ENCIRCLEMENT:

Rumsfeld hails Vietnam's economy (BBC, 6/05/06)

US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld has praised Vietnam's economic progress on a visit to discuss military relations with America's former enemy. [...]

The two countries signed an important trade deal last week. [...]

The issue of US ties is sensitive for Vietnam, which needs to balance them against its relations with China, the BBC's Bill Hayton reports.

However, Vietnam is extremely wary of Beijing's regional ambitions and this is something which Hanoi and Washington can agree on, at least in private, our correspondent adds.

Unlike most official visitors to Hanoi, Mr Rumsfeld did not pay his respects at the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh - the communist leader and founder of modern Vietnam.

He did, however, make time to visit the Temple of Literature, one of the city's oldest centres of learning.

Vietnam is an object lesson for those who think our strained relations with Iran matter much in the long term.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 5, 2006 8:29 AM