US President Biden hails closer ties with Vietnam: ‘critical partners, critical time’
- Biden’s visit comes as the US pushes for Vietnam to supply components including semiconductors, and offers an alternative to superpower China
- The partnership has complications, though, as Vietnam has relied on Russia for military equipment while the US has tried to isolate Moscow
President Joe Biden hailed closer ties with Vietnam on his first visit to the country, as the US seeks to make deeper inroads in the region by offering nations an alternative superpower to China.
“I think we have an enormous opportunity,” Biden told General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of the country’s ruling Communist Party, at a meeting in Hanoi.
“Vietnam and the United States are critical partners at what I would argue is a very critical time. I’m not saying that to be polite. I’m saying it because I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”
Biden also said the two countries were strengthening their partnership on the climate and human rights.
Relations between the US and Vietnam have grown warmer in recent years, with both governments moving to upgrade ties that had long been strained over legacy issues stemming from the Vietnam war, which ended in 1975.
Ties may get a formal upgrade after Sunday’s meeting, particularly after Trong and Biden vowed in March to deepen the relationship between their nations.
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