Experts say that representatives of Washington’s arms control visited Vietnam, which was at war with the United States 50 years ago, and participated in meetings about the Chinese threat. Vietnamese officials are involved in a number of important international organizations and maintain increasingly close relations with the West.
The president’s arms control representative, Marshall Billingslea, met with Vietnamese officials last Thursday and told reporters that the talks touched on China’s maritime expansion, including the continued expansion of its nuclear arsenal. The representative also visited Japan and South Korea, traditional U.S. allies, during the trip.
Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Center for Asia Pacific Security Studies in Hawaii, said, “We know that the United States sees a potential strategic position for Vietnam in Asia that is becoming more and more apparent as the U.S.-China rivalry develops. So I think there’s going to be a lot more discussion around the broader balance of power in the region, including the South China Sea.”
This year, analysts say, Vietnam became a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, both of which have piqued the interest of the U.S. delegation. Vietnamese leaders expect more senior U.S. officials to visit Vietnam.
In a telephone press conference Friday, Billingslia said, “We’ve asked for their advice on how to use the multilateral mechanism, because when it comes to what China is doing, it’s not simply a matter of great power competition.”
Vietnam shares the United States’ unease with China’s expansion in the South China Sea. China claims sovereignty over about 90 percent of the waters of the South China Sea, some of which overlap with the waters that Vietnam claims. Other countries and territories that have sovereignty disputes with China include Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. None of them has the military power of China.
The United States fought a 12-year war with the Viet Cong. Vietcong forces were seeking to occupy the South. The U.S. withdrew from the Vietnam War in 1973. North Vietnamese communist forces occupied all of Vietnam in 1975.
Today, Communist officials in Hanoi still maintain unique party-to-party relations with China and North Korea.
Carl Thayer, professor emeritus at the University of New South Wales in Australia, says the United States may want to get some advice from Vietnam on how to deal with North Korea in a series of meetings of Asian leaders later this year. Professor Thayer said Vietnam will carefully study the views of other ASEAN countries to keep Pyongyang in check.
The key is that the U.S. sees Vietnam as a participant with whom it can exchange views and understand the thinking of ASEAN members in the region,” Sayer said. In addition, Vietnam is a member of the United Nations, and it also maintains relations with North Korea, which many other countries do not.”
North Korea’s missile tests near Japan and South Korea have caused resentment in the United States. President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met twice in 2018 and 2019, but failed to stop these actions on the North Korean side.
U.S. arms control representatives rarely mention the important topic of denuclearization to smaller countries, Ngo said. Vietnam has a missile defense system, but no nuclear weapons. According to the Global Firepower website, Vietnam’s armed forces are ranked 22nd in the world in terms of military strength.
China is a major topic, Billingslia said in a telephone interview with the media on Friday. He said, “We talked about a dangerous, revisionist power that is secretly expanding its nuclear arsenal and mass production of missiles.”
China has reneged on its commitment to maintain peace in the disputed waters, and Beijing has “challenged” freedom of navigation actions, Billings added.
The U.S. arms control representative linked North Korea to a series of challenges to denuclearization efforts.
China’s reclamation of islands in the South China Sea has caused tension and unease in five countries and regions, including Vietnam. Several of these artificial islands have deployed military installations. This year, Chinese ships have entered the exclusive maritime economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries. The claimants estimate that the South China Sea contains huge reserves of fisheries and energy.
Analysts say Washington has no claim to sovereignty in the waters, but wants to prevent China from gaining too much control of the waters.
The U.S. government in 2016 lifted a wartime ban on the sale of anti-personnel weapons to Vietnam. Stephen Nagy, an associate professor of politics and international relations at the International Christian University in Tokyo, said U.S. representatives now see Vietnam as “essential” to deter Chinese expansion.
Nagy said Billingsley may want Japan, South Korea and Vietnam to join in containing China.
I think if they can get Vietnam on board,” he said, “that could have an important effect in drawing a red line for China to stop, shrink, or end these kinds of provocative actions in the Indo-Pacific region.
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