The president’s statement comes as Washington seeks to counter China’s growing power and influence in the Indo-Pacific region
US President Joe Biden claimed on Tuesday that Vietnam wants to “become a partner” of the US, and that he will visit the Asian nation in the near future. Biden may have spoken too soon, as the White House has refused to comment on his statement.
“I’m going to be going to Vietnam shortly, because Vietnam wants to change our relationship and become a partner,” Biden said at an event in New Mexico, according to press pool reports.
Relations between the US and Vietnam were non-existent for decades after American forces withdrew from the country in 1973, with President Bill Clinton reestablishing diplomatic ties in 1995. The US and Vietnam now enjoy normal economic relations, though China remains Vietnam’s largest trading partner and foreign investor, with Russia a major military partner of Hanoi.
Despite China and Vietnam sharing an official communist ideology, tensions between both countries have risen in recent years, particularly over Beijing’s maritime claims in the South China Sea. In his remarks on Tuesday, Biden suggested that the US sees an opening to pull Vietnam into its orbit.
“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 said, adding that “allegiances are changing around the world.”
Biden made similar off-the-cuff remarks at a campaign reception in Maine last month. “I’ve gotten a call from the head of Vietnam, [who] desperately wants to meet me when I go to the G-20,” Biden told attendees, referring to next month’s G-20 summit in India. “He wants to elevate us to a major partner, along with Russia and China,” Biden continued. “What do you think that’s about? No, I’m not joking.”
As he did in New Mexico, Biden declared in Maine that “the world is changing in a big way.”
Speaking to reporters later on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that he had “nothing to speak to today” regarding Biden’s travel plans.
“We have a very good relationship with Vietnam, and that relationship is improving,” he said. “We’re going to continue to look for opportunities to improve that relationship, and it’s a critical one in a very critical part of the world.”
Vietnam is a member of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a loose economic grouping announced by Biden last year. While the framework is not a treaty or a formal trade agreement, Beijing nevertheless viewed its signing as an attempt to economically isolate and incite “confrontation” with China.
