Mattis 押し進めるs closer 関係 to Vietnam まっただ中に 緊張 with 中国
WASHINGTON (AP) - By making a rare second trip this year to Vietnam, 弁護 長官 Jim Mattis is signaling how intensively the Trump 行政 is trying to 反対する 中国's 軍の assertiveness by cozying up to smaller nations in the 地域 that 株 American wariness about Chinese 意向s.
The visit beginning Tuesday also shows how far U.S.-Vietnamese relations have 前進するd since the tumultuous years of the Vietnam War.
Mattis, a retired general who entered the 海洋 軍団 during Vietnam but did not serve there, visited Hanoi in January. By coincidence, that stop （機の）カム just days before the 50th 周年記念日 of the Tet 不快な／攻撃 in 1968. Tet was a turning point when North Vietnamese 闘士，戦闘機s attacked an array of 重要な 客観的なs in the South, surprising Washington and feeding anti-war 感情 even though the North's 不快な／攻撃 turned out to be a 戦術の 軍の 失敗.
Three months after the Mattis visit, an U.S. 海軍 航空機 運送／保菌者, the USS Carl Vinson, made a port call at Da Nang. It was the first such visit since the war and a 思い出の品 to 中国 that the U.S. is 意図 on 強化するing 共同s in the 地域 as a counterweight to 中国's growing 軍の might.
The most vivid 表現 of Chinese assertiveness is its 変形 of contested islets and other features in the South 中国 Sea into 戦略の 軍の outposts. The Trump 行政 has はっきりと 非難するd 中国 for （軍隊を）展開する，配備するing surface-to-空気／公表する ミサイルs and other 武器s on some of these outposts. In June, Mattis said the placement of these 武器s is "tied 直接／まっすぐに to 軍の use for the 目的s of 脅迫 and coercion."
This time Mattis is visiting 売春婦 Chi Minh City, Vietnam's most populous city and its 経済的な 中心. Known as Saigon during the period before the 共産主義者s took over the 共和国 of South Vietnam in 1975, the city was 改名するd for the man who led the Vietnamese 国家主義者 movement.
FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2018, とじ込み／提出する photo, U.S. 弁護 長官 Jim Mattis and his Vi etnamese 相当するもの Ngo Xuan Lich, left, review an 栄誉（を受ける） guard in Hanoi, Vietnam. By making a rare second trip this year to Vietnam, Mattis is showing how intensively the Trump 行政 is trying to 反対する 中国's 軍の assertiveness by cozying up to smaller nations in the 地域 who 株 American wariness about Chinese 意向s. The visit beginning Tuesday also shows how far U.S.-Vietnamese relations have 前進するd since the tumultuous years of the Vietnam War, whose 遺産／遺物 含むs a continued search for the remains of U.S. war dead on Vietnamese 国／地域. (AP Photo/Tran 先頭 Minh, とじ込み／提出する)
Mattis also 計画（する）s to visit a Vietnamese 空気／公表する base, Bien Hoa, a major 空気／公表する 駅／配置する for American 軍隊s during the war, and 会合，会う with the 弁護 大臣, Ngo Xuan Lich.
The visit comes まっただ中に a leadership 移行 after the death in September of Vietnam's 大統領，／社長, Tran Dai Quang. Earlier this month, Vietnam's 判決，裁定 共産主義者 Party 指名するd its general 長官, Nguyen Phu Trong, for the 付加 地位，任命する of 大統領，／社長. He is 推定する／予想するd to be 認可するd by the 国家の 議会.
Although Vietnam has become a ありふれた 目的地 for American 長官s of 弁護, two visits in one year is unusual, and 売春婦 Chi Minh City is rarely on the 旅程. The last 米国防総省 長，指導者 to visit 売春婦 Chi Minh City was William Cohen in the year 2000; he was the first U.S. 弁護 長官 to visit Vietnam since the war. Formal 外交関係 were 回復するd in 1995 and the U.S. 解除するd its war-時代 武器 出入港禁止 in 2016.
The Mattis trip 初めは was to 含む a visit to Beijing, but that stop was 取り消すd まっただ中に rising 緊張s over 貿易（する） and 弁護 問題／発行するs. 中国 recently 拒絶するd a request for a Hong Kong port visit by an American 軍艦, and last summer Mattis disinvited 中国 from a major 海上の 演習 in the 太平洋の. 中国 in September scrapped a 米国防総省 visit by its 海軍 長，指導者 and 需要・要求するd that Washington 取り消す an 武器 sale to Taiwan.
These 緊張s have served to accentuate the potentia l for a stronger U.S. 共同 with Vietnam.
Josh Kurlantzick, a 上級の fellow and Asia specialist at the 会議 on Foreign Relations, said in an interview that Vietnam in 最近の years has 転換d from a foreign and 弁護 政策 that carefully balanced relations with 中国 and the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs to one that shades in the direction of Washington.
"I do see Vietnam very much 提携させるd with some of Trump's 政策s," he said, referring to what the 行政 calls its "解放する／自由な and open Indo-太平洋の 戦略." It 強調するs 確実にするing all countries in the 地域 are 解放する／自由な from coercion and keeping sea 小道／航路s, 特に the contested South 中国 Sea, open for international 貿易（する）.
"Vietnam, leaving aside Singapore, is the country the most skeptical of 中国's Southeast Asia 政策 and makes the most natural partner for the U.S.," Kurlantzick said.
Vietnam's proximity to the South 中国 Sea makes it an important player in 論争s with 中国 over 領土の （人命などを）奪う，主張するs to islets, shoals and other small land 形式s in the sea. Vietnam also fought a 国境 war with 中国 in 1979.
伝統的に 用心深い of its 抱擁する northern neighbor, Vietnam 株 中国's system of 選び出す／独身-party 支配する. Vietnam has ますます 割れ目d 負かす／撃墜する on 反体制者s and 汚職, with 得点する／非難する／２０s of high-最高位の 公式の／役人s and (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs 刑務所，拘置所d since 2016 on Trong's watch.
広範囲にわたる 経済的な changes over the past 30 years have opened Vietnam to foreign 投資 and 貿易（する）, and made it one of fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia. But the 共産主義者 Party 許容するs no challenge to its one-party 支配する. Even so, the Trump 行政 has made a 焦点（を合わせる）d 成果／努力 to draw closer to Vietnam.
When he left Hanoi in January, Mattis said his visit made （疑いを）晴らす that Americans and Vietnamese have 株d 利益／興味s that in some 事例／患者s predate the dark period of the Vietnam War.
"Neither of us liked 存在 colonized," he said.
FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2018, とじ込み／提出する photo, U.S. 国防長官 Jim Mattis, left, listens during 会談 with Vietnam's 共産主義者 Party General 長官 Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi, Vietnam. By making a rare second trip this year to Vietnam, Mattis is showing how intensively the Trump 行政 is trying to 反対する 中国's 軍の assertiveness by cozying up to smaller nations in the 地域 who 株 American wariness about Chinese 意向s. The visit beginning Tuesday also shows how far U.S.-Vietnamese relations have 前進するd since the tumultuous years of the Vietnam War, whose 遺産／遺物 含むs a continued search for the remains of U.S. war dead on Vietnamese 国／地域. (AP Photo/Tran 先頭 Minh, とじ込み／提出する)
