Hillary Clinton made history when she became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos in more than five decades, measuring if a place the U.S. stormed with bombs during the Vietnam War could evolve into a new foothold of American influence in Asia. The secretary of state met with the communist government’s prime minister and foreign minister in the capital of Vientiane on Wednesday, part of a weeklong diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia. The mission is to strengthen the United States’ standing in some of the fastest growing markets in the world, and counter China’s expanding economic, diplomatic, and military dominance of the region.
In Clinton’s meetings, she discussed environmental concerns over a proposed dam on the Mekong River, investment opportunities, and joint efforts to clean up the tens of millions of exploded bombs the U.S. dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War, making Laos the most heavily bombed nation per person in world history. After the meetings, Clinton said they “traced the arc of our relationship from addressing the tragic legacies of the past to finding a way to being partners of the future.”
