Hanoi – President Joe Biden on Sunday affirmed that the United States and Vietnam would elevate their relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” – a transfer the White House described as ‘unprecedented and momentous,” and that brings the U.S. level with its main adversary, China, which has the same upper-tier diplomatic status with Vietnam.
“Vietnam and the United States are vital companions at what I’d argue is a really vital time,” Biden said during his first meeting after arriving to a triumphant welcome in Vietnam’s verdant capital, Hanoi, where thousands of residents watched his motorcade pass by. “I’m not saying that to be well mannered. I’m saying it as a result of I imply it from the underside of my coronary heart.’
‘Vietnam will proceed to strengthen its ties to the U.S. and different worldwide companions within the spirit of Ho Chi Minh after Vietnam achieved its independence,’ mentioned Nguyen Phu Trong, the overall secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who is taken into account the nation’s strongest and revered political official.
‘Vietnam is a buddy, a dependable accomplice and a accountable member of the worldwide group,’ he added.
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Neither spoke overtly about Beijing’s elevated ambitions or its obvious strikes, by way of a brand new map, to say territory that Vietnam claims.
“The Vietnamese want a stronger relationship with the United States,” John Kirby, director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, advised VOA on the sidelines of the journey. “The Vietnamese share many concerns that the United States has, both economically and from a security perspective in the region. We share a lot of interests; we also have a shared perspective of some of the challenges including the course of behavior of the PRC. It’s really quite a stunning turn of events over recent decades to see our two countries working together this closely.”
This is an enormous step from a nation that solely established relations with the U.S. in 1995, and which has rigorously calibrated its relationship with its highly effective northern neighbor, China.
In current years, that bond has strengthened.
Trong and Biden have met earlier than. Trong was the primary Vietnamese Communist Party chief to ever go to the U.S., in 2015, and he was hosted for dinner by then-vice president Biden.
US President Joe Biden participates in a welcome ceremony hosted by Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Sept. 10, 2023.
The elevation from complete partnership to complete strategic partnership is critical. Vietnam counts solely 4 different nations on that stage: China, Russia, India and South Korea.
The distinction “sounds like word soup to those of us in the U.S., but for Vietnam, a communist state with a pretty rigid kind of Leninist hierarchy of diplomatic relations, this stuff actually matters,” mentioned Gregory Poling, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“Vietnam has a very clear hierarchy of diplomatic relations,” mentioned Poling, who additionally serves as director of the Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative on the CSIS.
“There’s also rumors they may do that for Japan and Australia as well, all of which suggests that the Vietnamese are willing to take a bit of retaliation from China now to make that happen,” he added. “And that will send a message, I think, up and down the Vietnamese government that senior levels are committed to a closer relationship with the Americans, so everybody get on board.”
Bich Tran is a postdoctoral Fellow on the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Tran mentioned the connection was “due for an upgrade.”
“An official upgrade will empower Vietnamese officials in engaging with their American counterparts,” she mentioned. “This year is considered the best time to do so because it marks 10 years of comprehensive partnership and 50 years of diplomatic relations. An upgrade will entail deeper security cooperation between the two countries and Vietnam’s commitment to further improve its human rights record.”