By Michael Auslin
Shared wariness over China is the main reason the U.S. and Vietnam have embraced each other. But it shouldn’t be the only one.
Riding on the back of a motorbike is probably the best way to see Vietnam’s capital. The hair-raising experience lets you feel the energy on the street, the incessant buzz of small businesses, the informal sidewalk kitchens, and the surprisingly large numbers of Western tourists gawking at the fading yellow French colonial architecture. Compared to other economies in Asia, Vietnam seems a sure growth bet for the next quarter century. Yet capitalizing on that potential will task the government even as it eyes closer relations with its erstwhile enemy, the United States.
The plethora of goods, restaurants, and crowds make it easy to forget this is still a Communist-run country. Everywhere one looks, newlyweds in their wedding best pose for pictures, dotting major parks or central Hoan Kiem Lake, or clustering in front of the majestic Opera House. Officials in Vietnam seem genuinely interested in dialogue, while people on the street are invariably helpful. They pepper a visitor with questions, seeking answers about development or trying to understand what’s going on in America.
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