US President Joe Biden yesterday opened a brief visit to Vietnam by telling the country’s leadership that the two nations have a chance to shape the Indo-Pacific region for decades to come.
Vietnam is elevating relations with the US to the level of a comprehensive strategic partner, which a top Biden adviser said represents Vietnam’s highest tier of international partnership.
Biden welcomed the move and said he hoped progress could be made on climate, the economy and other issues during his 24-hour visit to Hanoi.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We can trace a 50-year arc of progress between our nations from conflict to normalization to this new elevated status,” Biden said as he and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong announced the new relationship status at party headquarters.
Trong pledged that his country would work hard to implement the agreement.
“Only then can we say it is a success,” he said.
Biden earlier yesterday during a separate appearance with Trong described the US and Vietnam as “critical partners at what I would argue is a very critical time.”
Elevating the US to the same status as Russia and China suggests that Vietnam wants to hedge its friendships as US and European companies look for alternatives to Chinese factories.
With China’s economic slowdown and President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) consolidation of political power, Biden sees an opportunity to bring more nations — including Vietnam and Cambodia — into the US’ orbit.
Biden was welcomed with a pomp-filled ceremony outside the mustard-colored Presidential Palace. Scores of schoolchildren lined the steps waving small US and Vietnam flags and Biden watched from an elevated review stand as high-stepping members of the military marched past.
Both expressed happiness over seeing each other again after last meeting about eight years ago in Washington, said Biden, who was then was vice president.
Trong sought to flatter Biden, who faces persistent questions at home about being 80 years old and running for re-election next year.
“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 complementing your image.”
Biden chuckled.
Earlier, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said that the elevated status represents Vietnam’s highest tier of international partnership.
“It’s important to make clear that this is more than words,” Finer told reporters aboard Biden’s flight to Hanoi. “In a system like Vietnam, it’s a signal to their entire government, their entire bureaucracy about the depth and cooperation and alignment with another country that is possible.”
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS