After talking to China about China, Vietnam goes to Washington to do it again
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will likely discuss trade and the South China Sea with US President Donald Trump, but when it comes to Beijing, Hanoi seems to be doing fairly well fending for itself
As ever in international politics, it comes at an interesting time.
Just over a year ago, in a very different climate, President Barack Obama visited Vietnam. The populace went mad for him, and for a short time even a fish-kill scandal – 80 tonnes of dead fish were blamed on chemicals dumped by the Formosa Ha Tinh steel plant that set off mass protests – was forgotten. While there, Obama lifted the weapons embargo in place since the 1960s in a move both he and President Tran Dai Quang heralded as the “last hurdle” to normalised relations.
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However, under President Trump there has been a quiet US retreat in the region, essentially allowing China greater room to increase its hegemony, as some analysts see it. The US pullback, which comes at the expense of nations like Vietnam, is a big carrot in return for Beijing’s help on North Korea, something that Trump needs and is willing to compromise to get.