Trump's USAID cull hands China the upper hand in Southeast Asia

A policy meant to put 'America First' is instead accelerating America's retreat

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People hold placards outside the USAID building in Washington on Feb. 3 after Elon Musk said work was underway to shut down the U.S. foreign aid agency. © Reuters

Dien Luong is a visiting fellow with the media, technology and society program of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and a doctoral student in communications and media at the University of Michigan.

In April 2015, in a national speech marking 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War, Nguyen Tan Dung, the pro-West prime minister at the time, did not mince words when he recalled the "countless barbarous crimes" committed by the U.S. during the conflict.

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