>> up next on c-span two come on c-span two come a conversation of vietnam's political and military ties with the u.s. and china. also hear about the trump administration's foreign policy in the asia-pacific region from the stimson center here in washington d.c., this is about 90 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> i work on the program here and today we have the president president -- from social sciences to be here to share with us her perspective, china's good on the relation. and we have the washington

southeast asia and they have spent a lot of time earlier than not as journalists but the economics review. i do not so today's topic is but of the united states and china because the a flareup of the south tennessee, and there have been a lot of questions and questions about the alignment choices in foreign policy choices and they are a governing party and they reform into a country and so we will hear from the experts how the vietnamese domestic politics also affect

their foreign policy choices between the united states and china and how do we understand the future of these two. that is enough talking for me. i will invite the doctor to share with us her perspective. thank you. >> thank you. i would like to read what i wrote yesterday. so actually, today is the first day of the chinese lunar new year. i would like to say to everybody here to have a very happy chinese new year. actually, you know today is

actually -- [inaudible] so maybe there are several -- [inaudible] china, vietnam and maybe korea. maybe in korea the festival is a little bit different for the festival at china and vietnam. so actually china and vietnam shared many common customs. now let's go to the topic we are discussing today, which is the vietnam issues. it is more than a bilateral relation in general. they says stegman a speech delivered by the president of china during his 2015.

china and vietnam have the same political system, same identity and believes, and we shared a mutual assistance because china has a common bilateral issues. .. >> to expressed wishes to the people in each other's country. this is the development of the issues in the past year.

in 2018 china and vietnam the anniversary of the the comprehensive strategies. this is the most important bilateral relations that vietnam has only two countries in the world, china and russia. how should we understand the statements in the vietnam conquest and the interaction between the leaders of vietnam and china. i think it could be embodied in the following three parts. the first part is great importance to the leadership in china and vietnam. this an indicates a good prospet in the following years. with the cream dictator with the half of the -- that is why vietnam and china each have a

consensus of annually mutual . history shows that chinese attitudes are important role. from 199,122,016 they each contributed 15 years in the history of bilateral issues. after that, before 2015 the top leaders have suspended visits to vietnam for a decade. that time of the bilateral issues appeared apparent. anyway from the wife and president of china in

november 2015 is the top lever of china when in november 2017 he had visits to vietnam. so they officially visited vietnam three times the 16 years. this is unprecedented in the history of the relation. we've also seen visits from china to vietnam as well. given the high level visit to the country inside a number of cooperation agreements. for example with the visits of vietnam of november 2070 the two countries thanks to the promotion of the top leaders the economy and trade relations between china and vietnam had direct growth. china has been the largest for

13 consecutive use. there is bilateral -- an account of about 25% of vietnam's total trade. it's annual growth rate is about 20%. vietnam has become the largest trade population in the world. the share of that in terms of investment, china has invested over 15 billion u.s. and vietnam. in 19 -- vietnam hoped that

modern among them 4 million from china. an increase of nearly 50% over the same time. another 10 million new children between the two countries. obviously the personnel has changes in the first countries. the developments of economy and trade invention and civilian relations between china and vietnam have played the functions between the two countries. the second point is the vietnam relations are crucial to the development of vietnam. china is in the top priority of its relations. i think this is a wise choice. not only from the experts but

also from the economy requirement, cultural is changing as well as the role of parties. history shows a strong positive correlation between the final vietnam relations in the economy from 1996 vietnam went into difficulties in almost into crisis by the been 1980s. the relations between the two countries -- vietnam has the best 15 years of the economy development from 1986.

then the relationship went downhill the economy of vietnam the economy growth rate jumped from an average of 7.5% the previous year's to about five to 6% the last eight years. however china and vietnam relations from all around in 2017. the economy growth this is the largest increase in the past ten years. finally vietnam relations is especially clear. i think there could be several

aspects as follows. first as a nation china vietnam have the same cultural origins. in the history of most part of vietnam was on part of china's dynasty from 111 bc 298680. the schools could educate the local people about chinese civilization. therefore the 14th century satisfied nowadays some chinese tradition culture are respected and vietnam. in the year of 968 the beginning

a new era of vietnam history. to obtain the first dynasties of china did not became one of the china's system from 973 to 1885. vietnam sent -- only one or two years to show this to the central kingdom. vietnam was a part of asia. in 191885 the chin dynasty started with friends.

after that we did not become a french colony. so the relations between china vietnam is the geography. as leaders china and vietnam, then 1000 kilometers of land. they share large area of water with the south china sea. a common order to pick up both countries for cooperation. as a boundary area there is no clear division in the history were man disputes on the biggest

conflict is the word 1979. shortly after the two countries resolve the issues in 1991. by the end of 1999 i korea borderline between the two countries. this is completed on decembe december 26, 2010 through lateral negotiations. this is the only place in which china has accomplished the division of water lines. this shows china vietnam can solve difficult issues by bilateral negotiations. it is hoped this approach will

help with the south china sea both sides have agreed to that approach. negotiated more than ten's. ten months. so now they can share differences. they hope to solve the problem both china and vietnam are socialist countries but administrated by one political party, the communist party. the constitution of china and vietnam divides that communist is the leadership of the

country. they can control the country's diplomatic policies and economic policies. so when the government wishes the country to have some programs these can do depend on what the parties want. some problems have happened between the two countries the past two years. the economic relations continue just now the relationships between china think the relationship between china and vietnam are constantly affected. in history is a testament between france, the soviet union

and the united states has directly affected the choice of the vietnam form policy in the united states policy with vietnam and also korea. it has uncertainty about the allegations. in the past few years obama made great effort to the tpp to involve vietnam but it has been abandoned by president trump. president trump said u.s. i think the different attitude of the u.s. government vietnam has a great impact on the political situation vietnam the impact is adjusting and so we go you'll

see the adjustment. summary, the relations between china and vietnam have been a dispute and negative i believe it would not be instantly destroyed by these disputes. and remember a few years ago when i was in the talk with the former prime minister former vietnam that said we should solve problems in emotional principle manner. in other words the problem should not be to be solved through legal means which might destroy our ability we should trust and understand each other

that would not hurt each other and find a good solution to the problem. this would be better than a legal solution. by now you generally -- just now it's my impersonal pinning, thank you and i welcome suggestions. >> thank you. that was informative. it's amazing to hear how confident china appears to be because the relationship is based on party to party solidarity. even when the countries have problems the countries navigate through it. so is u.s. policy towards without really unclear?

>> one thing that's different is u.s. relations are much shorter than china's relational vietnam and the u.s. is also much further ways than china. if you look at how far the relations have come since 1975 or 1995 and stunning how rapidly relations have changed and improved from economic to people to people in military and security, since the u.s. lifted the sanctions in 1994 vietnam has become the 16th largest trading partner of the united states politically there's a lot of cooperation with difficult issues and human rights dialogs. the two countries have stepped

up defense particularly since china moved the oil ring the u.s. moved to lift the ban on lethal sale of weapons and announced it would provide $18 million in aid to vietnam to help boost maritime awareness. in 2015 the u.s. vietnamese defense administers signed a joint statement which is defining defense times. under the agreement, the u.s. transferred coast guard cutter to vietnam and that arrived just before trenton arrived in vietnam in november. we had secretary mattis visit vietnam in january and in march the u.s. s carl vincent on

aircraft carriers going to visit vietnam and be the first aircraft carrier to visit vietnam. i don't know if any visited during the vietnam war. lynn then the prime minister visited here last may and president trump visited in november. one of the interesting they think they talked about was stepping up until sharing between the two countries. there's also an effort from the u.s. vietnam to tackle legacy issues. we look for the missing in action soldiers and we hear about the cleanup of unexploded ordnance. there's also an attempt by the u.s. to remediate areas damaged by agent orange.

the airport was basically completed last year of the two sides are talking about the airport northeast of the city that they're going to tackle next. funding is an issue it's a bigger project than was -- was in the people the people cooperation is stepped up. this year about 22000 vietnamese students studying in the united states some of government scholarships in the fulbright city of the first university will be opening in ho chi minh city. it has opened already but it's a soft opening and they're in the process of building a new campus that will be funded a little bit by congress and the lot by the u.s. and vietnamese private

sector. i alluded to different areas in which the u.s. and vietnam are cooperating, it's clear vietnam only go so far. it might be for some of the reasons it you're talking about in terms of buying equipment vietnam has come to window shop but has not purchased anything. they have two or three explanations. the equipment is very expensive. buying in the u.s. is complicated and integrating with our russian equipment is also complicated. beyond equipment vietnam does largely limit u.s. ship visits but basically it limits visits to one exercise.

which is what it holds other countries to as well. the question is why is vietnam holding back comments are anxious about china so why hold back? there several reasons, the vietnamese military is very conservative. there are people in the united states that suffer from the vietnam syndrome. there's people in vietnam that suffer from the american syndrome. another issue is that the military is probably one of the closest institutions to china. some officers are pro- chinese and also a general anxiety that vietnam does not want to go too far too fast with united states tiered date china.

it's no secret vietnam was not cheering for donald trump in the last election. the clintons had been quite good to them. hillary clinton went after china pretty forcefully in 2010 at the regional forum meeting. hanoi did not waste time. it very quickly the ambassador in washington, many officials in vietnam to find ways to engage the trump administration. i think it would be fair to say that a few countries have been as proactive as has vietnam in terms of engaging trump. that would be one of the reasons why prime minister was the first southeast asian to visit here

and also perhaps a factor in why trump, beyond a pack why it was one of the first countries that trump visited in southeast asia. despite basic that have happened, is fair to say hanoi is a bit anxious about relations with u.s. it was very upset when trump pulled out of the transpacific partnership. vietnam viewed the tpp is providing a hedge to its heavy dominance reliance on china it look like the vietnamese would provide a balance in that relationship beyond that the reformers via the tpp that they

had to do many things to join the tpp and those things i was in vietnam last month and they're going to put a lot of the stuff they committed to in the tpp including opening up labor they're going to put that on hold the tpp 11 are not going to insist on some of these conditions sometimes you have to trumps visit you heard officials come back and say the vietnamese were excited on doing a bilateral fda they often over guess things. when you talk to them privately they say they're not interested in the fda in ac with the trump administration is doing they are

not really willing to go through some of the rigors so they did not find this something they're going to do more than look at. i appreciate the extent to which the trump administration has engaged in but they are not sure listening to them where the vietnam relations where they are going one thing they say is who's in charge. a lot of the seats in the departments are empty they also think that in asia the administration is focused on north korean traditions with china. the don't feel the u.s. has developed and or overarching

policy toward southeast asia and asia generally. they don't feel like they understand what this is they understand but where india japan and the u.s. will mean they don't understand what that means for them they fear that they think form policy is quite transactional and that many things can reverse quite quickly. we do not know their uncertain they appreciated some of the things that happened, the five exercises that happened in 2017 but they don't know more broadly where the u.s. is.

they felt like it president trump tonight raises south china sea very much the general principle was approved freedom of advocate navigation general principles were navigated but he only mentioned china wants and that was in the right before he got on a plane and left in the vietnamese don't say it but last june or july they passed a spanish company i went up the southern coast of vietnam. this is after pressure from china the vietnamese really give

you the impression that they don't feel anybody had their back. it was probably wise in the face of the chinese party kind conference they thought it was best that vietnam pull out at least tactically for now. despite the expanding relations vietnam is not going to become a outpost anytime soon. the vietnamese goal is to balance relations between china and the united states that said, vietnam is clearly, and yes of many has become one of the most strategic thinking companies and

acting companies maybe it's only competitors singapore, vietnam veteran china stepped up its assertiveness vietnam was looking to work at the philippines and was appreciated when they brought the tribunal case against china but with the election and wanting to pocket the ruling in an effort to get increased economic cooperation vietnam feels like it was standing alone. you wanted a little bit of domestic politics that's almost a separate topic.

one thing that has been in the news most recently is the corruption trials. poor to bring trials going on at the moment. one in january, they said the former member head of the vietnam the largest state on enterprise. sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption. one of the other person sentences was also a former head but a guy who was taken out of park in berlin in late last year and he was sentenced to life in prison. that was an issue that has created some issues with the germans with whom vietnam has been negotiating a free-trade agreement with your germany

which has probably been vietnam's best friend is now holding back a little bit out of irritation with the kidnapping of the official that was seeking asylum in germany. another separate trial of 46 officials involved, many of the others were related there's also an ocean bank trial that involves 46 people that's going on now. a lot of charges of defrauding has been made. on one level it's a campaign to tackle corruption which vietnam has been doing since the beginning of time. at least since the current regime beyond that, it's also a bit of a political battle, you might remember in january 2016 there is a battle between the

incumbent party chief trump and the prime minister for who would get the top position. in the end, trump one and maintain the position. what the co-option trials are about young tackling corruption trump is also trying to get rid of any competitors that may still be loyal to the prime minister. i'm going to stop and look forward to your discussion. >> thank you. in terms of how much vietnam can really open them its domestic political and also the u.s. relations under president trump. want to turn and asking the same question. i observed a lot of chinese assessment about the previous

prime minister have been perceived desperate u.s. and he was basically being ousted with the politics, they be vietnam domestic political shift. >> is that realistic? [inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] [inaudible] from beginning of 2016 till now they have been in the struggle situation. [inaudible] [speaking in native language]

>> so far the political struggle has been ongoing. this is a habit major impacts including that that happen with china. >> on the other hand the u.s. and china both have the ability to have an influence over the political struggle. >> had president trump not given up on tpp then it would be very different in that politics would be very different.

>> in washington d.c. and trump visit so it appears the relationships to be on a good track. but in fact people are unclear about where the relationship is going.

>> with the form policy options and choices the congress she visited visited vietnam and she himself had placed emphasis on relationship with hanoi and its china vietnam reaching more agreements about what to do with it. >> in summary, vietnam is now more confident about their relationship with china than their relationship with the united states. >> that factor has certain helps

the political power and consolidation and that will also -- so that definitely with his political power campaign of vietnam. >> so from the tiniest thing in the future, both in terms of the domestic political system in the form policy of vietnam will come more aligned with china other than other countries.

>> host: she also agrees with the assessment that the current campaign is a manifestation of the political struggle the party. the anticorruption campaign is helping the currently there, trump to help him in his political -- with that, think we have time for discussion if you have question please raise your hand and we do have a microphone that is floating around. any questions.

>> thank you for the excellent presentation. it's interesting to hear that you general secretary trump olivia enemies communist party lining for the rich china especially since in washington everyone is talking about u.s. defense relations to advancing so well with vietnam. but trumps rule will not be forever, there's count some concerned about his age and his temporary status of grooming a successor. do you see something at trumps limited amount of time in the trump top position or was camp went out keep relations with china on track?

>> thank you for the question. tren[speaking in native languag] >> so far the balancing has been relatively successful [speaking in native language]

>> the cooperation between the u.s. vietnam has been growing in recent years and is wrecked nice [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] >> is cooperation between u.s. vietnam certainly has an impact over china. but throw the years china has become more confident about its own ability in the relationship with vietnam has become more confident and comfortable [speaking in native language]

[speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] >> to say that we understand that vietnam needs the cooperation with cooperation with other countries than china. and it is normal. this cooperation also has an

impact over politics in vietnam. [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] summation mention that the uss will be visiting vietnam in march. her speculation is the after that visit the chinese aircraft carrier will also visit vietnam rather quickly. this balancing act has been ongoing so the end result it does not really affect really

affect the external alignment with vietnam. because they do things for the united states and they do things for china [speaking in native language] she believes that vietnam will balance the impact or the influence with the united states from china rather well and successfully. >> can you comment on areas in which the interest of the three countries under discussion today, china, vietnam and the u.s. might actually align? the description has been a balancing in of the conflict between the two countries with u.s. and china in particular. is there interest in which the

three countries allied in their might serve basis for better relationships among the three? >> obviously there might be some things that could be done in the south china sea. one of the big areas is the fish stock is being badly destroyed by everybody. fisher that like royal or hydrocarbons. they actually move all the time. the other area in which they probably need to cooperate is a -- issuer there's a lot of

damning happening both inside channel wit china was 16's. so it could have an huge impact so that would be talking about how to control that water and roaways to mitigate the damage might be another area to cooperate. [inaudible] subic they certainly have expertise in terms of what's happening on the mississippi and other rivers in the u.s. is active in terms of providing ideas and bringing people from that region here to look at how the u.s. manages rivers. i think they both vietnam and china should figure out a way to

help laos. it actually think laos is in somewhat of a trouble and even in the medi medium term becausea produces three or four times as much electricity as it needs are ready. is looking to export this into southeast asia. if that happens laos is in real trouble economically. i think china the u.s. would be wise to figure out what to do with this country. still an important issue that maybe they can work on together. i'm having trouble because in some ways areas that u.s. cooperates with vietnam are to balance the other guy out,

especially in the south china sea and economically. the other area of courses drug-resistant malaria which is a huge problem. if this spreads it could end up in africa and in god help us all. so that would be another area they could cooperate. i'm making this up as i go because i don't sit around thinking about it much. >> there some common interests but -- from the chinese perspective [speaking in native language] [speaking in native

language] >> she agrees that the water issue can be a problem. [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] >> should recognize that in terms of the water resources cooperation between china loss to resolve the issue they set up

a new mechanism a few years ago to focus on the issue of water. so far the chinese believe that the impact has been positive and has been a good cooperative mechanism. >> host: [speaking in native lae language] [speaking in native language] >> one example between china and vietnam lasher was that last year the seawater was reversing and the agricultural production of vietnam so they made a

request to china to rest china to release more water from the upper stream. china did grant that request and it had a good impact over the agricultural production [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] >> to send the issue of the china south china sea could be an area of potential cooperation. my question is for example she said that for example with

navigation the two countries agree that the countries should have freedom of navigation in the south china sea but internally they have different opinions but in principle they all agree it should be respected so they could have discussion on the [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] she believes is the overall direction of the two countries is the same but the problem is with the details and styles and how things are carried out. if they all agree that eventually they want to have a positive direction where everyone agrees than they need to have discussions on. >> any more questions?

morning. you had mentioned something interesting about the vietnamese military being close to the chinese military. in my research i found it was more party to party being very close to the vietnamese military the morale is high and their unified around the idea that china is threatening the south china sea. could you expand upon that? there is a recent report the vietnamese accepted cold through a third-party flagship coming from north korea. i'm wondering what you think about that. was that purposely done?

or was it more of a low-level thing involving corruption or serve different explanation? >> alliance are the first one. i have saw the press reports but i do not know what caused that. vietnam and north korea used to have good relations. those have deteriorated a lot. the vietnamese of government and officials were livid about the recruiting of the vietnamese woman to be involved in the killing of kim jong-un non nam. i don't know what's going on there. vietnam had committed to implementing the resolutions.

a lot of countries are ending up with stuff that i don't know if they knew would actually come. on the military, i think the military sorta has a duel view of china. on the one hand like you say there is a lot of anxiety and then you have to talk about what part of the military are talking about. the army has different views than the navy. in the coast guard. historically they had quite a bit of cooperation during the war. there's also a lot of problems for china would interject the hardware that is coming from the soviet union. the 79 war was an issue now they

88 there is a dualistic positive on one hand it's interesting that despite all of the different exercises the vietnamese now do with the americans i did some research on this a few months ago and there have been 54 major exchanges speabetween 2010 and 2016 betwen the vietnamese and the chinese military's. only two or exercises, the other 52 or talks. that's actually china does have more talks is most interesting it will look back and not

totally confirmable the bureau met and what you hear obviously this was never reported, what you hear from people to people voted to leave. one was the party chief trump and the other was the ministry of defense. they pulled out, despite the fact that the others voted to stay. they describe it as a tactical move. the party, interestingly i spent some time talking and they have a very complicated view of vietnam. we should not forget that party chief trump who is the party chief trump is only party chief

he came here in 2015 and that with president obama at that time. it was a big deal. showed some more complexity with china. the party says they will tell you that when the oil to break incidenrighappened that told thi don't know if they totally disagree but i hear people say, we have the party to party ties and we meet quite often. but when difficult issues come we often cannot resolve either, it's gray, there is no black-and-white. >> that is a great answer.

learn how is it in solving difficult problems. [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] [speaking in native language] . .

[speaking in native tongue] >> china's view as each department for each government agency will be responsible for the communication over the specific issue under discussion. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so from the chinese perspective on the oil raid, the 81 and cement in 2014,

from the chinese bureaucratic point of view or from the chinese government point of view, that issue should be further discussed between the two government agencies in vietnam, specifically responsible for that issue and asking her what agency would that be and she said if the minister of commerce in the agencies responsible for maritime security. so they should discuss first rather than go directly to the parties. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so there is a chain of command from a chain of communications in the case of the oil raid by august, so three

months after it was deployed. eventually, the party chief of vietnam sent a special envoy to vietnam and had meeting which they met to discuss the issue of the oil raid and they had a resolution. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> so, it is the difference between the mechanisms in the vietnamese mechanism that is essentially creating the trouble. this is quite rampant. there are a lot of those

incidents because of this different mechanism. one example that she writes is for the border dispute or border issues between the two countries. when something happened come in the first reaction is pick up the phone and called essential attorneys, but the chinese communist party will never pick up the phone because from their perspective, this issue should be first discussed with the providence, a local issue before it can reach the central level. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: so on the issue of the many religions, last year the two militaries have a mechanism that they were supposed to meet at the border to discuss issues that coming into. china indian canceled that meeting and did not participate. they invited foreign companies to explore and the other to express the opposition to god policy by the vietnamese government. the chinese did not participate or did not have that meeting, but this year they are going to review that meeting. thank you. >> more questions. >> thank you. you discussed and not with the cancellation of the tpp and the

inoculation haven't really been getting and they don't know where the relationship is going. and you mention that china is very confident in the bilateral relationship and continuing to grow. i've got two related questions. one is, what would be the vietnamese wish list in terms of establishing in the united states. what scenario would be the best case from the tip of hanoi and what washington could offer, what washington can deliver and what role they can play in southeast asia. from china's is, what is the ideal outcome of developing ties with vietnam? what type of relationship with china like to have out of the relationship.

[speaking in native tongue] >> as dr. dan said, it is growing very, very fast with the united states. that is for sure. vietnam did so many of its input from china that it feels alive in its export with templates for threats. under the tpp that would've changed very phenomenally in the chinese entrepreneurs even realized this. so is the tpp progress company enemies companies increasingly were setting up shop in vietnam because they wanted to be able to access the forward provisions, which means to get cheap terrace for goods coming to the united states, you have to buy the input from another tpp country. so, that they feel so vietnam really want more balance and

trade and it can get a little bit of this from japan, from europe, but it really wanted the u.s. to play a morag to roll. that is one key issue. they would just like to hear and the vietnamese, you can see where they are living in a difficult environment they are in. china is only 90 commentaries from hanoi -- 90 kilometers from hanoi. you aren't hanoi, live in hanoi and you look at sealy china is doing. it's a little bit like u.s. canada. i know that because i've got two citizenships actually and so i know that dynamic. they are very insecure and they

really want to have more guarantees, so would like to know what the u.s. -- with the u.s. really thinks about the importance of southeast asia. they felt that under obama they saw the rebalance, a lot of it was rebalance to southeast asia. they are now not sure where southeast asia fits. they are constantly worried. i tell them this is crazy, that they are worried that china and the u.s. are going to make some deals. they've had this happen before. they are very worried that china and the u.s. will make some kind of a deal with north korea that will involve the south china sea. >> in a panic about it. i don't think they need to worry about it, but they think is very transactional and that might be something that could have been. >> so i think those are the

economic balance, just a general u.s. more engagement in southeast asia. the u.s. -- you know, southeast asia is in a very different place than it was in 2011 when the obama administration began the rebalance. they are very outward looking, very strategic, so you have big changes in the mr happening. you have thailand with a brief coup, malaysia wanting to have good relations with the u.s. you had outward looking president in indonesia and you had key now is quite outward looking in the philippines. that is all changed. everybody is staring a narrow navels right now in all the countries i listed except to vietnam and singapore. so they feel like southeast asia is drifting and inwardly focused. so they don't really feel a lot of camaraderie is that the word -- a lot of support and it

is difficult for this very inward looking, very engaging and the united states easily as a grouping. if everybody for themselves. so that is a problem in the region are vietnam. it does affect relations with the united states. [inaudible] >> you have asked a very good question. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>> at the very real question webcast. the first thing she would like to say is it's a very special relationship. so vietnam has concerns about china. historically, there have been experiences and is concerned about the invasion. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so, what vietnam has been demanding or has demanded from china is a guarantee. so there have been current vietnamese leaders whether china and vietnam could reach an

agreement within the relations force would not be used to resolve any of the conflicts or any other issue. [speaking in native tongue] >> but that is not in line with china's defense policy, which china will say china's best policy in asia, that china will not make a promise to be used against any particular country. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: so what does china want out of vietnam around the bilateral relations is peaceful development and complications and exchanges. china wants to resolve the districts in the south china sea and in the format of joint development. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it is safe to say that between china and vietnam, there is no other dispute within the bilateral relations, with the bilateral relationship other than that south china sea. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so, so far china and vietnam have reached the agreement and the south china dispute will be resolved or will be discussed through negotiations. as a platform. especially increase in the two countries agree to the format of joint development. so from the chinese perspective, they want negotiations, joint development come economic cooperation and the party relationships to grow. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: so as long as there is a pain association, the south china sea issue come and there's really issue between china and vietnam. >> thank you vote for your very thoughtful remarks. i have a couple questions but because of time constraints i would like to shorten it. the first one is the initiative has had a lot of discussions throughout southeast asia. so i am wondering what the first reaction for vietnam means public. is there a difference between you the class and the middle class to the general public or not? [speaking in native tongue]

and my second question is towards china's public opinion differ? [speaking in native tongue] >> thank you. >> so, it's really pretty interesting they really not much is happening on the road vis-à-vis vietnam. i say we see what is happening in thailand. we see with some of the efforts are maybe in the mr in the industrial park. in vietnam, although china is a major investor, there is really -- it is noteworthy how

little. there was the closest point to deceive. the recently the two sides agreed to build roads, so china built it to the border and add belted the rest of the way. why? pretty obvious. vietnam just did not want to have it. vietnam -- china has a very bad project in vietnam. there's a couple of bad projects actually. one that is very troublesome to anybody living in hanoi is the skytrain. it's been under construction for 10 years. it started at a $400 million project. it still lasted a month ago wasn't finished. there is money disappearing left and right. i think probably on both sides of the border. and so, there are things, during

the construction, things are falling off. it is really, it is a worse poster child for chinese projects in southeast asia i think. so one chinese views in vietnam, few actually has done surveys. they did then in 2014 is -- it is beating the heck out of me. i can't remember what it was. you can do pew research on vietnam has quite the popular polls, show a lot of questions about china. you notice when incidents happening. there is this incident of the so-called fish kill project, but actually built a steel mill in north-central vietnam.

it was built to chinese companies. it is the nomination for the water discharge that was coming out, which ended up killing the fish in four provinces along the northern part of the south china sea and the vietnamese border. huge economic impact. huge protests, mostly aimed at china. i would think that probably maybe the builders made some as eggs, but i think also the officials who let this thing happened inside vietnam made some mistakes and you have seen a number of bloggers being sentenced to very long sentences recently in the last few months up to 10 and 14 years. she has been going after this

and yes, part of it as a criticism of china, but part of it is a criticism of the government for not controlling the project setter. so china with some of its investment one is central vietnam, that even the famous generals was supposed to before you died a number of years ago. there's some bad projects in vietnam. china manages to get most of them and leads to somehow -- china needs to figure out a way to change the image. china could do a bit better since some of these projects suggest. >> yes, --

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so, she agrees that between the republic and the government can and they have a very different attitude about the population with china. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: she believes that the view of the public had been heavily influenced by the government's position, by the governments propaganda. she pointed out that between 2017 to 2015 -- 20,722,015 was in general and a big factor was

the vietnamese government policy towards china. so if we look at today's government, it is different from the government that was there in 2016. [speaking in native tongue] >> so, the prime minister at the time adopted a pro-america policy and he promoted a policy that vietnam should distance it out from china and also communicate the chinese influence in india. so as a result of the policy, the government pursuant to a lot of propaganda and the unfriendly

messages through the media and through the government policies. so that was the main factor. [speaking in native tongue] >> so, up until now, there is something in fact from this previous government, but if you look at how the vietnamese media portrays china, especially 2017, the message or the signal has been highly positive. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: she also agrees that in terms of economic attacks between china and vietnam, there are problems.

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so it is now rare for chinese companies now to follow the local law bilateral relations and in the case of vietnam, there have been corruptions in projects of the skype team project in hanoi has been quite a few years and so far there's a solution. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: there is a solution. >> that is the report, yeah. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: in central vietnam that was a chinese company. [speaking in native tongue] >> the many fish in the region is not because of mainland, china. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so, in terms of the pri, vietnam hasn't done

strategy for two corridors in one circle. in terms of the connection between these two campaigns, china has offered vietnam to view two railways one from command, to hiding. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so it's a vietnamese strategy as china raised the issue, the proposal of cooperation. china will provide the financing. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and also between china and vietnam, one area that china is currently pursuing is the cross-border economic cooperation zones. so the initial proposal of the plan is along the five border provinces of vietnam, there will be -- china will establish for cross-border economic zones and one future of this economic cooperation, one between the two countries. [speaking in native tongue] >> so this is a major rate through because it requires both sides to make compassion and

adjustment to allow the inspection between the two countries to happen. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: the future of the economic situation between the two countries. i think we have run out of time. thank you or your patience. this is a great discussion. [applause] will stay in exchange cards with our speakers. tran thanh

>> president trump will be meeting with high school students in parkland, florida and colorado regarding school shootings in what can be done to keep schools safe. the meeting scheduled for 4:15 p.m. eastern. you will watch it live in a c-span. >> the 2018 conservative political action conference takes place later this week on thursday beginning at 10:35 a.m. eastern time. vice president mike pence will address the gathering and then

we'll hear from education secretary betsy devine and ted cruz. that is the morning session thursday. 6:00 p.m. eastern, eric trump, second son of president trump will be speaking at cpac. >> the heads of the cia and the fbi along with the director of national intelligence before the central intelligence community about global threats. they threats. they answered questions on nuclear security, cyberthreat, trent national crime to meddle in russian politics. north carolina senator richard burr chairs the two hour 40 minute hearing. [inaudible conversations]