VOA慢速英语2014 美国和越南寻求改善两国关系

 

AS IT IS 2014-09-11 US, Vietnam Seek to Improve Ties 美国和越南寻求改善两国关系

Relations between the United States and Vietnam may be improving, in part because the two countries need each other. The United States wants to have more influence as part of its “Asian pivot¹.” And Vietnam wants to become less dependent on its powerful neighbor China.

Last month, two senior American senators visited the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Bob Corker is the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said the Senate is considering lifting the ban on the sale of lethal², or deadly, weapons to Vietnam. Senator John McCain said there is support for the ban to end -- at least in part -- possibly as soon as this month.

Senator McCain and other American officials had until recently opposed ending the ban because of what they considered Vietnam’s poor human rights record. Mr. McCain said he was pleased that Vietnam had recently signed the Convention Against Torture, and was permitting more religious centers to open. But he said the country had more work to do to ensure human rights were respected.   

Senator McCain was held as a prisoner of war for almost six years during the war in Vietnam.

Jonathan London is a professor at City University in Hong Kong and a Vietnam expert. He says if the ban is lifted, it would, in his words, “symbolize a real change in the two countries’ relations.”

“Vietnam stands to gain considerably³ from U.S. intelligence and U.S.  expertise and know-how⁴ with respect to maritime⁵ affairs.”

U.S. and Vietnam to increase military cooperation

The top American military officer was also in Vietnam in August. It was the first visit to Vietnam by a Chairman of the Joint⁶ Chiefs of Staff since 1971. General Martin Dempsey was in Vietnam for four days. The Vietnamese Defense⁷ Ministry⁸ said the two countries would increase cooperation between their military forces, including in maritime security.

The United States and Vietnam agreed to formal relations in 1995. But military cooperation has been limited because of the ban on the sale of lethal U.S. weapons. The ban has been in place since the war in Vietnam ended in 1975.

Rodger Baker⁹ is the vice-president of Asia-Pacific analysis at Stratfor, which describes itself as “a geopolitical intelligence firm that provides strategic analysis and forecasting to individuals and organizations around the world.”

In a recent online column about improving relations between the two countries, Mr. Baker said Vietnamese leaders blame the ban for relations not being closer.

“One of the things that the change in the arms regulations would do would be a way to reassure¹⁰ Vietnam, reassure the Vietnamese leadership -- at least in part -- about a slightly stronger commitment or reliability¹¹ of the United States in this new relationship.”   

Mr. Baker told VOA that while Vietnam wants closer ties with the United States, it must consider what that might do to its relations with China.

“Vietnam wants better relations with the United States, but at the same time Vietnam is very, very cautious about the implications of those relations on how they manage a much-closer nation, being China.”

Vietnam aims for stable relationship with China

Carl Thayer is a professor at the University of New South Wales, in Australia. He has written hundreds of books and reports about Vietnam. He says Vietnam’s leaders are meeting with officials of the United States and other countries as a way to show that they are not completely dependent upon China.

“China keeps warning them about moving too close to the U.S., but that doesn’t stop them from working towards Japan, which they’ve already done, and India if, if India is willing to, to play the game.”

Still, Vietnam understands China’s power in the area. A top official of Vietnam’s Communist Party recently traveled to China, where he met with the country’s President Xi Jinping. Relations between the two countries have been tense since May. That was when China moved an oil-drilling platform into areas of the South China Sea also claimed by Vietnam. The platform was withdrawn¹² from those waters in July. But before that happened there were deadly anti-China riots in several industrial zones in Vietnam.

A Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman spoke¹³ to reporters after the meeting between the Chinese president and the Vietnamese official. The spokesman said Vietnam and China would continue to try to move relations in the direction of, in his words, “stable development.” He said the two countries would continue to improve cooperation in diplomacy¹⁴, defense, security, economy, trade, law and humanitarian¹⁵ issues.

Still, as Mr. Baker from Stratfor notes, the oil-rig incident showed Vietnamese leaders that China is prepared to act in its own interest even if that means harming Vietnam.

“Vietnam as a nation is always somewhat at risk from, from its much-larger neighbor China. And when China acts assertively¹⁶ in the maritime sphere, that threatens Vietnam as a nation. And that’s where Vietnam starts to look out to the United States, starts to look out to Japan, starts to look out to Australia and says ‘Maybe we really do need to work with some of these countries -- not necessarily to become completely pro-western or fundamentally change how we are, but certainly to balance what we’re doing with China.’ But the risk of reaching out to those Western countries is that those countries usually require and demand certain changes in the internal political dynamics¹⁷ and that can threaten the centrality of the party.”

Mr. Baker says because of the oil-rig incident, Vietnamese leaders who believe the country should have better relations with Western nations have gained power within the government.

“Those who have seen the potential strength of stronger ties with the West have certainly gained an element of influence within Vietnam because of what the Chinese have done with this oil rig.”

1 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。

2 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

3 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

4 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

5 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

9 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

10 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

11 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

12 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

15 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

16 assertively   

断言地，独断地

参考例句：

• Using the right body language helps you communicate more assertively. 使用正确的肢体语言会帮助你更有主张力的交流。
• Learning to communicate assertively involves learning to be honest, open and direct. 果敢自信的交往方式的学习包括做到为人诚实、坦率和直言不讳。

17 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。