Vietnam's "soft power" through the US-North Korea Summit

Over the past two days, Hanoi – Vietnam has become the focus of world attention, a media “hot spot” when US President Donald Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong Un traveled thousands of kilometers to attend the second US-North Korea Summit (taking place from February 27-28).

For Vietnam, this event is no longer “someone else’s business”, because the host country’s efforts to contribute to the US-North Korea Summit not only have a purely political foreign policy meaning, but also help international friends better understand the country, people and potential of Vietnam.

The number of about 2,600 international reporters present in Vietnam to cover this extremely important event means that the two words “Hanoi” and “Vietnam” continuously appear in news, articles, and images on major and famous news agencies in the world. And certainly, every reporter and guest coming here has learned about Vietnam as an indispensable part of the preparation for carrying out the task. The value of promoting the image of Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general is enormous.

US President Donald Trump - a famous figure not only because he leads a superpower nation, but also on social networks, his "tweets" are always "hot" with a huge number of followers, including many reporters following closely to report. During the two days of the Summit, the message that the head of the White House conveyed always contained affection for Hanoi - Vietnam.

“Just arrived in Vietnam. Thank you everyone for the wonderful welcome in Hanoi. The crowd was amazing, and so much love,” Mr. Trump wrote on his personal Twitter account when returning from Noi Bai airport to the hotel. And just over half an hour later, this tweet received more than 5,000 replies, more than 5,000 retweets and nearly 30,000 “likes”. Exactly one day later, Hanoi – Vietnam continued to be tweeted by him when talking about “a wonderful meeting and dinner with Kim Jong Un”.

The above are very meaningful from an economic and tourism perspective, but they are not the most important. Hanoi - Vietnam after the US - North Korea Summit will be mentioned with much higher value. "Hanoi - City for Peace" welcomed the leaders of the two opposing countries to come and negotiate. Although the agreement was not reached as expected, the White House itself affirmed that the two sides had made real progress and the vision of denuclearization was "closer" than a year ago, which will be of great significance in improving the relationship between the two countries as well as for regional and world peace.

The thousand-year-old capital, like many other provinces and cities of Vietnam such as Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Da Nang, is certainly mentioned with the impression of friendliness, hospitality, and safety. A Vietnam that has experienced many wars, now gives international friends the feeling of "so much love" as tweeted by President Donald Trump - the head of the country from former enemy to Comprehensive Partner.

Hanoi will be a familiar name to North Korean friends when Chairman Kim Jong-un travels thousands of kilometers to Vietnam - a country with traditional relations that are continuing to be strengthened, on a train carrying the hope of peace and prosperity. At Dong Dang station (Lang Son), Chairman Kim Jong-un expressed his gratitude to Vietnam for organizing a thoughtful and warm reception and was moved when stepping out of the train and seeing flags and flowers all around and hundreds of people waving. Mr. Kim Jong-un rolled down the car window and waved to people on the street.

The fact that Vietnam’s capital Hanoi was chosen as the venue for the second US-North Korea Summit is a clear demonstration of Vietnam’s growing role and position in the region and the world. This event contributes to realizing the motto “Vietnam is an active and responsible member of the international community” that our Party has implemented since the 11th Party Congress (2011).

With the close attention and direction from the highest levels of the Party and State, Vietnam has fulfilled its responsibility, despite only having about 10 days to prepare for logistics, telecommunications, transportation, security and ceremonies between the parties... Many international reporters have assessed Vietnam's preparations as among the best in the world and very professional. Thanking Vietnam for its hospitality is what Mr. Trump said at the press conference before returning to the US.

By always being a responsible, dedicated and devoted member of the international community, Vietnam will become a reliable address for many international issues and major international conferences of the region and the world in the future. Hanoi - Vietnam will be remembered for such value. That multiplies Vietnam's "soft power"!