What would Vietnam war vets say about this?

Today the Wall Street Journal reported that Peter W. Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international-security affairs, is visiting Vietnam.

A Pentagon official said Mr. Rodman's trip is aimed at exploring new ways for U.S. and Vietnamese military forces to cooperate on security. Since Washington and Hanoi normalized relations in 1995, U.S. naval vessels have been making calls at Vietnamese ports on the South China Sea. The Pentagon is interested in seeing if more maritime visits can be scheduled, the defense official said.

Later this month, Prime minister Phan Van Khai will meet with President Bush, the first such visit since the end of the Vietnam war.

Perhaps this signals two things:

1. US officials recognize the truly important economic and militarily strategic position Vietnam occupies in Southeast Asia and in pressuring China, and
   
2. open talks will put more pressure on Vietnam to perform in the human rights arena, an area the country has persistently underperformed in, while wonderfully undertaking capitalistic reforms.

Recently, VietACT got a report from the US State Dept about human trafficking. Also see Talawas for general info. Obviously the communist government has their own version of things. Try here for an article.