President Obama got a superhero’s welcome in Vietnam on Tuesday.
Air Force One touched down in Ho Chi Minh City — where Obama was greeted by throngs of Vietnamese people, including a little boy dressed in a Captain America outfit, who were chanting the president’s name and waving signs that said, “Obama, we love you.”
Other well-wishers included a man dressed in an American flag T-shirt playing a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the violin at a KFC in Hanoi.
Obama has been touting the rekindled relationship between the US and Vietnam, but he did not hesitate to slam the government’s decision to bar several activists from meeting with him Tuesday.
“There are still areas of significant concern in terms of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, accountability with respect to government,” he said.
He insisted that he was not trying to “impose the American form of government on Vietnam.”
The speech was broadcast live on Vietnamese TV, which rarely airs criticism of the Communist government.
Obama is spending three days in Vietnam before continuing on to Japan as part of a week-long visit to Asia.
With Post wires