On September 10, U.S. President Joe Biden visited Hanoi to meet Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam's Central Committee. They elevated U.S.-Vietnam relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and discussed ways to promote a technology-focused and innovation-led Vietnamese economic growth, expand people-to-people exchanges through cooperation in education and workforce development programs and "increase peace, prosperity and stability" in the region.
Biden's stop in Hanoi is largely an effort to show that the U.S. is a better economic and security partner than China, beefing up "a credible alternative to the coercive and unsustainable lending practices of China," according to U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Biden's trip comes at a moment when Washington is still striving to move on from the "painful" legacy of the Vietnam War that left millions of Vietnamese dead. The U.S. State Department in its 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices accused the "authoritarian" Vietnamese government of unlawful killings, torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.
As a federal government agency, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, has just recently leveled serious allegations of "egregious, ongoing, and systematic violations" against Hanoi, and recommended the U.S. State to designate Vietnam as a "Country of Particular Concern". In light of these allegations, the Vietnamese people and the country's government would wonder how the U.S. could be trusted as a reliable partner in bringing peace and prosperity to them.
Through his high-stakes visit, Biden is seeking to reinforce America's regional position and impose a "new economic world order," which echoes former U.S. President George H. W. Bush's doctrine of creating a "new world order" based on self-styled shared democratic and capitalist values. The redressed version of Washington's aspirations to dominate the world by controlling the global economy inevitably sees China's vision of common development as the greatest obstacle.
For Biden, elevating their relationship with Hanoi and increasing the U.S.'s imports from Vietnam are some of the ways to carve the Southeast Asian country away from Beijing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, bilateral trade between the two countries in 2022 had exceeded $138 billion.
While this year marks the 15th anniversary of China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership, trade between the two neighboring countries last year had leapfrogged to about $235 billion, making Vietnam Beijing's largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its sixth-largest trading partner worldwide.
Hanoi understands the importance of a robust relationship with Beijing. As a result, the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership has generally maintained a stable and positive momentum with high-level and people-to-people exchanges, contributing to enhanced economic relations and political trust between the two governments and greater peace and stability over land and sea.
In October, Trong became the first foreign leader to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping after the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
The U.S. efforts to solicit Vietnam as an ally in its rivalry with China, therefore, have been encountering resistance in Hanoi. The U.S. is clearly driving a wedge in China-Vietnam ties, which has become a priority of their foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific.
During his trip to Beijing in June, the Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minch Chinh met President Xi in Beijing and conveyed Trong's greetings and best wishes. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the growth of the bilateral relationship and agreed to promote the traditional friendship, properly handle disagreements and maintain peace and stability.
For his part, Pham reassured that developing ties with Beijing in a long-term manner was always the strategic direction and topmost objective of his country. He also promised setting up a working group on trade and investment to make bilateral cooperation "more pragmatic and effective" and welcomed Chinese companies to participate in Vietnamese infrastructure projects. The Vietnamese are pragmatic, and they know that they will benefit from the fraternal relations and "comrades-plus-brothers" friendship with Beijing; so they don't want to drag their country into the U.S. strategic competition with China, which could negatively impact Hanoi's economy.
Both China and Vietnam adhere to a policy of peaceful resolution of disputes. This urges the two countries to jointly preserve peace and prosperity as Biden arrives to implement the U.S. agenda in the region.
*My article that first appeared at CGTN: