AFP, WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama welcomed the leader of Vietnam's Communist Party on Tuesday to the White House for historic but "candid" talks marking two decades of rapprochement between the former enemies.
Nguyen Phu Trong is the first general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party to visit the United States and the White House, and was given the rare honor of an Oval Office meeting -- usually reserved for heads of state and government.
Washington and Hanoi -- which ended their bitter war 40 years ago, and are marking the 20th anniversary of the formal normalization of relations -- are seeking stronger ties in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
The two men, smiling and rather relaxed as they sat next to each other in the Oval Office after their highly symbolic talks, insisted on the progress made in the last two decades.
"Obviously there has been a difficult history," Obama said. "What we've seen is the emergence of a constructive relationship that is based on mutual respect."