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The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

Remarks by President   Biden and President Võ Văn Thưởng of Vietnam at a State   Luncheon

Presidential Palace, Yellow Room Hanoi, Vietnam

1:26 P.M. ICT

MODERATOR: (As interpreted.) Today, on the occasion of the state visit to Vietnam by President Joe Biden, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, His Excellency Võ Văn Thưởng, solemnly hosts the banquet (inaudible) President Joe Biden and the high-level delegation of the United States of America.

We are very honored to invite your Excellency, President Võ Văn Thưởng, to deliver his welcome remarks.

PRESIDENT THƯỞNG: (As interpreted.) Honorable President Joseph Biden, distinguished American and Vietnamese guests, on behalf of the state and people of Vietnam, once again, I would like to warmly welcome you, President Joseph Biden of the United States of America, to Vietnam on your first state visit.

Your visit is truly significant. It builds on the very special character of Vietnam-U.S. relations. You are the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam at the invitation of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

During this visit, you have also joined General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng to announce the upgrade of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development. This is truly a new page in the relationship between our two countries — an enduring, stable long-term framework that opens up a vast space for further development of the bond between us for decades to follow.

Mr. President, distinguished guests, a mere five months after national independence, President Hồ Chí Minh penned a letter addressing President Truman, expressing the desire to establish a bond of full cooperation with the United States. As history would have it, this desire had to confront countless turmoil and challenges — all of such we have overcome. And today, we can speak with joy that never before has the relationship between our two countries reached such flourishing height as today.

From former enemies to Comprehensive Strategic Partners, this is truly a model in the history of international relations as to how reconciliation and relationship-building should proceed after a war. This is a result of the efforts to walk past such challenges and vicissitudes of history by so many generations of our country’s leaders and people.

Over the past 50 years, we have witnessed events of such significance in the relationship and the unprecedented quantum leaps in our relationship. There have been momentous achievements in various areas of cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S. — from economic, trade, investment ties and in education and training cooperation, to various mechanisms for dialogue and joint efforts across different domains and sectors.

Across the comprehensive areas of cooperation between us, I would like to specifically call to attention the truly pride-worthy and striking achievements in our cooperation in addressing war legacy issues.

Allow me to cite the dioxin remediation projects in Da Nang and Bien Hoa airports; support given by the U.S. in various ways to Vietnamese persons with disabilities, including Agent Orange victims of the second and third generation; and the re- — and the removal of UXOs left behind after the war.

And most recently, for the first time, our two countries have started working together to conduct forensic identification of yet unidentified remains of Vietnamese war martyrs. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to generations of U.S. administrations and people — and to you, Mr. President, and the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden — for your active support for Vietnam in the humanitarian field.

On our part, since 1973, Vietnam has actively conducted unilateral searches for American MIAs. In 1988, both sides commenced the first joint mission. After half a century, the co- — the full cooperation between Vietnam and U.S. in this area is still growing stronger and stronger. Many American MIAs lost in high mountains or deep oceans, even the — on grounds hardly ever tread, have since been found — their remains returned to their home.

Mr. President, distinguished guests, to quote Secretary General Nguyễn Phú Trọng, “Set aside the past, overcome differences, build on similarities, look to the future.”

You have also pledged your support for a strong, independent, resilient, and prosperous Vietnam. I have a strong belief that building on the length of Vietnam-U.S. relations with mutual trust and respect, and given the new driver we have established during your visit, the Strategic — Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development between Vietnam and the U.S. will continue to grow in strength and substance and bring concrete benefits to our two peoples, make positive contributions to peace, friendship, cooperation and sustainable development in the region and the world.

Let me take this opportunity to express my respectful gratitude to the different agencies, organizations, and individuals from both countries who, from one generation to the next, have tirelessly cultivated and nurtured the relationship between Vietnam and the U.S.

Of these very exemplary persons, I would like to especially honor the late Senator John McCain, former Senator Patrick Leahy, and Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry — truly close friends of Vietnam through the years.

Let us, in the generations to come, work together to build on these efforts to preserve, reinforce, and grow this special relationship, take it higher and further in the warm atmosphere of friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the United States of America.

Let us raise our glasses to the happiness of the American people and the prosperity of the United States of America, to the flourishing Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the United States of America, to the good health of President Joe Biden, and to the good health of all present here today. (Applause.)

(President Thưởng offers a toast.)

MODERATOR: Now we have the great honor to invite Your Excellency, Mr. Joe Biden, President of the United States of America, to respond.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Mr. President, the — the great Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Du once wrote, “In glory they made up for their past hardships, and their love got fresher and warmer each day.”

Mr. President, friends, it’s an honor to be here today on this historic occasion, a day when we feel all the glory and warmth of the boundless possibilities that lie ahead — a day that may have seemed impossible not that long ago.

As a matter of fact, I was just in the other room with my very close and old friend, Tom Vallely, who is the guy who put together the Fulbright University. And he was helping me when I was a much younger man trying to get the nomination for president.

And we were sitting in a small twin-engine plane. And I looked at him, and I said, “Tom, why are you doing this for me?” He said, “Because I want to fundamentally change the relationship with Vietnam.” And he had been here as a soldier. “I want to fundamentally change that relationship.” And he’s worked his whole career to do that.

And, you know, for — we — as we sit side by side, Mr. President, we’re reminded of the hard work we all did to get here to overcome the hardships of the past and seize the promises of the future — one of greater opportunity, dignity, security, and prosperity for all our people.

And as we trace this 50-year arc of progress between our nations, there’s one common denominator: you, our people, our activities, our activists, our entrepreneurs, our scholars, our veterans, our innovators, and our leaders who never forget — like Senator, later Secretary Kerry, who was a brave soldier who fought here but wanted, every day since then, to make it better. Everyone in both our countries who’s working to make sure that people, no matter who they are, can seize potential of this moment.

I want to thank three close friends again in normalizing these relations: John Kerry, Tommy Vallely, and a close friend of the three of us — a guy who is not here today; a guy who, when he returned from Vietnam, came to work for me as a military aide in the United States Senate and then I convinced him he should run for United States Senate. He ran in the other party. We argued like hell from that point on, but we still loved one another. And John McCain, who I miss — we all three of us miss dearly today.

We know where there was darkness, you all found light. Where there was hardship, you found healing to bring us forward, to bring us together, to bring us to this day. It’s testament to how far our countries have come but, most importantly, how far we will go in the years ahead.

And that’s what Comprehensive Strategic Partners is about — and thank you for inviting us to have that status — going forward together, tackling challenges together, facing the future together.

So please join me, if you will, in — I’d like to make a toast. I quoted a Vietnamese poet to begin with, and I’m going to quote — my colleagues in the Senate always kidded me. I was always quoting Irish poets. I quote them not because I’m Irish — because they’re the best poets in the world. That’s why I quote them.

But all kidding aside. There is a great quote from a man whose wife I got to know after he passed away, Seamus Heaney. And he wrote a poem called “The Cure at Troy.” And this is my toast to all of you.

He said, “History teaches us, don’t hope on this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime, that longed-for tidal wave of justice rises up, and hope and history rhyme.”

Here’s to us making hope and history rhyme for all our people. God bless you all. (Applause.)

(President Biden offers a toast.)

1:40 P.M. ICT

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US and Vietnam ink historic partnership during visit by Joe Biden, with eyes on China

Topic: World Politics

Joe Biden said his visit to Vietnam was "not about containing China".  ( Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein )

Vietnam has elevated the US to the strategic South-East Asian nation's highest diplomatic status after US President Joe Biden arrived in Hanoi to an honour guard and school children waving American flags.

Key points:

• Mr Biden said his visit to Vietnam was not about trying to start a "cold war" with China
• He said it was about providing global stability by building US relationships throughout Asia 
• The US and Vietnam also secured deals on semiconductors and minerals 

A half-century after a lengthy and brutal Cold War-era conflict, Mr Biden on Sunday noted the strides that had been taken toward improved ties.

"We can trace a 50-year arc of progress between our nations, from conflict to normalisation, to this new elevated status," he said.

The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam is part of the Biden administration's push "to demonstrate to our Indo-Pacific partners and to the world, the United States is a Pacific nation and we're not going anywhere," Mr Biden told reporters after the meeting in Hanoi.

It comes just months after a visit to Vietnam by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese , who was greeted in a similar fashion, amid a push to finalise a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Canberra and Hanoi.

Mr Albanese's visit resulted in a raft of agreements and was followed by the release of Australian man Chau Van Kham from a Vietnamese prison .

Mr Biden said his visit to Vietnam to showcase stronger ties with Hanoi was not about trying to start a "cold war" with China, but rather was part of a broader effort to provide global stability by building US relationships throughout Asia at a time of tensions with Beijing.

"It's not about containing China," Mr Biden said at a news conference in Vietnam's capital after attending the Group of 20 summit in India.

"It's about having a stable base."

Human rights organisations accuse Vietnam of committing a range of human rights violations.  ( Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein )

'You have nary aged a day'

Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, 79, remarked on the 80-year-old US president's appearance inside party headquarters on Sunday, saying: "You have nary aged a day and I would say you look even better than before."

Mr Trong pledged that his country will work hard to implement the agreement. "Only then can we say it is a success," he said.

Mr Biden described the US and Vietnam as "critical partners at what I would argue is a very critical time".

Vietnam previously bestowed the same level of relations on China and Russia.

Elevating the US suggests that Vietnam wants to hedge its friendships as US and European companies look for alternatives to Chinese factories.

Mr Biden on Sunday secured deals with Vietnam on semiconductors and minerals 

Top Chinese officials, possibly including Chinese President Xi Jinping, are expected to visit Vietnam in the coming days or weeks, officials and diplomats say, as Hanoi seeks to maintain good relations with all superpowers.

Joe Biden said the US and Vietnam were "critical partners at what I would argue is a very critical time". ( Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein )

Upgrade includes security dimension

Jon Finer, Mr Biden's principal deputy national security adviser, addressed reports that Vietnam was pursuing a deal to buy weapons from Russia, even as Hanoi is seeking stronger relations with the US. 

Mr Finer acknowledged Vietnam's lengthy military relationship with Russia.

The US-Vietnam upgrade will include a security dimension, Mr Finer told reporters on Sunday.

He said he had no arms deals to announce at this stage but stressed that the US and its partners could offer Vietnam help to diversify away from Russian military supplies, an offer which he said Vietnam was receptive to.

That would help Vietnam reduce military reliance on Moscow, "a relationship we think they are increasingly uncomfortable with", Mr Finer said.

Human rights criticism

In a statement ahead of the meeting, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Mr Biden should use the opportunity to publicly urge Vietnam's leaders to immediately release all political prisoners and reform abusive laws.

The organisation said issues in Vietnam include persecution of human rights and environmental defenders; suppression of freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly; and violations of freedom of religion and belief. 

HRW's deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, described Washington's official statement following the meeting as "total meaningless bullshit".

"Absolutely pathetic @WhiteHouse  statement on @POTUS  Biden visit to #Hanoi, claiming US-Vietnam human rights dialogue is somehow meaningful," Mr Robertson said on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

"That 'dialogue' really is #Vietnam giving weak excuses for State to happily swallow."

Biden meeting with Chinese premier

In response to one question, Mr Biden told reporters he had met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang while in India.

The contact is the highest-level interaction between US and Chinese officials since Mr Biden and Mr Xi held talks at last year's G20 in Indonesia. Mr Xi skipped the India talks and sent Mr Li in his place.

"We talked about stability," Mr Biden said.

"It wasn't confrontational at all."

The exchange, between G20 sessions Saturday, was brief, according to a senior Biden administration official.

It was not clear who approached whom, but Mr Biden was interested in seeing Mr Li and underscoring his desire to stabilise the up-and-down relationship between the two countries, said the official, who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Joe Biden was given an honour guard parade during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. ( Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein )

Biden says U.S. outreach to Vietnam is about providing global stability, not containing China

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HANOI —  President Biden said Sunday his visit to Vietnam to showcase stronger ties with Hanoi was not about trying to start a “cold war” with China, but rather was part of a broader effort to provide global stability by building U.S. relationships throughout Asia at a time of tensions with Beijing.

“It’s not about containing China,” Biden said at a news conference in Vietnam’s capital after attending the Group of 20 summit in India. “It’s about having a stable base.”

The American president came to Hanoi as Vietnam was elevating the United States to its highest diplomatic status, comprehensive strategic partner. That is evidence of how far the relationship has evolved from what Biden referred to as the “bitter past” of the Vietnam War.

The expanded partnership reflects a broader effort across Asia to counter China’s influence. Biden has said Vietnam wants to flex a degree of independence, and U.S. companies are seeking an alternative to imports from Chinese factories. He is pursuing possible allies while also trying to soothe tensions with China.

“I think we think too much in ... cold war terms,” Biden said at his news conference. “It’s not about that. It’s about generating economic growth and stability in all parts of the world. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

He added: “We have an opportunity to strengthen alliances around the world to maintain stability. That’s what this trip is all about.”

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Biden opened his news conference by saying he had “traveled around the world in five days,” from Washington to New Delhi and now Hanoi, showcasing efforts by his administration to forge alliances. The president will stop in Alaska on the way home Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In response to one question, Biden told reporters he had met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang while in India. The contact is the highest-level interaction between U.S. and Chinese officials since Biden and China’s president, Xi Jinping, held talks at last year’s G-20 in Indonesia . Xi skipped the India talks and sent Li in his place.

“We talked about stability. ... It wasn’t confrontational at all,” Biden said.

The exchange, between G-20 sessions Saturday, was brief, according to a senior Biden administration official. It was not clear who approached whom, but Biden was interested in seeing Li and underscoring his desire to stabilize the up-and-down relationship between the two countries, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Biden went into meetings with Vietnam’s leaders after his arrival in the country. He welcomed the new partnership and said he hoped for progress on climate, the economy and other issues during his 24-hour stop in Hanoi.

“We can trace a 50-year arc of progress between our nations from conflict to normalization to this new elevated status,” Biden said with Nguyễn Phú Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, at party headquarters.

Biden has described himself as being part of the “Vietnam generation” although he did not serve in a war. He was given five draft deferments and was exempted from military service because he had asthma as a teenager.

Biden called Vietnam “a friend, a reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community.” He noted that veterans such as John F. Kerry, his climate czar, and the late John McCain, a Vietnam POW and Republican senator from Arizona, found ways to build a relationship with Vietnam after the war.

“Both men saw so clearly, as I and so many others did, how much we had to gain by working together to overcome a bitter past,” Biden said.

Trong pledged that his country will work hard to implement the agreement. “Only then can we say it is a success,“ he said.

Biden described the U.S. and Vietnam as “critical partners at what I would argue is a very critical time.” Neither leader specifically discussed how China’s economic and geopolitical rise had contributed to their countries’ expanded partnership, yet it was hard to explain the mutual embrace without Beijing’s growing influence.

Vietnam previously bestowed the same level of relations on China and Russia. Elevating the U.S. suggests that Vietnam wants to hedge its friendships as U.S. and European companies look for alternatives to Chinese factories.

With China’s economic slowdown and Xi’s consolidation of political power , Biden sees an opportunity to bring more nations, including Vietnam and Cambodia, into America’s orbit.

Biden was welcomed upon his arrival in Vietnam with a pomp-filled ceremony outside the mustard-colored Presidential Palace. Schoolchildren lined the steps and waved American and Vietnam flags. Biden watched from an elevated review stand as high-stepping members of the military marched past.

Biden and Trong both expressed happiness at seeing each other again after last meeting some eight years ago in Washington. Biden was vice president at that time.

Trong had some flattering words for Biden, who is running for reelection next year and faces persistent questions at home about his age.

“You have nary aged a day, and I would say you look even better than before,” Trong said. “I would say every feature of you, Mr. President, is complimenting your image.” Biden chuckled at that.

But the packed schedule and jet lag appeared to take a toll on the 80-year-old president, who wrapped up his news conference saying, “I’m going to go to bed.”

Jon Finer, Biden’s principal deputy national security advisor, addressed reports that Vietnam was pursuing a deal to buy weapons from Russia, even as Hanoi is seeking stronger relations with the U.S. Finer acknowledged Vietnam’s lengthy military relationship with Russia. He said the U.S. continues to work with Vietnam and other countries that have similar ties to Russia to try to limit their interactions with Moscow, which Washington accuses of committing war crimes and violating international law with its invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. trade with Vietnam has already accelerated, but there are limits to how much further it can grow without improvements to the country’s infrastructure, its workers’ skills and its governance. Nor has increased trade automatically put the Vietnamese economy on an upward trajectory.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that the CEOs she talks with rank Vietnam highly as a place to diversify supply chains that, before the COVID-19 pandemic, had been overly dependent on China.

American imports of Vietnamese goods have nearly doubled since 2019 to $127 billion annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But it is unlikely that Vietnam, with its population of 100 million, can match the scale of Chinese manufacturing. In 2022, China, with 1.4 billion people, exported four times as many goods to the U.S. as did Vietnam.

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Vietnam and U.S. Forge Deeper Ties as Worries Rise About China

President Biden is expected to celebrate a new upgrade in relations with Vietnam this weekend, despite concerns about the country’s authoritarian crackdown and repression.

By Sui-Lee Wee

When President Biden arrives in Vietnam on Sunday, he is set to celebrate a new phase in the Washington-Hanoi relationship that would bring two historical foes closer than they’ve ever been, drawn together by China’s mounting ambitions.

During his state visit to Vietnam on Sunday, Mr. Biden is expected to oversee the signing of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with Hanoi, a symbolic but significant status long coveted by the United States. Vietnam has until now reserved this status for only four countries: China, Russia, India and South Korea. For years, it had resisted granting this distinction to the United States out of fear of offending China.

But as Beijing continues to encroach on waters claimed by Vietnam and as the United States looks for more partners to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, the former enemies have found common ground. Some experts believe Hanoi may take the unprecedented move of raising Washington’s designation up two notches, from the bottom tier of Vietnam’s bilateral ties hierarchy to the highest.

“It is a very remarkable event because we all know that Vietnamese foreign policy is very cautious,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “Whenever they try to upgrade any significant bilateral relations, they normally tend to do it step by step because of the fear that it may cause some concern, especially from Beijing.”

The agreement would send a message to China that Vietnam is now closer in the orbit of the United States. But there are limits.

For decades, Vietnam has leveraged its ties with Russia and China to gain advantage, even while making clear that it would not choose sides in any conflict. Hanoi is unlikely to join in a coalition against China because of its “Four No’s” policy: no participating in military alliances, no siding with one country to act against another, no foreign military bases, and no using force in international relations.

Mr. Biden will be meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, over the objections of human rights activists who say that the U.S. government’s professed commitment to promoting democracy and human rights abroad has been cast aside in favor of shoring up U.S. dominance in the region. Vietnam continues to be one of the most authoritarian countries in Southeast Asia, and Mr. Trong’s government has waged an especially harsh crackdown on dissent and activism in recent years.

Ben Swanton, co-director of the 88 Project , a U.S.-based nonprofit that focuses on human rights issues in Vietnam, said that closer ties between the United States and Vietnam had coincided with a significant increase in rights abuses by the Vietnamese state against its own citizens.

“It’s outrageous that President Biden has chosen to upgrade diplomatic ties with Vietnam at a time when the one-party state is in the middle of a brutal crackdown on activism, dissent, and civil society,” Mr. Swanton said in a statement. “Despite lofty rhetoric about promoting a ‘rules-based international order’ and defending freedom, Biden is once again cozying up to autocrats with atrocious human rights records.”

The U.S.-Vietnam relationship started off slow because of mistrust. For most of the 1990s, both countries were still preoccupied with dealing with the aftermath of the war, which ended in 1975.

“It’s ironic in a way that the way we started working together and building relationships and trust was by working on these issues,” said Scot Marciel, a fellow at Stanford University, who was the first U.S. diplomat to work in Hanoi since the end of the war.

The Biden administration has urgently sought displays of solidarity against China, and Vietnam is one of the few Southeast Asian nations that has publicly pushed back against China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea.

For these reasons, Vietnam represents “a critical swing state,” according to Kurt Campbell, Washington’s Indo-Pacific point person. “Even though we have different kinds of government, different overall values, I believe, fundamentally, the ability to work closely with Vietnam will be decisive for us going forward,” Mr. Campbell said in 2021.

Some leaders still publicly liken the relationship between Vietnam and China, which share an 800-mile border, to that of “comrades and brothers.” But the two countries have a tense and painful history — including a millennium-long stretch in which China was Vietnam’s colonial overlord — that has left Vietnam deeply wary of its largest neighbor.

The two countries fought a brief war in 1979, but began normalizing relations in the early 1990s. The relationship sharply worsened again in 2014 after Beijing moved an oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam. It prompted the Vietnamese government to seek out other countries as counterweights to China.

“What changed in Vietnam’s cooperation with other countries is that before 2014, Vietnam was still cautious and still emphasized the self-reliance principle,” said Bich Tran, a postdoctoral fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. “But after that, you saw an increasing number of vessels and equipment — Vietnam was willing to accept security assistance.”

Surveys have shown that a majority of Vietnamese elites welcome the political and strategic influence of the United States and are worried about China’s rise. Vietnam has “paid lip service” to Chinese programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative but has resisted making any commitments to them, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

China is watching the deepening U.S.-Vietnam relationship with concern. In April 2022, Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China called his counterpart in Vietnam, Bui Thanh Son, to stress that the United States was trying to “create regional tension and incite antagonism and confrontation by pushing ahead with the ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy.’”

“We can’t let the Cold War mentality resurge in the region and the tragedy of Ukraine be repeated around us,” Mr. Wang said.

Perhaps in a bid to dilute the significance of Sunday’s agreement, Vietnam has indicated in recent weeks that it also plans to upgrade ties with Japan, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.

For much of its history, Vietnam has been a close partner of Russia, the top supplier of weapons to the Southeast Asia state. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stirred anxiety in Vietnam, leaving leaders increasingly worried about managing its traditional alliances with Russia and China in a more polarized world, said Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Now, the upgrading of ties with the United States could lead to more American defense assistance. The United States — which lifted an arms embargo to Vietnam in 2016 — has transferred two coast guard vessels to Vietnam, with plans to send one more. Vietnam has also expressed interest in buying F-16 fighters and unarmed drones.

Each country has assets that the other side needs. Vietnam wants help from the United States in sharing technology to develop its nascent semiconductor industry and maritime surveillance. American technology companies looking to diversify away from China have found that Vietnam can be a partial alternative.

Analysts say Vietnam is likely to present its deepening alignment with the United States to China in economic terms. The United States is now the biggest export market and the second-biggest trading partner for Vietnam. In 2022, U.S.-Vietnam trade reached $124 billion, still lower than China-Vietnam trade at $176 billion.

There are other signs that Vietnam is seeking to soften the impact on China of a closer bond with the United States.

In recent months, Mr. Trong has met with multiple senior Chinese officials, ostensibly to notify them about the upgrade in ties with the United States. On Wednesday, the Chinese Communist Party’s international department head Liu Jianchao met with Mr. Trong, and “both sides agreed to consolidate political mutual trust.”

Mr. Liu told representatives from some Vietnamese think tanks and news media that “China is willing to join hands with all peace-loving” countries.

In response, a Vietnamese official told him that “in the face of the current complex and changing international situation and emerging global crises, countries around the world should strengthen unity and cooperation.” The official called on China to “make greater contributions to regional and world peace.”

Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times. She was part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. More about Sui-Lee Wee

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US President Biden visits Vietnam: Wartime foes to highest-level partners?

US President Joe Biden and Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong are expected to agree to new partnership.

Just days ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam for key talks on trade and closer diplomatic relations, the president paid homage to events from an earlier and very different time – when Washington and Hanoi were at war.

At the White House on Tuesday, Biden presented the Medal of Honor, the United States military’s highest award, to 81-year-old Larry Taylor, a retired army captain who had flown a Cobra attack helicopter during the height of the Vietnam War in 1968.

Under fire, out of fuel, and disregarding orders to return to base with his two-seater helicopter, Taylor persisted and saved the lives of four American soldiers who were surrounded by approximately 100 Vietnamese fighters.

Taylor’s actions “rewrote the fate of four families for generations to come”, Biden said at the award ceremony.

When Biden lands at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport on Sunday, he steps into a very different Vietnam and a phenomenally changed relationship with an old war foe.

Biden is scheduled to meet the most senior leaders of Vietnam’s Communist Party – the political organisation that was once an enemy – and is expected to sign agreements that elevate US relations to the highest level possible with Hanoi.

“This visit is a remarkable step in the strengthening of our diplomatic ties,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said ahead of the visit.

“It reflects the leading role that Vietnam will play in our growing network of partnerships in the Indo-Pacific,” Sullivan said.

Both countries, he also said, had laboured to overcome the “painful shared legacy” of the war, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Vietnamese and 58,000 US service members.

While diplomatic ties and trade are foremost in the scheduled meeting between Biden and Vietnam’s most powerful figure, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Washington also has its eyes set on China, which is increasingly flexing its economic and military muscle in the Asia Pacific region.

China will be watching Biden’s visit closely, too, assessing whether Vietnam’s cosying of relations with the US weakens Beijing’s influence in Hanoi or alters strategic interests with its southern neighbour.

‘Remarkable breakthrough in bilateral ties’

Vietnam and the US are already signatories to a “comprehensive partnership”, and speculation has focused on the elevation of relations to the highest level of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” – the most senior level in Vietnam’s diplomatic hierarchy, said Le Hong Hiep, senior fellow and coordinator of the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

If that were to occur during Biden’s visit, it would “represent a remarkable breakthrough in bilateral ties”, Hiep wrote recently in the ISEAS Fulcrum online magazine.

Vietnam “only forms such partnerships with those that it views as of great importance for its security, prosperity, and international standing,” Hiep said.

If the agreement is signed, Vietnam will be inviting Washington into a club of just four other comprehensive strategic partners: China, India, Russia, and South Korea.

While concerns over a backlash from China are credible, upgrading ties to such a level with the US at this time “makes perfect sense” for several reasons, Hiep said.

Washington’s commitment to keeping the Indo-Pacific maritime area free and open aligns with Vietnam’s interests amid China’s regional muscle flexing. The US is also Vietnam’s second largest trading partner (after China), but the US is, importantly, the largest export market for Vietnamese goods.

As Hiep notes, it would be a “sensible move for Hanoi” to have closer ties with such an important business partner.

Timing is also important.

It would be better to make the move to elevate ties with Washington now, before US-China competition sours even further, which could place Vietnam in a more tenuous situation when it came to making such a choice.

Nevertheless, closer ties with the US do not mark a major shift in Vietnam’s “strategic trajectory”, as it is in Hanoi’s best interests to pursue a “balanced foreign policy towards the major powers”.

‘Calculated risk worth taking’

Nguyen Khac Giang, a scholar of Vietnamese politics and visiting fellow at ISEAS, said the US may place more significance on the upgrade in relations with Vietnam, in terms of a counterbalance to China, than Hanoi has in mind.

Vietnam sees the agreement as serving a variety of goals, including the rejuvenation of a struggling economy and strengthening public faith in Vietnam’s foreign policy, Giang told Al Jazeera.

For Vietnam, the “upgrade carries both symbolic and practical significance, serving a range of interests from geopolitical counterbalancing to initiatives for economic diversification, making it a calculated risk worth taking,” he said.

Vietnam has skilfully balanced its relations with larger powers and it is not about to abandon that approach now, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy at the University of New South Wales.

What has changed, however, is that Vietnam sees the importance of deepening economic ties with the US when China’s economy is “in deep trouble” and the global economy is slowing.

China’s extended COVID-19 lockdown not only hurt its own economy but also had a severe impact on Vietnam’s – as China is Vietnam’s largest trade partner.

The elevating of relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership is “mainly about economics and technology”, Thayer said, adding that such a move is not Hanoi being drawn into “an anti-China alliance” with the US.

“Vietnam will not take a step, in my view, with the US that threatens China’s core interest or give the impression that Vietnam is aligning against China,” Thayer told Al Jazeera.

Giang, the scholar of Vietnamese politics, also said the upgrade in relations with Washington will not harm Hanoi’s core interests either.

“Hanoi likely believes it has the tools to ensure the regime’s ideological core remains untouched by potential US influences,” Giang told Al Jazeera.

“I don’t foresee this enhanced relationship threatening the one-party state, especially since Washington has signalled its respect for Vietnam’s existing political system.”