If Miss Saigon meets Mr. Obama, what would she say?

A 17-year-old Vietnamese girl named Kim and U.S. soldier Chris spend the night together and exclaim how miraculous it is for them to run into each other from their two very different worlds, singing, “You are sunlight and I moon…sharing the sky…” Perhaps, this should be the most beautiful scene in the musical Miss Saigon, which is set against the background of the Vietnam War. Also spectacular was the scene where a life-size helicopter appears to pull out the U.S. forces when Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) fell in April 1975, but it came under the criticism that it depicted the place where the Vietnamese lived as a brothel and distorted the image of the young Vietnamese fighting for their country as a subject of fear while glorifying the U.S. forces as a savior.

At the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh, you can see live bats flying above the fighter jets and tank models, and the real-size dolls imprisoned in a small cell, maximizing the sense of horror and anti-American sentiment. In 1995, Vietnam established diplomatic ties with the U.S. in 20 years since it was communized, and this shocked the international community, sending the message friends and foes do not last forever. On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama paid a visit to Vietnam. The New York Times compared this with former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s visit to the communist country, saying that Obama’s task is “a bit less dramatic, but is in many ways far more ambitious.” Such eval‎uation is based on the fact that both the U.S. and Vietnam are seeking to keep China in check.

Having weighed its diplomatic options between the U.S. and China, Vietnam seems to have turned more favorable for the U.S. owing to its territorial disputes over the South China Sea. The Chief Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam visited the U.S. for the first time in July last year, and there was a notable emergence of the pro-American officials during the National Congress early this year. If the motion on the Trans-Pacific Partnership is passed in July, Vietnam will become the first ratified member of the partnership.

Having opened the channel to Iran and Cuba, as well as Myanmar, President Obama appears ready to add his finishing touch to the "Obama Diplomacy" by visiting Vietnam and Japan to further heal the scars left by the Vietnam War and Pacific War, both of which are considered "immoral war." During the summit on Sunday, the head of state even lifted the U.S. ban on sales of lethal weapons to the country that it waged war against for 10 years. In the musical, Kim commits suicide after sending her son to his father in the U.S. If Kim had been alive and met with President Obama, she would’ve called the summit a miracle.

허문명논설위원 angelhuh@donga.com