U.S. President Barack Obama announced Monday the lifting of a decades-old ban on the sale of weapons to Vietnam — a move that could have positive effects for Tokyo's already growing security ties with Hanoi.
The agreement to lift the arms embargo, which will see an upgrade in U.S. capacity-building from constabulary to defense aid, will send a "strong signal to China" and will be welcomed by Tokyo, said Tetsuo Kotani, a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs.
"For Tokyo, this is good news when there is still political sensitivity remaining for deeper defense cooperation between Japan and Vietnam due to different political systems," Kotani said, adding that Japan should follow suit before long.