Vietnam reiterates opposition to Cuba sanctions

"The maintenance of the U.S. economic and financial embargo on Cuba is not appropriate and needs to be completely terminated soon to meet the aspirations and legitimate interests of the people of Cuba," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a press conference Thursday.

She also said that Vietnam welcomes the latest U.N. General Assembly resolution that has called for the lifting of the sanctions.

Hang was responding to a question about Vietnam’s reaction to the U.S. announcement of new sanctions against Cuba.

On November 1, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. economic and financial embargo imposed on Cuba with an overwhelming majority.

This year, the resolution was passed with 191 out of 193 countries voting for it. Only two countries voted against it: the U.S. and Israel.

Trump has taken a harder line on Cuba after former President Barack Obama sought to set aside decades of hostility between Washington and Havana. He has rolled back parts of Obama’s 2014 detente by tightening rules on Americans traveling to the island and restricting U.S. companies from doing business there, starting November 8, Reuters reported.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and his wife are on an official visit to Vietnam between November 8 and 10, as part of his first Asian tour as the chief of state.