A box of clean soil from Da Nang Airport carries with it a story of land once contaminated by war, of responsibility toward the past, and of the long effort by Vietnam and the United States to heal the wounds between two nations.
Three years after Vietnam and the United States upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on September 10, 2023, the depth of bilateral ties is measured not only by new areas of cooperation but also by how the two countries continue working together to address the legacies of war. Commitments honored over the years have helped build a strategic asset: trust.
The 2019 Vietnam-US Defence Policy Dialogue at the US Department of Defense headquarters in Washington. The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence delegation was led by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, while the US side was led by Randall Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc also attended. Photo: People’s Army Newspaper
In March 2019, at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, Vietnam and the US jointly organized a seminar on addressing the consequences of war in Vietnam, just a few hundred meters from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
The journey from former enemies to Comprehensive Strategic Partners has been a long one. Along that road, Senator Patrick Leahy, former President pro tempore of the US Senate, and the late Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, former Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defence and head of the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee on the Settlement of Post-War Unexploded Ordnance and Toxic Chemical Consequences in Vietnam, known as Steering Committee 701, found common ground. Both saw addressing the legacies of war not simply as a debt owed to the past, but as a doorway to the future.
A box of clean soil and a promise kept
When Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh first met Senator Patrick Leahy in Washington, Vietnam and the US had already spent years working together to search for American personnel missing in action (MIA) and clear unexploded ordnance left behind by the war.
But dealing with the consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin remained an especially difficult issue.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh presents Senator Patrick Leahy with a box of dioxin-remediated soil from Da Nang Airport during his trip to attend the Vietnam-US Defence Policy Dialogue in 2019. Photo: VNA
If the two countries could successfully address the legacy of Agent Orange/dioxin, they could open a new door in bilateral relations, beginning with trust.
The dioxin remediation project at Da Nang Airport was initially conceived on a far more modest scale than what conditions on the ground ultimately required in terms of technology and funding.
Senator Patrick Leahy worked to secure continued funding from the US Congress. Vietnam, meanwhile, persisted in coordinating, supervising and resolving obstacles to the project. In the end, the Da Nang Airport site was not merely cleaned up. More importantly, the two sides established a precedent: an issue once regarded as highly sensitive could still be resolved when there was political commitment, an effective implementation mechanism and people determined to see the work through.
Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, recalled that in December 2019, when Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh traveled to Washington for the Vietnam-US Defence Policy Dialogue, he met Senator Patrick Leahy and presented him with an unusual gift - a box of soil taken from Da Nang Airport after it had been cleared of dioxin contamination.
That box of soil carried the memory of land once poisoned and proof that it had been given a new life. For Senator Patrick Leahy, a piece of Vietnam that had once borne the traces of war had become a message to the United States.
Every commitment honored adds another layer of trust
From Da Nang Airport, the journey moved on to Bien Hoa Airport, a larger and more complex Agent Orange/dioxin hotspot. The two countries agreed on a commitment to see the cleanup through to the end.
From Da Nang to Bien Hoa, it was not only contaminated soil that was gradually being cleansed. Distrust was also being eroded. Every commitment fulfilled offered further proof that the two countries could work together even on the most difficult issues.
Dioxin-contaminated soil being treated at Bien Hoa Airport. Photo: US Embassy
Diplomatic history is often recorded through official visits and declarations. Yet some turning points begin with something more personal: empathy between individuals. Senator Patrick Leahy was an American statesman who acted first and foremost according to his understanding of the interests and dignity of the United States. In his view, America could only move beyond the “Vietnam syndrome” by having the courage to help address what the war had left behind.
Nguyen Chi Vinh saw in Patrick Leahy a partner with whom Vietnam could engage candidly - someone who respected Vietnam’s independence and autonomy and had sufficient influence to turn goodwill into policy. That candor was precisely what allowed a genuine friendship to develop.
On March 23, 2021, on the floor of the US Senate, Senator Patrick Leahy delivered remarks honoring Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh - a rare recognition for a foreign military officer, whom he regarded as a friend and an important partner. His tribute was entered into the US Congressional Record.
At the very institution that decided US funding for addressing the legacies of war in Vietnam, Vietnam’s proactive role was explicitly acknowledged. Vietnam was not merely a country suffering the consequences of war and receiving assistance; it was proposing approaches and helping lead some of the most difficult projects. The box of clean soil Nguyen Chi Vinh gave Patrick Leahy and Leahy’s tribute to Vinh in Congress became two halves of the same dialogue: one offered evidence of what had been achieved, while the other answered with recognition and respect.
From the pathfinders to the next generation
On September 10, 2023, Vietnam and the United States established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development. In their Joint Leaders’ Statement, cooperation in addressing the consequences of war was identified as a priority that would contribute to building mutual trust and understanding.
Three years is not a long period, but it is enough to reveal that the significance of upgrading ties from a Comprehensive Partnership to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership lies not merely in the number of areas where cooperation has expanded. More important is the two countries’ ability to manage differences together, honor commitments and prevent temporary political shifts from disrupting undertakings of lasting importance.
The Sam Johnson Center presents Vietnam with documents and records to support efforts to locate, recover and identify the remains of Vietnamese fallen soldiers. Photo: VGP
Addressing the legacies of war is therefore both a moral responsibility and a strategic measure of the relationship. Vietnam’s cooperation in the search for US personnel missing in action reflects its humanitarian tradition, generosity and willingness to act without seeking anything in return.
US involvement in dioxin remediation, unexploded ordnance clearance, assistance for people with disabilities, and the provision of information to help locate and identify the remains of Vietnamese fallen soldiers demonstrates how responsibility for the past can become a resource for peace.
The work of addressing war legacies will continue for many years. The generation that experienced the war firsthand and helped pave the way for normalization is gradually passing from the scene. That is why the relationship between Senator Patrick Leahy and Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh is about more than projects or funding. It represents an approach: begin with the truth, meet on humanitarian ground, and build trust through substantive cooperation.
Senator Patrick Leahy once brought younger lawmakers from both US political parties to Vietnam in the hope that they would carry on the work after his generation left office.
During his lifetime, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh also repeatedly emphasized that the mission of addressing war legacies must continue, because it was not simply about repaying a debt to the past but about laying foundations for the future.
They understood something fundamental: friendship may open the door, but institutions and the generations that follow must continue working together to nurture a strategic asset - trust.
In the foreword to An Unavoidable Mission, a book by Senior Lieutenant General, Professor Nguyen Chi Vinh published by the People’s Army Publishing House in July 2026, General Trinh Van Quyet, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information, Education and Mass Mobilization, wrote:
“Over many years of service, particularly during his tenure as Deputy Minister of National Defence from 2009 to 2021, Senior Lieutenant General, Professor Nguyen Chi Vinh, former member of the Party Central Committee and former member of the Central Military Commission’s Standing Committee, made outstanding contributions to defence diplomacy, particularly cooperation between Vietnam and the United States in addressing the consequences of war.
With strategic vision, courage, intellect and a flexible diplomatic style, he worked with the leadership of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence to advise the Party and State leadership on numerous sound and timely policies aimed at defending the Fatherland ‘early and from afar’ and ‘protecting the country before it is placed in danger.’
Particularly in Vietnam-US relations concerning the remediation of war legacies, especially the consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin, he introduced numerous initiatives to advance cooperation, helping shift perceptions from ‘demands for war compensation’ toward ‘mutually beneficial cooperation.’ Through defence diplomacy, he also helped make war-legacy remediation - including dioxin cleanup and assistance for victims of Agent Orange/dioxin - an indispensable part of the agenda at bilateral defence dialogues. This, in turn, helped expand cooperation into other fields, including United Nations peacekeeping, training, military medicine, humanitarian assistance, and maritime security.
In particular, through ‘Track II diplomacy’ - an unofficial but highly effective form of diplomacy - he helped American politicians and citizens, as well as international friends, gain a deeper understanding of Vietnam’s goodwill and efforts, strengthening trust and encouraging greater support for Vietnam in resolving post-war issues, expanding international cooperation, and maintaining peace and stability for development.”
Bao Trung
Journalist, Lieutenant Colonel Dang Bao Trung, former Deputy Head of the International News Desk, People’s Army Newspaper
Vietnamnet.vn
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