HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Vietnam on Wednesday celebrated the 50th anniversary of the communist victory over U.S. forces — but with an eye on ties with America that have blossomed in recent decades but are at risk of fraying under President Donald Trump.
Thousands of people, some of whom camped out overnight, lined the streets of what is now called Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, waving red flags and singing patriotic songs as they watched a grand parade down the main boulevard to Independence Palace.
It was there that a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates April 30, 1975, bringing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War to a dramatic end as Americans evacuated and many of the South Vietnamese they had backed in their war against the communist-run North were left behind.
In the 20 years until the fall of Saigon, the conflict had killed more than 58,000 U.S. service members and about 3 million Vietnamese.
The parade, held every year on what Vietnam calls “Liberation Day,” featured marching troops, as well as an air show with Russian-made fighter jets and helicopters flying over the palace.
Even U.S. diplomats were spotted on stage here after the Trump administration reportedly eased an order not to attend events.
The anniversary comes as the Southeast Asian nation of 100 million people is at a crossroads in its relations with the United States and China.
Despite the legacy of war, the U.S. is highly popular in Vietnam and the two countries have strong ties. Trade has grown exponentially, and the U.S. considers Vietnam a vital security partner in countering Chinese influence.
“I just find it absolutely extraordinary that the U.S. and Vietnam, after going through such a brutal and tragic period, have now built 50 years later this amazing partnership and friendship that we enjoy today,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs under President Joe Biden and a former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, who is now a partner at the Asia Group.
“But that work was not easy,” he said, “and even 50 years later, many of these historical issues and issues related to our tragic past remain very sensitive.”
U.S. officials did not directly address reports that senior American diplomats had been told not to participate in the anniversary, which fell on the same day as Trump’s 100th day in office. Susan Burns, the U.S. consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, was seen at the parade Wednesday.
“The United States and Vietnam have a robust bilateral relationship, and we are committed to deepening and broadening those ties,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday.
That relationship has been shaken by some of Trump’s actions. Though some funding has since been restored, cuts to foreign aid and the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development have disrupted programs meant to address the legacy of war, including the removal of unexploded ordnance and the impact of Agent Orange, an American herbicide that causes cancer and birth defects.
“Even today, because it’s carcinogenic, it passes on from one generation to another generation,” said U.S. veteran Matthew Keenan, 75, who returned to Vietnam about 10 years ago and volunteers at a center in Danang for victims of Agent Orange, which he believes caused his own cancer.
Early this month, Trump also slapped Vietnam — with which the U.S. has its fourth-highest trade deficit in goods after China, the European Union and Mexico — with a tariff rate of 46%, among the highest on any country.
Nonetheless, Vietnam has emphasized reconciliation in the lead-up to the anniversary events.
“I witnessed many moving reunions between Vietnamese veterans and American veterans — people who once stood on opposite sides of the battlefield and once held guns against each other, but are now able to shake hands, talk and share with sincere understanding and without lingering inferiority,” To Lam, Vietnam’s top leader and the general secretary of its ruling Communist Party, said in an article published this week.
Like other countries in Southeast Asia, Vietnam often finds itself caught between the U.S. and neighboring China.
Vietnam, which was ruled by Chinese dynasties for 1,000 years, has a complicated relationship with Beijing, its largest trading partner, with which it has multiple territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has been trying to portray his country as a stabilizing force in a global order upended by Trump, visited the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, earlier this month. Last week, Beijing warned other countries not to make trade deals with the U.S. at China’s expense.
The Vietnamese “live in a pretty rough neighborhood,” Kritenbrink said, but are “skilled balancers” when it comes to their geopolitical relations.
In 2023, during a visit by then-President Joe Biden, Vietnam upgraded the U.S. to a “comprehensive strategic partner,” its highest level of diplomatic ties, putting America at the same level as China and Russia.
“It won’t be an American ally, but America can trust that it won’t just do China’s bidding,” said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales Canberra.
The U.S. and Vietnam will have another opportunity to celebrate in July, the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Kritenbrink said Americans should take “great pride” in what the two countries have achieved together despite their history.
“I think it’s a beautiful example, not just for the American and Vietnamese people, but really for the world, that two former adversaries don’t have to be doomed to the mistakes of the past,” he said.
Janis Mackey Frayer reported from Ho Chi Minh City and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.
