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President Obama, Vietnamese general secretary pledge deeper U.S.-Vietnam partnership

On Tuesday Chinese media reported the People's Liberation Army Air Force was seeking a new long-range bomber -- the same day Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and U.S. President Barack Obama met and pledged deeper strategic and economic ties in the South China Sea.

By Fred Lambert
President Barack Obama meets in the Oval Office of the White House with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong of Vietnam in Washington, DC on July 7, 2015. Pool photo by Martin H. Simon/UPI
1 of 8 | President Barack Obama meets in the Oval Office of the White House with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong of Vietnam in Washington, DC on July 7, 2015. Pool photo by Martin H. Simon/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama and Vietnam's General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong pledged a deeper partnership during an Oval Office meeting Tuesday.

The Hill quoted Trong, the 71-year old head of Vietnam's communist party, as saying he and Obama "agreed on the major directions for moving our relationship forward to make it more substantive, more positive, to build the mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries."

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Obama agreed, saying the meeting was "an excellent opportunity for us to deepen our discussions around our vision for a comprehensive partnership."

Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the United States normalized relations with Vietnam two decades ago and have since allied on recent issues, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and territorial disputes with China. Last year, the United States partially lifted a ban on weapons sales to Vietnam, allowing for weapons and weapon platforms for maritime security and surveillance capabilities.

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During the meeting Obama reportedly told Trong he would visit Vietnam, and The Hill quoted Trong as saying he was glad the president accepted his invitation.

"Like in any relations between two countries in the world, Vietnam and the U.S. have differences on a number of issues such as perception on democracy, human rights and trade," NPR quoted Trong as saying in a written statement Friday. "To resolve differences, I believe the most effective way would be open and constructive dialogues to better understand each other so that differences won't become hurdles to the overall bilateral relations."

Vice President Joe Biden echoed that sentiment Tuesday. "We have different systems, but there's so much we can do together," The Hill quoted Biden as saying.

The meeting comes as Chinese media reports that officers in the People's Liberation Army Air Force are seeking a new long-range strategic bomber.

Citing a report by the Kanwa Defense Review, a Canada-based defense and weapons publication, China Daily reported PLA officers met and discussed creation of a long-range bomber capable of flying at least 8,000 kilometers, or 4,970 miles, without refueling.

Such a bomber would enable China to strike at two "island chains" that make up a layered maritime defensive perimeter, the first being islands stretching from Japan in the north and Taiwan and the Philippines in the south, and the second being farther east, stretching north from the Bonin Islands to the Marianas and the Caroline Islands to the south.

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China last month announced it had almost completed a land reclamation project involving the creation of artificial islands in the South China Sea.

The masses are formed through the dredging of sand on top of coral reefs in the Spratly Islands, which the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam claim as their own.

China claims the Spratly Islands as sovereign territory and says the project does not violate international law, while leaders from the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries with competing claims have condemned the project.

"We strongly oppose [China's] use of intimidation, coercion or force, as well as any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo, such as large-scale land reclamation," the Group of Seven, or G7 nations, wrote in a statement last month.

While the United States has expressed concern over the issue, it has not formally sided with any one country that claims the islands.

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