Biden touts corporate deals in Vietnam including $7.5 billion Boeing jet pact as government leaders toast to his health and sip Pho a day after Communist Party head said the president hadn’t ‘aged a day’

Vietnam’s leaders toasted President Joe Biden’s health Monday as he cultivated power brokers and business leaders, a day after the head of the country’s Communist Party said he had “not aged a day.”

The toast came as Biden met with Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong at the presidential palace in Hanoi, part of an effort to strengthen growing political ties with the country’s leadership, which is upgrading its official diplomatic status with the US.

It came on a day when Biden is also promoting business ties between the US and Vietnam, including a new deal for Vietnam Arlines to buy about 50 planes from Chicago-based Boeing for $7.5 billion. In another deal, Arizona-based Amkor Technology will build a $1.6 billion factory in the country’s Bac Ninh province.

Those economic ties could be further strengthened if Vietnam, with U.S. government support, purchases F-16 fighter jets in the coming months. Vietnam is seeking to diversify its military hardware while continuing its arms trade with Russia, which has traditionally been its supplier.

According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Vietnam is the United States’ tenth largest trading partner, with a two-way trade volume of approximately $90 billion.

Biden — who is on his first-ever trip to Vietnam — said it was an honor to be there, adding that it was a day that “not so long ago might have seemed impossible.” He also referred to the “limitless possibilities that lie ahead” as the US and Vietnam strengthen ties amid China’s continued inflection in the region.

Biden, a teetotaler, also quoted a Vietnamese poet during his own toast and remarks.

He was accompanied by Prime Minister Phm Minh Chính during his talk with business bosses and said “the sky is the limit” on cooperation. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was there.

“We must develop and advance our cooperation, we must forge new partnerships,” Biden said.

Companies represented at the meeting included Boeing Global, semiconductor company Marvell and Google. He was also scheduled to meet Vuong Dinh Hue, chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly.

The global deal-making came just hours after Biden visited the headquarters of the Vietnamese Communist Party, which has a hammer and sickle on display on the outside.

At that event, Biden received a vote of confidence in his youthful attitude – from the aging Communist Party leader who had spent decades amassing power in Hanoi.

Communist Party of Vietnam Secretary General Nguyễn Phú Trọng, 79, delivered the compliment as he welcomed Biden to Vietnam for a visit where the US will be elevated to a “comprehensive strategic partner” and the president will honor the late Senator John McCain .

Trọng smeared the 80-year-old Biden at the Communist Party headquarters, under a large statue of Ho Chi Minh.

‘Nice to see you again. You haven’t aged a day and I’d say you look even better than before,” Trong said, causing the president to chuckle.

“Every characteristic of you, Mr. President, is very complementary to your image,” Trong added.

Trong made the comment as the two men sat at a long table to announce the upgraded status of the US.

“This is Vietnam’s highest level of international partnership,” Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer explained to reporters aboard Air Force One prior to the arrival.

Biden arrived in Hanoi on Sunday afternoon after spending two days in India at the G20 leaders’ summit.

He was taken to Vietnam’s presidential palace, where he was treated to a welcome ceremony that included a musical performance and dozens of schoolchildren waving the flags of both countries.

Joining Biden was former Secretary of State and Senator John Kerry, whose efforts in the Vietnam War and subsequent objections to the conflict were a key part of the Democrat’s 2004 presidential election.

The two former Senate colleagues will pay tribute on Monday to one of their own – McCain – who was detained prisoner of war for five years in Vietnam after his plane was shot down on October 26, 1967.

Kerry, who was appointed by Biden as his climate czar, told DailyMail.

com that he was recently in Vietnam “working on a lot of things” and confirmed that he would attend the event in McCain’s honor on Monday.

There is now a memorial at the crash site.

“A through line you will see in our time is the arc of five decades in the US-Vietnam relationship, from conflict to normalization to the establishment of a Comprehensive Partnership in 2013 and now to this elevated status of partnership, once again the highest level in the world. Vietnamese system,” Finer said.

The upgrade is another way the US is trying to counter China.

Yet top Vietnamese officials also took care of their relations with China before Biden’s arrival, a decision that reflects China’s powerful power and long-term commitment despite longstanding tensions between the two nations.

Vietnam “cannot be sure that the United States will really come to their aid when push comes to shove with China,” said John Ciociari, professor of public policy and director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School at the University of Michigan. told DailyMail.com.

“The country is still heavily dependent on China for trade and investment,” he noted.

The New York Times reports this On Saturday, a day before Biden’s arrival, it emerged that Vietnam was also seeking an arms deal with Russia, despite deepening its US ties and amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Finer noted how the US has discouraged countries from pursuing military partnerships with Russia.

“It should not be attractive to have a security relationship with a country that commits war crimes, that commits violations of international law,” Finer said.

But Finer also pointed out that Vietnam and Russia have long-standing military ties.

“Vietnam has a decades-long relationship with Russia, and a decades-long military relationship with Russia. But our strong feeling is that there is increasing discomfort among the Vietnamese about that relationship,” Finer said.

“The value proposition of that relationship is not what it once was,” he added, calling the disentanglement of Vietnam and Russia a “work in progress.”