As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey is the highest ranking U.S. military officer to visit Vietnam in more than 40 years.<br/> <br />In the capital Hanoi, he met with Vietnam's Deputy Defense Minister Do Ba Ty for talks on further strengthening military cooperation between these two former enemies.<br/> <br />Much has changed since April 1975, when the U.S. pulled out the last of its 300,000 troops fighting the Vietnam War.<br/> <br />Washington saw the war as the only way to block a communist takeover of Southeast Asia but the conflict left more than 58,000 U.S. troops dead.<br/> <br />Relations were normalized in 1995 under President Bill Clinton.<br/> <br />Dempsey's visit comes amid strained relations between Vietnam and neighbouring China over maritime sovereignty.<br/> <br />His presence in Hanoi is the latest of several gestures from Washington designed to demonstrate America's support for its former enemy
