Vietnam/South China Sea: US and Vietnam to Discuss Curbing China’s Sea Claims

Sep 30, 2014 | David Brown, Epoch Times
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When Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meet in early October, China’s aggressive behavior in the waters of Southeast Asia will top their agenda.

In the months leading up to the meeting, Washington’s foreign policy elite has been debating whether it is in America’s interest to get involved in the dispute. The strategic implications of letting China have its sway are too serious for the United States to adopt a binary policy of going in all guns blazing or looking the other way. Kerry and Minh should work out a middle course that protects U.S. policy autonomy while maintaining balance in the region.