WORLD POLITICS: BIDEN VISITS VIETNAM, OFFERS ALTERNATIVE TO CHINA
The trip to Hanoi was centered on
the signing of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with the Vietnamese, a
symbolic but significant status long coveted by the United States. Since taking
office, Mr. Biden has sought to enhance relations with several Southeast Asian
nations because of their tactical value as a bulwark against rising Chinese
aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.
The U.S. President secured deals
with Vietnam on semiconductors and minerals as the strategic Southeast Asian
nation elevated Washington to its highest diplomatic status alongside China and
Russia.
The U.S. has been pushing for the upgrade for months as it
sees the manufacturing dynamo as a key country in its strategy to secure global
supply chains from China-related risks.
A half-century after a lengthy and brutal Cold War-era
conflict, Biden arrived in Hanoi to a ceremony organised by the ruling
Communist Party that included school children waving American flags and honour
guards carrying bayoneted rifles.
President Joe Biden hailed closer
ties with Vietnam on his first visit to the country, as the US seeks to make
deeper inroads in the region by offering nations an alternative superpower to
China.
“I think we have an enormous
opportunity,” Biden told General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of the
country’s ruling Communist Party, at a meeting in Hanoi. “Vietnam and the
United States are critical partners at this very critical time. I’m not saying
that to be polite, I’m saying that because I mean it from the bottom of my
heart.”
Vietnam has to navigate frosty
relations between Washington and Beijing as it seeks its own foothold in the
international economic competition.
Top Chinese officials, possibly
including President Xi Jinping, are expected to visit Vietnam in the coming
days or weeks, officials and diplomats said, as Hanoi seeks to maintain good
relations with all super powers.
It also comes as Vietnam's longstanding
relationship with Russia faces tests over the war in Ukraine, including talks
with Russia over a new arms supply deal that could trigger U.S. sanctions.
The agreement “has strengthened our
ties with another critical Indo-Pacific partner,” Mr. Biden said during a news
conference after meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the
Communist Party of Vietnam. He added: “The United States is a Pacific nation,
and we’re not going anywhere” — a statement that appeared intended to put China
on notice.
Mr. Biden also dismissed
accusations by Beijing that the United States has a “Cold War” mentality amid
recent investment restrictions and heightened tensions over technology access.
“I don’t want to contain China,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.
“I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the
up-and-up and squared away.”
The American President met with
Mr. Trong despite objections of human rights activists.
While America is dubbed Champion
of Democracy, Vietnam is one of the most authoritarian countries in Southeast
Asia, and Mr. Trong’s government has harshly cracked down on dissent and
activism in recent years.
Earlier, Mr. Biden concluded an eventful trip to New Delhi by joining the Group of 20 leaders at the memorial of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the champion of nonviolent struggle. The annual summit was held amid low expectations because of nations’ divergent positions on the war in Ukraine and the absence of the leaders of Russia and China.
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