A U.S. envoy visits Hanoi days after Putin, saying US-Vietnam trust is at ‘all-time high’
Hanoi, Vietnam — A senior US diplomat held talks in Vietnam on Saturday and said trust between the two countries was at a “record high”, just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi.
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink insisted his trip had nothing to do with that Putin’s visit on Thursday. Vietnam had elevated the United States to the highest diplomatic status and comprehensive strategic partner last year, putting the country on the same level as China and Russia. The deepening ties with the US suggested Vietnam was looking to hedge its friendships as Western companies look to diversify their supply chains away from China.
Kritenbrink spoke at a briefing for selected media in Hanoi. A recording of the interaction was reviewed by The Associated Press.
Putin’s visit to Hanoi had prompted a sharp rebuke from the US Embassy in Hanoi, which said that “no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities,” referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. now in its third year.
The US envoy to East Asia echoed these concerns, but said he had made it clear to Vietnamese officials that the “main reason” for his trip was the US-Vietnam partnership. He met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.
“Only Vietnam can decide how best to protect its sovereignty and promote its interests,” he said, highlighting economic ties between Vietnam and its largest export market. U.S. trade between the two countries reached $111 billion in 2023 – up from just $3.6. billion between Vietnam and Russia.
Russia remains important to Vietnam not only because it is a long-time ally from the Cold War era, but also because it remains the largest defense supplier and Russian oil exploration technologies help maintain Vietnamese sovereignty claims in the disputed battle. South Chinese Ocean.
Kritenbrink said that is from China act increasingly assertively in pushing its claims to virtually the entire South China Sea were a cause of “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 could pit the US against China if confrontations on the high seas escalate into armed conflict.
Vietnam said Friday that it was willing to hold talks with the Philippines to settle its overlapping claims to the undersea continental shelf in the South China Sea in a diplomatic manner that contrasts with China’s.
“We believe that China’s actions, especially its recent actions, around the Second Thomas Shoal, toward the Philippines, have been irresponsible, aggressive, dangerous and deeply destabilizing,” Kritenbrink said. He emphasized that defense treaties between the US and its ally the Philippines were ‘iron strong’.
The Philippines said Friday it has no plan to invoke its mutual defense treaty with the US, after the Chinese coast guard reportedly rammed, drilled and used machetes and axes to damage two Philippine Navy boats in a chaotic confrontation that left Philippine naval personnel injured.