About Vietnam
Abstract:
Obama's speech in Hanoi 24 May 2016.
Short speech but deeply understand about history and culture of Vietnam.
Xin chào. Xin chào Việt Nam.
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Vietnamese from across this great country including so many young people who represent the dynamism and the talent and the hope of Vietnam.
On this visit my heart has been touched by the kindness for which the Vietnamese people are known to. Many people who have been lining the streets smiling and waving. I feel the friendship between our peoples.
Last night I visited the old quarter here in Hanoi and enjoyed some outstanding Vietnamese food tried some Bún chả drank some beer Hà Nội. But I have to say the busy streets of this city I’ve never seen many motorbikes in my life. So I haven’t had to try to cross the street so far but when I come back and visit you can tell me how.
My first exposure to Vietnam and the Vietnamese people came when I was growing up in Hawaii with its proud Vietnamese-American community there. ...
I also come here with a deep respect for Vietnam’s ancient heritage. For millions of years farmers attended these lands. History revealed in the Đông Sơn drums and this bend in the river Hanoi has endured for more than a thousand years. The world came to treasure Vietnamese silks and paintings. And Great Temple of Literature stands as a testament to your pursuit of knowledge.
And yet over the centuries your fate was too often dictated by Others. Your beloved land was not always your own. But like bamboo the unbroken spirit of the Vietnamese people was captured by Lý Thường Kiệt. The southern emperor rules the southern land our destiny is written in heaven’s book. ("Nam quốc sơn hà" của Lý Thường Kiệt: “Sông núi nước Nam vua Nam ở/Rành rành đã định tại sách trời”). ...
And on the day that Vietnam declared its independence crowds took to the streets of this city and Ho Chi Minh evoked the American Declaration of Independence he said “all people are created in the creator has endowed them with inviolable rights among these rights are the right to life the right to liberty and the right to pursuit of happiness”. (mọi người sinh ra bình đẳng, tạo hóa cho họ các quyền không thể xâm phạm trong đó có quyền sống, quyền tự do, quyền mưu cầu hạnh phúc.)
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More recently, over the past two decades, Vietnam has achieved enormous progress. And today the world can see the strides that you are made. With economic reforms in trade agreements including with the United States you have entered the global economy selling your goods around the world. More foreign investment is coming in. And with one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, Vietnam has moved up to become a middle-income nation. We see Vietnam’s progress in the skyscrapers and high-rises of Hà Nội, Ho Chi Minh City. New shopping malls and urban centers we see it in the satellites, Vietnam puts into space. and a new generation that is online watching startups and running new ventures. We see it in the tens of millions of Vietnamese connected on Facebook and Instagram. and you’re not just posting selfies. ...These are also raising their voices for causes that you care about like saving the old trees of Hà Nội. All this dynamism has delivered real progress in people’s watch. Here in Vietnam you dramatically reduced extreme poverty boosted family incomes and lifted millions into a fast growing middle class. Hunger, diseased, child and maternal mortality are all down. The number of people with clean drinking water and electricity. The number of boys and girls in school and your literacy rate these are all up. This is extraordinary progress this is what you have been able to achieve in a very short time. And as Vietnam has transformed so is the relationship between our two nations.
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Our trade has surged. Our students and scholars learn together. We welcome more Vietnamese students to America than from any other country in Southeast Asian. And every year you welcome more and more American tourists including young Americans with their backpacks in Hà Nội 36 streets, and shops of Hội An, and the imperial city of Huế. As Vietnamese and Americans we can all relate to those words written by Văn Cao “from now we know each other’s homeland, from now we learn to feel for each other”. (“Từ nay người biết quê người. Từ nay người biết thương người”.)
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And a generation after young Americans came here to fight. a new generation of Americans are going to come here to teach and build and deepen friendships between us. ...
The reasons why we’re very excited that this fall the new Fulbright University Vietnam will open in Ho Chi Minh City. This nation’s first independent non-profit university where there will be full academic freedom and scholarships for those in need. Students scholars researchers will focus on public policy, management and business, on engineering and computer science, and liberal arts, everything from the poetry of Nguyễn Du to the philosophy of Phan Chu Trinh, to the mathematics of Ngô Bảo Châu.
...We think gender equality is important principle. From Trưng sisters (Hai Bà Trưng) to today, strong competent women have always helped move Vietnam forward. ...
With the announcement I made yesterday to fully lift the ban on defense sales Vietnam will have greater access to the military equipment you need to ensure your security. ...
Nations are sovereign and no matter how large or small a nation maybe its sovereignty should be respected and its territories should not be violent. Big nations should not bully smaller ones. Dispute should be resolved peacefully.
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American values I think they are universal values written into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They’re written into the Vietnamese Constitution which states that citizens have the right to freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, and have the right of access to information, the right to assembly, the right to association, and the right to demonstrate. That’s in the Vietnamese constitution. ...
In recent years Vietnam has made some progress Vietnam is committed to bring its laws in line with its new constitution in with international norms.
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I think of all the Americans and Vietnamese who have crossed a wide ocean some reuniting with families for the first time in decades. And who like Trịnh Công Sơn said in his song had joined hands (“Nối vòng tay lớn”) and opening their hearts and seeing our common humanity and each other. I think Vietnamese and Americans who succeeded in every walk of life: doctors, journalists, judges, public servants. One of them was born here wrote me a letter and said “by God’s grace I have been able to live the American dream. I’m very proud to be an American but also very proud to be Vietnamese”. And today he’s here today he’s here back in the country of his birth because he said his personal passion is improving the life of every Vietnamese person.
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I hope you think back to this moment and draw hope from the vision that I’ve offered today. Or if I can say it another way, in words that you know well from the tale of Kiều, “please take from me this token of trust so we can embark upon our one hundred year journey together” (Truyện Kiều của Nguyễn Du: Rằng trăm năm cũng từ đây. Của tin gọi một chút này làm ghi).
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