HANOI, April 15 (Portal) – Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday expressed a desire to deepen and improve their ties as Washington seeks to solidify alliances in the region in an increasingly assertive move to counter China.
On his first visit to the key Southeast Asian country as top US diplomat, Blinken began his journey by meeting Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. In brief remarks ahead of their meeting, he said there had been “extraordinary advances” in relations between the two countries over the past decade.
“We now have hope of being able to take it to an even higher level and deepen the economic partnerships even further,” Blinken said, while noting that the two nations mark the 10th anniversary of their formal partnership this year.
Chinh said the two sides are looking to take ties “to a new height” after a phone call last month between President Joe Biden and Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, a conversation he described as a “great success”.
The diplomatic anniversary and Biden-Trong call could lead to a meeting between the two in July or other high-level meetings, analysts say. However, it is still unclear when an upgrade of the formal ties could be agreed.
The United States faces the challenge of building a coalition in Southeast Asia to confront China and deter any possible Beijing action against Taiwan. Many countries in the region are reluctant to upset their giant neighbor, which is not only a military power but also a key trading partner and a major source of investment.
For the US, Vietnam is a key Southeast Asian trading partner with which Washington wants to strengthen ties. But for Hanoi, it was a difficult balancing act of working with Washington without angering Beijing, despite Vietnam’s alarmed by China’s mounting claims in the South China Sea.
DIPLOMATIC BILL
The diplomatic calculus is further complicated by the ever-closer ties between Beijing and Moscow, which last year declared a partnership without borders shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“We greatly appreciate the US role and responsibility towards Asia-Pacific,” Chinh said.
Some analysts expressed doubts about the potential upgrade.
“First, from a Vietnamese perspective, there is no need to unnecessarily anger China… Another is that Hanoi wants to avoid appearing openly as part of the US Indo-Pacific strategy designed to counter China,” Rand Corporation said Senior Defense Analyst Derek Grossmann said.
Blinken also laid the groundwork for a new US embassy compound in Hanoi after meeting the prime minister, a project years in the making that he says represents “a significant step” in strengthening ties.
In his meeting with Chinh, Blinken stressed “the importance of human rights,” Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the State Department, said after the meeting. Rights groups have regularly raised concerns about the treatment of dissidents in the communist country.
Earlier this week, a court in Hanoi sentenced a prominent Vietnamese political activist to six years in prison for anti-state activities, his lawyer said.
After meeting Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Blinken will meet with Trong before leaving for Japan on Sunday to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of the Seven Wealthy Nations.
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Edited by Kim Coghill
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