The United States expects to elevate its diplomatic relations with former foe Vietnam to the top level as President Joe Biden travels to Hanoi in a week, in a move that may irk China and with unclear business implications.

Fearful of the potential reaction from its much larger neighbour, Vietnam had initially expressed caution about the upgrade. That led the Biden administration to multiply efforts to persuade the southeast Asian nation, including through multiple visits of high-ranking members of the U.S. government in recent months.

The unprecedented push has led Washington to expect to be elevated to the top tier of Vietnam’s diplomatic ranking, together with China and Russia, from two notches below now.

  • BrokebackHampton
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    1 year ago

    Nobody seems to have pointed out the obvious historical angle where China and Vietnam have been long-time enemies.

    The issue goes back to the Cold War era and the Sino-Soviet split and it’s kinda hard to synthesize in a few short paragraphs, you can read more on the wiki article about it, but these sections could be a good summary:

    Vietnam was an ideological battleground during the 1960s Sino-Soviet split. After the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping secretly promised the North Vietnamese 1 billion yuan in military and economic aid if they refused all Soviet aid.

    During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese and the Chinese had agreed to defer tackling their territorial issues until South Vietnam was defeated. Those issues included the lack of delineation of Vietnam’s territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin and the question of sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

    And also:

    In the wake of the Vietnam War, the Cambodian–Vietnamese War caused tensions with China, which had allied itself with Democratic Kampuchea. That and Vietnam’s close ties to the Soviet Union made China consider Vietnam to be a threat to its regional sphere of influence. Tensions were heightened in the 1970s by the Vietnamese government’s oppression of the Hoa minority (Vietnamese of Chinese ethnicity) and the invasion of Khmer Rouge-held Cambodia. At the same time, Vietnam expressed its disapproval with China strengthening ties with the United States since the Nixon-Mao Summit of 1972.

    • @MajesticSloth
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      1 year ago

      So China wants to hold onto Cold War grudges and issues while constantly accusing the west of continuing Cold War era politics.

    • Maeve
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      21 year ago

      Oh wow, thank you. I need to dig deeper than that. I’m completely unfamiliar with any of that history. I’m sure I’ll have more questions, thanks again for pointing me in that direction.