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WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump onWednesday spoke with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang overphone to reaffirm their commitment to strengthening bilateralrelations.

The White House said in an announcement that the two leadersdiscussed bilateral defense relationship as well as regionalsecurity issues.

They also discussed trade issues, and pledged to ensurebilateral trade "fair and reciprocal," it added.

Xu Liping, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy ofSocial Sciences (CASS), told Xinhua that the Washington-Hanoidefense cooperation has been haunted by both the severe lacking ofmutual trust and their war-time history.

"The prospect for their further defense collaboration is quitelimited, as can be proved by the U.S. rejection of Vietnam's offerto build strategic partnership," he said. Enditem