what signals did su lin’s visit to the united states send by interacting with students at columbia university and having intensive contact with the business community?
2024-09-25
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su lin attended the world leaders forum at columbia university on september 23. photo provided by the interviewee
“now is the best time to share with you vietnam’s path forward, vietnam-us relations and vision for the new era. for vietnam, this is a very important starting point to achieve the goal of becoming a developed country by the middle of this century. for vietnam-us relations, we look forward to the 30th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the two countries and the 50th anniversary of the end of the vietnam war next year. at the same time, the world is entering a new era, with cyclical and structural changes and unprecedented breakthroughs under the impact of the scientific and technological revolution, especially artificial intelligence and digital technology.”
this was the opening speech of general secretary of the communist party of vietnam and president of vietnam to lin at the world leaders forum at columbia university in the united states on september 23. according to vietnam news agency, starting from september 21, to lin will leave for the united states to attend the united nations future summit and the 79th united nations general assembly and carry out various activities in the united states. after that, to lin will also pay a state visit to cuba.
this is to lin's first visit to the united states since he took office as general secretary of the communist party of vietnam in august this year. the trip also has more "diplomatic appearance" implications than to lin's previous official visits when he served as minister of public security for a long time. in addition, the white house said on september 22 that president biden will hold a sideline meeting with to lin when he attends the united nations general assembly in new york on september 25.
invited to give a speech at columbia university, prepared for the q&a session
heads of international organizations and world leaders are often invited to give speeches at the columbia university world leaders forum. recently, during the united nations general assembly, in addition to surin, nepalese prime minister oli, chilean president boric, norwegian prime minister støre and other national leaders were also guests of honor at the world leaders forum.
according to the full text of su lin's speech published by the vietnamese official media, su lin mentioned in his speech how vietnam has achieved many achievements in economic development under the leadership of the communist party of vietnam relying on the "reform" policy, especially vietnam's economic scale in 2023 has increased 96 times compared to when the "reform" policy was launched in 1986. vietnam has also developed from a state of diplomatic isolation to now having 194 diplomatic relations with countries.
on september 20, vietnamese ambassador to the united states nguyen quoc dung said in an interview with vna on to lin's visit to the united states that this was the first visit to the united states by general secretary and president to lin since taking office, so this visit is of great significance and is "a good opportunity to demonstrate vietnam's independent, autonomous, multilateral and diversified diplomatic line." vietnamese officials have always emphasized that the country pursues a balanced diplomacy, which the late general secretary of the communist party of vietnam nguyen phu trong summarized as the spirit of "bamboo diplomacy."
in his speech, tou linh said that vietnam-us relations and vietnamese diplomacy are closely related to many of the thoughts and actions of vietnamese revolutionary leader ho chi minh. tou linh also said that ho chi minh wrote a letter to then-us president truman in 1946, expressing vietnam's hope for "full cooperation" with the united states.
su lin said that "due to historical twists and turns", it took vietnam and the united states 50 years (referring to 1945-1995) to normalize relations, and then in 30 years, vietnam-us relations "underwent a miraculous development", "the two countries have gone from former enemies to partners, comprehensive partners, and comprehensive strategic partners". su lin mentioned that the late general secretary nguyen phu trong had made a historic visit to the united states in 2015, and every us president since the normalization of relations between the two countries in 1995 has visited vietnam.
"vietnam's motto is to put aside the past and look to the future. we do not forget the past, but we will not let the past become a burden that hinders the development of the present and future," said su lin.
xiao guo (pseudonym), a chinese student studying for a master's degree at columbia university, was also at su lin's speech event on the 23rd. he told the paper (www.thepaper.cn) that the participants were mainly asians, "accounting for about 70 to 80 percent." in addition to vietnamese and overseas vietnamese, there were also japanese students, chinese students, and some white students who asked questions.
xiao guo told the paper that su lin spoke slowly at the beginning of his speech, but later became more relaxed. judging from the question-and-answer session, su lin seemed to be well prepared.
the live video showed that many students asked su lin how he viewed the economic cooperation prospects between vietnam and japan and other countries, and some students asked how su lin would lead vietnam to deal with the south china sea dispute. in the face of these questions, su lin emphasized the importance of scientific and technological development and international cooperation, and that vietnam's diplomacy has the spirit of "making friends with all countries" and must peacefully resolve "relevant disputes."
according to a report by voice of vietnam (vov) on september 24, in a policy speech delivered at columbia university on the 23rd, to lin emphasized that regarding the upgrading of vietnam-us relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership by the end of 2023, to lin affirmed this relationship and advocated "healing wounds" and "the spirit of mutual respect and understanding", among which "the most important thing is respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political system."
matters not related to economic development should be “put aside”
surin's economic-related itinerary during the early part of his visit to the united states also attracted much attention.
on september 23, su lin attended a business forum jointly organized by the us-asean business council and the american chamber of commerce, emphasizing that although the united states is vietnam's main investment partner and the largest export market, there is still great potential for cooperation between the two sides. su lin suggested that us investors pay attention to science and technology, innovation, green economy, chips, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, finance, biotechnology and other fields, and support vietnam's recognition of market economy status.
to lin also promoted the cooperation agreement between petrovietnam and the united states, and participated in the signing of cooperation activities between aviation, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor companies.
on the 22nd, su lin met with brandon nelson, president of boeing global group, in new york and suggested that boeing group should study the construction of aircraft parts factory in vietnam as soon as possible. he hoped that boeing would support vietnam in developing aerospace industry in the future. on the same day, su lin attended the seminar on "strengthening vietnam-us cooperation in semiconductor industry and artificial intelligence development". experts and senior executives from the semiconductor industry association, google, amd and other groups attended the meeting.
according to vietnam news agency, four members of the politburo of the communist party of vietnam, four members of the central committee of the communist party of vietnam, as well as many important economic officials including minister of the central economic department of vietnam tran liu quang, minister of planning and investment nguyen chi dung, and minister of construction nguyen thanh nghi will visit the united states with to lin.
just before the visit, the central committee of the communist party of vietnam held its tenth formal plenary session in more than three years from september 18 to 20. the agenda was quite dense, especially focusing on the economic field. the plenary session discussed vietnam's budget and economic work plan for next year, the construction of the north-south high-speed railway and the establishment of new municipalities. according to vna, su lin emphasized in his speech that "the most difficult and challenging thing is the implementation of the gross national product (gdp) target" and "the most important long-term task is to solve the structural problems of economic development." earlier, vietnamese prime minister pham minh chinh also proposed that vietnam should strive to achieve specific numerical goals such as a gdp growth rate of 6.5-7% in the third quarter of 2024, reaching the highest growth in 2024, and maintaining a growth trend in 2025. "matters that are not related to economic and social development should be sidelined," pham minh chinh emphasized.
"economically, surin has positioned himself as an advocate of 'high-quality' growth led by technology and an enthusiastic supporter of private enterprise," said nguyen kek giang, an expert on vietnam issues at the yusof ishak institute of southeast asian studies in singapore, in a commentary published on september 23.
on september 24, local time, tou lin spoke at the general debate of the un general assembly, which was his "first appearance" in the international community as the president of vietnam. according to convention, the vietnamese leader who attends the un general assembly is often the prime minister or the president. vietnam will elect a new president at the national assembly meeting in october this year. if tou lin "hands over" the presidency, then this trip may be the only time for the new vietnamese top leader to attend the un general assembly.
"to lin has moved cautiously on issues such as reform, but his behavior suggests a bolder and more confident leadership style than his predecessor," he added.
the paper reporter xu zhenhua
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