US President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he will visit Vietnam “shortly” in an effort to strengthen ties with Hanoi as Washington seeks to offset China’s influence in the region.
“I’m going to be going to Vietnam shortly because Vietnam wants to change our relationship and become a partner,” Biden said during remarks in New Mexico.
“We find ourselves in a situation where all these changes around the world are taking place at a time we have an opportunity … to change the dynamic,” he added.
The United States and Vietnam have significant trade ties, and both are concerned about China’s growing power in the region.
For years, tensions have grown between Beijing and Southeast Asian countries, mainly Vietnam and the Philippines, over China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea.
When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Hanoi on his way to a Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers’ conference in Japan in April, he pledged to strengthen diplomatic ties.
“We think this is an auspicious time to elevate our existing partnership,” Blinken told reporters during the visit with Vietnamese leaders.
“We’ve had for the last 10 years this comprehensive partnership that has created an incredibly strong foundation of cooperation across many different areas. As a result, we think this is a good moment to go even further.”
Blinken also went to a groundbreaking ceremony for a new US embassy in Hanoi. In March, Biden met with Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party.
However, Washington has expressed concern over human rights concerns in Vietnam, with Blinken stating that he would continue “to emphasize how future progress on human rights is essential to unleashing the full potential of the Vietnamese people.”
The South China Sea has long been a source of contention between China and Vietnam, and many fear that a miscalculation or accident could spark a military clash.
Analysts believe Hanoi is more hesitant to improve relations with Washington because it is afraid of upsetting Beijing, a key economic partner, despite competing claims in the South China Sea.
Despite the fact that the US has no territorial claim over the waters, it has continued to conduct its own patrols there, which has enraged Beijing.
Washington claims this is to ensure “freedom of navigation” in the sea, through which trillions of dollars of trade travel each year.
In recent months, the US has also worked to mend relations with China, with Blinken visiting in June after a previous trip was canceled when an alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down by a US warplane while flying over the nation earlier this year.
