A senior US diplomat held talks in Vietnam on Saturday and said trust between the 2 countries had reached an “all-time high” just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi.
US Deputy Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Daniel Kritenbrink insisted his trip was unrelated to Putin’s visit on Thursday.
Last 12 months, Vietnam elevated the United States to its highest diplomatic status as a comprehensive strategic partner, putting it on the identical level as China and Russia.
The strengthening of ties with the US suggested that Vietnam desired to safeguard its friendships as Western corporations look to diversify their supply chains away from China.
Kritenbrink was speaking at a briefing for chosen media in Hanoi. Footage of the interaction was reviewed by the Associated Press.
Putin’s visit to Hanoi prompted a pointy rebuke from the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, which stated that “no country should provide Putin with a platform to advertise his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities”, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its third 12 months.
The U.S. envoy to East Asia echoed those concerns, but said he had made clear to Vietnamese officials that the “primary reason” for his trip was the U.S.-Vietnam partnership. He met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.
“Only Vietnam can decide how best to protect its sovereignty and advance its interests,” he said, highlighting the economic relationship between Vietnam and its largest export market, the United States. In 2023, trade between the 2 countries was $111 billion, in comparison with just $3.6 billion between Vietnam and Russia.
Russia stays necessary to Vietnam not only since it is an old Cold War ally, but additionally since it continues to be its largest defense supplier, and Russian oil exploration technologies help maintain Vietnam’s claims of sovereignty within the disputed South China Sea.
Kritenbrink said China’s increasingly assertive actions in insisting on its claims to virtually your complete South China Sea are a reason behind “great concern” for the region and the world.
The territorial disputes involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have long been seen as an Asian flashpoint that would pit the U.S. against China if high-seas confrontations escalate into armed conflict.
Vietnam said on Friday it was able to hold talks with the Philippines to settle overlapping claims to the South China Sea’s undersea continental shelf, using a diplomatic approach contrasting with China.
“We believe that China’s actions, particularly recent ones around the Second Thomas Bank towards the Philippines, have been irresponsible, aggressive, dangerous and deeply destabilizing,” Kritenbrink said.
He stressed that defense treaties between the US and its ally the Philippines are “armored.”
The Philippines said on Friday it didn’t plan to invoke its mutual defense treaty with the US after Chinese coast guards reportedly rammed, boarded and used machetes and axes to break two Philippine navy boats in a chaotic brawl, resulting through which injured Philippine Navy personnel.
