HANOI: US Secretary of State John Kerry began his farewell tour in Vietnam Friday, giving a final push for Washington's so-called Asia pivot before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next week.
Vietnam has been at the centre of outgoing President Barack Obama's Asia embrace, marked by the lifting of a wartime-era arms embargo, major growth in trade and the signing of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact.
Trump, whose tirades against the costs of globalisation to American workers helped propel him to office, has vowed to scrap the TPP on his first day in charge.
But analysts say ties are unlikely to crumble despite uncertainty over the incoming leader's Asia strategy.
Kerry's visit to Vietnam, his fourth trip to the communist country as America's top diplomat, is both political and deeply personal.
The former naval officer won a Silver Star for his service during the Vietnam War after beaching his patrol boat and storming ashore to shoot dead a Viet Cong ambusher in Ca Mau province in 1969.
Kerry later came to see the war as a mistake and after his return from combat campaigned for peace.
"I'm delighted to be back in Vietnam where we are developing still a growing relationship," Kerry said during a Friday meeting with acting foreign minister Bui Thanh Son and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
"There have been a lot of steps forward but there are still some challenges as you know," he said, after a reporter asked him about Vietnam's patchy human rights record.
The communist country routinely jails dissidents and government critics.
After official meetings in Hanoi, Kerry flies to Ho Chi Minh City later Friday.
On Saturday he heads to the Bay Hap river in Ca Mau on Saturday to revisit the site of his 1969 ambush.
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