Home » US Secretary of Defense visits Vietnam to strengthen support for Asia | US News | Al Jazeera

US Secretary of Defense visits Vietnam to strengthen support for Asia | US News | Al Jazeera

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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is visiting Vietnam to strengthen security relations with Hanoi. It is reported that Hanoi is one of several Southeast Asian countries involved in the South China Sea dispute.

Austin is scheduled to hold talks with Vietnam’s Defense Minister Phan Van Giang, and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Ching on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Austin visited the site where the late US Senator John McCain’s plane was shot down in 1967. McCain-the Republican presidential candidate in 2008-was a Vietnamese prisoner of war at the time.

Since the Vietnam War, the relationship between Washington and Hanoi has gradually deepened, and both countries have watched Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea with increasingly vigilant eyes.

Vietnam has become the strongest opponent of China’s territorial claims and has received US military hardware support, including Coast Guard ships.

Lieutenant General Vu Chien Thang, head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam, said that the two sides will take measures to “enhance the ability of maritime law enforcement” against the new crown epidemic.

Greg Pollin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told Reuters, “(Vietnam) wants to know that the United States will continue to maintain military contacts and that it will continue to exist in the South China Sea.”

On Wednesday, a US Navy ship passed through the Taiwan Strait, angering Beijing.

South China Sea Issue

Before arriving in Hanoi, Austin also stopped in Singapore. This was his first stop in the area since joining the administration of US President Joe Biden.

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Austin stated in a speech in Singapore that the United States is committed to establishing a constructive and stable relationship with China, including strengthening crisis communication with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

However, he reiterated that Beijing’s claims on almost the entire South China Sea “have no basis in international law” and stated that this is “trailing the sovereignty of countries in the region”.

China has sovereignty over almost the entire resource-rich sea area. Trillions of dollars of shipping trade passes through the sea area every year. At the same time, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim sovereignty in this area.

In response to Austin’s statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian stated that the United States “deliberately discredited China” and “interfered in China’s internal affairs.”

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited the site where the late US Senator John McCain’s plane was shot down in Hanoi in 1967 (Reuters)

A senior US defense official who asked not to be named told Reuters that during his visit in Hanoi, the secretary of defense is expected to also sign a “memorandum of understanding” for Harvard University and Texas Tech University to create a database. , Which will help Vietnam find people missing in the war.

At the time of the Austin visit, at a time when Vietnam was experiencing a surge in the new crown epidemic, Hanoi and half of Vietnam were under lockdown.

On Sunday, the United States shipped 3 million doses of Moderna’s new crown vaccine to Vietnam, increasing the number it provided through the global COVAX vaccine program to 5 million doses.

Restrictions on Vietnam relations

Nonetheless, there are some limitations on the speed and scope of the Vietnamese people’s satisfaction with deepening relations.

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Experts said that Vietnam has lingering concerns about Biden’s former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement in 2017.

At the same time, some people have also questioned how the United States will pressure Vietnam on its human rights record.

In recent decades, Vietnam has undergone comprehensive economic reforms and social changes, but the ruling Communist Party maintains strict control over the media and can hardly tolerate dissent.

Austin issued a statement when he was in Singapore, saying, “Wherever we go, we will discuss these values ​​with our friends and allies, and we don’t shy away from it.”

This month, Marc Evans Knapper-Biden nominated him as the next U.S. ambassador to Vietnam-also promised to strengthen the relationship, but said that only if Hanoi makes significant progress in human rights can they reach their full potential .

After visiting Vietnam, Austin is scheduled to fly to the Philippines on Thursday. It is reported that the Philippines accused China of repeated violations of its territorial waters in the South China Sea.

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