups in Vietnam and women who have been left out of the equation especially in rural areas where we do most of our work. Excellent question Tim I'm going to take two questions at a time so if you'll keep that one in mind right I'll try. So yes yes oh I'm over yes sir and here comes here comes a mic. Bobby Mueller Vietnam vet we're talking about the future okay and it's obvious by everything that's happened now that there is an increasing recognition of the importance of the strategic security alliance between the United States and Vietnam for obvious purposes you know confronting China's expansionism etc etc so we have a real interest in the future of Vietnam. I'm curious has there been any discussion about the coming climate changes and the profound effect it's going to have on all the low-lying areas of Vietnam and its impact on the country. Excellent question so why don't we Tim you're obviously a best place to answer the funding question and some Patrick you're on the climate change excellent. Tim I'm going to make this very quick as long as Senator Lay he is the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee we're not going to have a problem with funding. Thank you Tim. Patrick, climate change. I'm not sure I can match that thank you thank you Tim. I think first what I want to mention is what we have with Vietnam between Vietnam and the United States is a comprehensive partnership that's a very deliberative category with emphasis on comprehensive so it covers the full gamut of issues that any two countries could have to contend with and this week is a great example. General Vien is here we're taking a look back we also have Vice Foreign Minister Sung who is here for a political security and defense dialogue we have another Vice Foreign Minister coming in to partake in our US ASEAN dialogue. We also have coming up in a couple of months a bilateral human rights dialogue that's the important dimension to comprehensive that means two partners can talk about areas of collaboration and cooperation and partnership but also areas where we see things differently and we have some very real important differences on human rights that we regularly discuss and what I can tell you about that aspect of this relationship we have many human rights dialogues around the world this is one where everything is on the table and we genuinely can point to progress we would like to see more progress but we can talk about everything because we have this confidence that's built on the contribution so many have made here another aspect of the relationship is to deal with very real present challenges and indeed we hear frequently from Vietnam and other partners the very existential threats that climate change poses the nice thing to look forward to in this relationship is we have a foundation here we have something called the lower Mekong initiative Vietnam was a founding partner along with the other four lower Mekong countries this year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the lower Mekong initiative a great milestone once again Vietnam very early on identified itself self-proclaimed self-identified desire to be the co-chair with the United States on the environment pillar within the lower Mekong initiative that reflected both the challenges that Vietnam faces but also some expertise that Vietnam is growing in knowledge about climate change and about ways to be prepared for changes that are already occurring but will be coming in the in the future from our perspective it's about resilience helping to build resilience particularly in the agriculture sector but also as as you noted sir with your question those low-lying areas Vietnam among the lower Mekong countries faces some of the biggest challenges along the Delta area they're not alone these challenges are also shared in particular by Laos and Cambodia and they're dealing with it and they're confronting it head-on and we have a mechanism we have programs through USAID and other you know agencies where we're advancing those efforts Patrick thank you Ambassador General any thoughts on climate change you want to do at this point I just yeah I just want to add one more aspect that the United States plays a very important role in the lower Mekong initiative you know already that the non-conventional security issue is rising and the the water issues the environment issues are so significant among ASEAN's country and especially in cooperation with the United States so we strongly encourage the United States to play a more proactive role in this process good advice good advice okay yes sir the first and then the second right here right thank you Brian Eiler from the Stimson Center and I have a question that any other panelists can answer but it's most squarely focused towards Patrick Murphy and Ambassador Naught and it requires a little bit of creative thinking because it is thinking outside not the box but outside of the US-Vietnam relationship and more broadly about engaging with Cambodia and Laos where the legacies of war also occur and the war spilled over into that region and then continued on as Elizabeth noted earlier in her comments I think between the US and Vietnam our relationship a collective relationship with Cambodia and Laos is quite strong when you break it apart it kind of becomes a little bit more difficult but collectively are there ways that the US and Vietnam can play to comparative advantages within the relationship to move forward progress on war legacy issues in Laos and Vietnam and just citing that you know there are mountain sides in the central highlands in Vietnam where people who are exposed to Asian orange dioxin are getting adequate help but just on the other side in Laos there are folks who don't know what they're going through and there's nobody there that can help them thanks thank you Brian and right behind yes yes good morning thank you very much my name is Nike Chin I'm the state department correspondent for voice of America um as principal days Patrick Murphy just mentioned state department is going to host a US-Ocean dialogue like later this week my question is for principal Das Murphy and also ambassador a secretary Pompeo cautioned European allies the risk posted by Chinese telecommunication company Huawei and the use of its equipment when nations are moving towards 5G network is the US asking ASEAN the same questions will it complicate US partnership with ASEAN and for ambassador what is your take on this issue when US and Vietnam are building an enduring partnership thank you very much thank you so two questions both for Patrick and the ambassador and so you can take them in either order ambassador you I'll try and be brief there are a couple of broad questions there I think first on the relationships that we have with with Cambodia and Laos first on on Laos it's improved tremendously over the decades also built on confidence and trust through the full accounting effort the League of Families and Mills Griffith is here and others have worked incredibly hard on that for years and we've seen that come along it's not without its challenges and we face right now we face some particular challenges on our trafficking in persons issues with Laos they're not in a very good place and Laos like other countries we're looking to see them take back their nationals who have run their legal means to stay in the United States Cambodia has been particularly scratchy in the last couple years in the bigger picture and I think you're right to refer to the bigger picture Cambodia has come a long way since its own very very dark chapters but we have some we have some obvious challenges with backsliding on democracy and human rights but I think the answer to your question is one of the best ways from our perspective to work with these countries is in the multilateral context we have our various layers of good work where we can achieve a lot together our lower Mekong initiative US plus five the US ASEAN relationship that's United States plus 10 the ASEAN regional forum is 27 countries the East Asia summit is 18 Laos and Cambodia and the United States are all participants and these bring together countries to find common ground with ASEAN centrality at the core it's a principle we embrace so ASEAN works on a consensus basis you're driven by finding common ground and we see that frequently occur on issues of common concern and including big you know big regional challenges so I'm a I'm a big fan in answering that question to point to our multilateral architecture in the region and that works nicely with our new approach to the Indo-Indo-Pacific with regards to the question about Huawei Patrick why don't we why don't we absolutely comments on your first point I think you're right and we'll come back to the the Chinese ambassador yeah and then Elizabeth yeah I just want to add a few comments I think between Vietnam Laos and Cambodia we share many things in comments and with the United States for example in the MIA Joyfield activities Vietnam and the United States we have the bilateral cooperation but with our neighboring countries with Laos and Cambodia we also have the trilateral cooperation we send our soldiers our witnesses our specialists to Laos and Cambodia and I think the joyfield activities the trilateral between Vietnam the United States and either Cambodia or Laos brought about tangible result very productive and we also have many other areas of cooperation and I think my friend Patrick Murphy already mentioned Laos Cambodia and Vietnam we are all lower American countries and we have worked very closely in terms of water management environment protection and I think we are also ASEAN countries so we coordinated very closely and especially when ASEAN and the United States already have strategic partnership so we have many areas of common interest to work together with the United States Thank you, Ambassador. Elizabeth, do you have a comment? Sure. I think the elephant in the room is China on this question and the China is as Brian knows China is at the center of the lower Mekong dam question and China in recently in Cambodia has been very good at driving a wedge with the United States so I think it would be very hard to answer that question without saying excuse me but China is playing a new role and it's not going to help in any way with U.S. into Chinese relations. Tim anything on this? Only on the question of Laos and you mentioned Agent Orange and Laos we've been as China knows we've been working for many years to address the cluster munitions problem in Laos and that is ongoing and it's a huge problem and it will continue to be one that we work at but Agent Orange and Laos is actually not a subject we know very much about but I would at least be interested in knowing more about who potentially was affected in what way and maybe there is something that we should be doing. Thank you all three. On the Huawei question Patrick do you want cut you off before you were about to answer that one and that's getting to that elephant in the room. I first want to note Elizabeth you referred to our our desks and at different times some decades ago I'm very proud to note though since we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the lower Mekong initiative that was an idea that actually came from desk officers career foreign service officers relatively junior and it was an idea that resonated with the then administration leadership and it and it persists and survives today a great partnership. On on Huawei let me first say in our vision for the Indo-Pacific the key tenets include respect for sovereignty the independence of foreign policies of all individual nations big and small so when it comes to kind of the kind of decisions countries need to make as they prepare for the fifth generation of communications technology they will make their own decisions. What we do is in our national interests we see with companies like Huawei that are supported if not directed by central authorities in China we see challenges and potential threats to the sanctity the security of our systems and our networks and the best we can do with our friends and partners and allies is share our information share our experience take note that we have our national interests and national security to protect and that's the reference to Secretary Pompeo and we will take the steps necessary to protect our national security but we share that information with countries and the decisions on their own networks and systems and the protection thereof will be their decisions going forward and yes we do discuss this with all of our partners because it is a both a present opportunity as countries prepare to adopt a fifth generation but also there are inherent challenges and risks that we face in the 21st century good next couple of questions here sorry ambassador do you want to I think we are open for cooperation with other countries with the cooperation from other countries but I want to echo my colleague Patrick Murphy that we have one principle that they need to respect our sovereignty national sovereignty thank you ambassador okay so one question right here and then one all the way in the back hi Michael Martin from congressional research service um question actually eventually could be to all the panelists so dealing with a war legacies issue in vietnam we started with mias us mias we moved on to uxl in great measure to the efforts of senator lehi and tim you individually we moved then on to agent orange dioxin and have made great progress there but it seems we haven't totally closed the loop on this issue which is the vietnamese mias we heard a little bit about it earlier there is some cooperation going on but the figure of 200 000 mias in vietnam was raised earlier so for ambassador knock and gentlemen what would you like to see of the level of effort from the united states to address your mias issue but for those who know me I can't make it always nice how are you going to deal with the mias issue in your country regardless of which side of the conflict they fought on then for tim and patrick and I hope you don't mind knowing both for a number of years what would you see as a proper us role in that effort we went to them with our effort or our desire to see the remains of our veterans come home what should the us do so that the vietnam for the vietnamese people so that they can see their sons and daughters come home thank you mike good question for all all of the panels well maybe she she got her son yes ma'am all the way to the back my name is sonia schoenberger and i'm a law student and my question is directed to whomever feels comfortable answering i'm curious about the role of litigation against the us companies that produced agent orange for the us government and how that has affected and continues to affect us vietnam relations more specifically if i'd be curious to learn if and how the the litigation before us courts in the mid-2000s shaped collaboration on war legacies issues and also looking forward how ongoing litigation in foreign courts can be seen as productive or counterproductive in the context of us vietnam relations thank you so so what year law school are you in second year very good okay okay on the first question on vietnamese mias uh open this to everyone here general vietnamese mia rise since 1975 the vietnamese government is exhausted every channels of resources and conditions to identify the names and locate them and bring them back to their families the vietnamese government always attaches importance to the accounting and recovery of vietnamese mia and we have been exerting significant effort into that the search for vietnamese missing inaction is very difficult the identification of them dna is uh efforts are very difficult so the figure 200 000 is quite modest compared to what happened in realities over the years the vietnamese government has developed a national steering committee for the recovery of vietnamese mia and with the significant support from the u.s out of counterparts the u.s provides us with information that they have to us for example they provide information to mass grave in vietnam air base we specifically would like to thank the vietnamese veterans for sending us the information that they collected when they carry out their duties in vietnam they provided us with books memoirs and diaries and we thank them a great deal for providing us those information on the other hand we think that we have to carry that burden on our shoulders but with the support of the united state we consider them very important but to some extent for us what we truly highly appreciate is the friendship and the sentiments and and and what has you know the the beautiful gestures attended to us the u.s side we hope and you will have a government agency as the coordinator on your side to collect the data the information the documents relating to vietnamese soldiers missing during the war time so that we can deal with that issue in a very systematic way with the information you your side your soldiers your veterans provided us it's case by case but we need more concerted organized organized agency so that we can have it in a more systematic way i think it will be more effective to do that way thank you very briefly senator lehi a few years ago included i think it was a million dollars in the budget for programs to assist vietnam in improving its DNA analysis capacity for exactly this reason because we felt that vietnam was doing a lot to help locate and identify u.s. mias we wanted to try to reciprocate saw this as another area where we could cooperate and we're looking for ways to expand that in the future when senator lehi travels to vietnam in three weeks that's going to be one of the subjects on the agenda because we need the vietnamese to tell us how we can best help them recognizing that it's a huge job but there are certain capabilities that we have that we want to be able to share with them to to be of as much assistance as possible yeah i think in general terms it's it's already been said just to fully agree with general veen often this comes down to information sharing kelly mckig in our recovery agency work very closely anytime information is available to prize our vietnamese counterparts and we are certainly committed to doing everything we can this effort's been underway for a number of years i see ambassador veen and ambassador shear here respective vietnamese and u.s. ambassadors during their 10-year a lot of discussions were underway on how to improve this along the lines of of what ambassador nap is referring to making this more systematic but much as we are driven by doing the right thing for our families in our country we follow the lead of vietnam and doing the same for its population so we have time for two last questions then um and i see one of them right here lady in red any other maybe that's uh and right oh i am thank you lisabeth the of course the law student question agent orange um litigation against the companies all right thank you very much any takers on that question tim knows the answer lisabeth says you know as a former lawyer myself litigation to me suggests um some kind of uh uh advocacy or antagonism you know where your your opponents and in this case i don't think that's where we are i think we're talking about how to resolve problems amicably and we are doing that so litigation really isn't part of our thinking and i don't think it's really relevant to us uh at least it isn't to me and our view is that we're kind of beyond that point we've found ways to cooperate uh we want to expand that cooperation thank you tim there you go yes ma'am um yes last two questions here and then i think one right behind there was a yes sir susan hammond with the war legacy project i've been working in the region for the past 20 odd years on agent orange and unexploded ordinance and this is a question a little going back to what tim had said about as long as senator lehi is on the committee then we're not going to worry about funding but i being a vermont or i worry about senator lehi retiring he will one day but being someone working on war legacy issues i particularly worry about what's next um and has this example of vietnam in the u.s working together to overcome these war legacies and how important that is in developing the relation relationships between the two countries is that helped ensure that in the future not just between vietnam in u.s but u.s and and lau and kimbodia war legacy issues and other afghanistan iraq and so forth is that helping to ensure that there will be future funding for war legacies in other places as well because the example has shown how important it is to address those issues so we can move on to a better relationship thank you thank you susan and that keeps with the with the theme of this panel which is how to move forward on this thing so we'll come back to to that question um yes sir last question john mccullough again from the fund for reconciliation and development first to follow the discussion of vietnamese mia information the pentagon is currently spending millions of dollars on its 50th anniversary commemorations if the pentagon incorporated into its outreach to veterans to get the kind of information that vva and vietnam veterans america foundation have done through their members to get the same kinds of journals the same kinds of first person accounts i think they could turn this anniversary commemoration into a productive more productive than just backwards looking but i want to look backwards a minute to something else and ask tim uh and secretary murphy particularly um the in about six months is the 50th anniversary of the moratorium where two million americans all over the country demonstrated against the war um to some extent the momentum that tim and his senator have reflected was the momentum of the old anti-war movement and the veterans some of whom were also in the anti-war movement i mean it's somewhat it's it was a generational how much was there a generational factor affecting what has happened so far and then to secretary murphy how much does the and and to ambassador nyak how much does the problem which is going to be with us as forever as the legacy issues the problem of china's role in the region and ironically the common interests of the us with vietnam had we only recognized them in 1945 we would have spared a whole lot of tragedy but the the common interests how enduring are the common interests of the us and vietnam to maintain to foster a deeper relationship thank you john tim you know answer susan's question one of the reasons that senator lehi is traveling to vietnam again in three weeks with nine other senators uh several of whom are much younger than him is for exactly the reason that we want to see this continue we want to educate more people in the congress about why these programs exist and the importance of them for both countries and you know we can't predict the future we don't know who will take these on in the future but but i think our job is in part to expose others to what is being done and to encourage them to support this both today and in the future so we're hopeful that that happens and and you know we already have members of congress who expressed an interest so at least speaking with respect to the congress i think there will be support um on the generational question that john asked you know i i was uh i turned 18 in 1970 so i was actually old enough to be drafted uh and sent to vietnam and at the time the military draft was a lottery by then and i was in my view very fortunate that i got a high number so i did not have to at that point worry that i would be sent to vietnam um but i did know people who were who enlisted and who were drafted and some of whom did not return from vietnam uh so i live through that period as did senator lehi obviously uh i remember that moratorium march um and uh you know i think one of the very lucky things for me working in the congress has been being able to find a way to serve in a different way but on behalf of both vietnam and the united states having not done so 45 years ago thank you tim ambassador did you want to say something about the uh john's question on legacy and the generational question i think uh with the process of cooperation between our two countries um we were able to overcome the hatred the resentment uh we were able to turn back to good from foes to friends and now we share many common strategic interests in the region uh you always talk about china but we have many other stuff to work together to maintain peace stability cooperation in the region uh or support asian you know with the central row in this region and recently we even work together to push the peace negotiation the denuclearization in the korean peninsula so i strongly believe that we have very solid foundation for the further cooperation in many generations to come thank you ambassador patrick well that's a great segue uh ambassador now because i fully agree this is a multi-dimensional relationship far more expansive than unified over a single regional issue um the the united states actually in vietnam polls very well the favorability ratings of the united states are higher in vietnam than they are in the united states uh we think less of the united states than the vietnamese do i'd like that as statistic um and in part what it reflects is that vietnam is a very young country uh like other countries in southeast asia the vast majority of the population was born well after the conflict and of course vietnam has had a number of conflicts uh over the centuries the conflict with the united states was just one among many so it's not as defining in vietnam as it is for us and i mean i agree with with tim all of us of a certain generation have vietnam memories it frames uh the way we look at the world in some regards um we have a family member who went to vietnam and on his second deployment there didn't come back like many americans 1968 was a pretty terrible year it's quite different in vietnam it is a much more forward-looking society we have also now hitting a milestone our young southeast asian leadership initiative yc lee is at its five-year mark and one of the most active countries in southeast asia with this program is vietnam tens of thousands of young vietnamese have signed up and are active members they're entrepreneurs they're creative young thinkers they are the future using innovation and entrepreneurialism to solve not just vietnam's problems but the region's problems so we're all looking we're all looking forward at the same time there was a question about ux o i can't answer hypotheticals about other conflicts around the world in in this region the asia pacific i hope we never have another conflict but we still do contend with the remnants and ux o is a pretty important aspect and i think it's rare we say this in policymaking but on these issues we are genuinely motivated by doing the right thing vietnam we've spoken about today laos the most heavily bombed country in the history of the world cambodia arguably one of the most heavily mined countries now we're not responsible for all of that uh we cambodia has shared with its neighbors and others the mining challenge but we're motivated by doing the right thing it's the right thing for public health for economic prosperity um and to fix the wrongs of the past so that we have productive futures thank you patrick lesbeth you get the last word well um as a historian who who researched and wrote about this whole period i can say to john's question um there's no way that i would have a hundred percent faith that going forward lessons would be learned and we wouldn't make similar mistakes i'm any historian will tell you that um and that there are things that are going to come up that we can't even imagine who would have guessed that the third indochina war would be vietnam and cambodia it was supposed to be the dominoes so um no one can give you an assurance of that that that yes the united states would have kept ho chi men as their agent in world war two and then gone on to peace and and tranquility the cold war intervened but um and this is my great segue with a day like this it brings me hope that the lessons will be put somewhere and maybe the next patrick murphy will pick it up and continue learning those lessons lesbeth i'm glad you had the last word thank you very much tim ambassador general patrick lesbeth thank you very much for sharing this please join me