HANOI • US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has sought to nudge forward security ties with Vietnam as both countries watch China’s activities in the South China Sea with growing alarm.
Despite closer military relations – more than four decades after the Vietnam War ended in 1975 – President Joe Biden’s administration has said there are limits to the relationship until Hanoi makes progress on human rights.
Before a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart in Hanoi, Mr Austin said yesterday that the United States did not ask Vietnam to choose between countries.
Mr Austin did not mention China, but there is a perception in Asia that the region may be made to choose between the US and China, as tension rises between the two big powers.
“One of our central goals is ensuring that our allies and partners have the freedom and the space to chart their own futures,” he said.
“(Vietnam) wants to know that the US is going to remain engaged militarily, it is going to continue its presence in the South China Sea,” said Mr Greg Poling, who is with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding for Harvard and Texas Tech University to create a database that would help Vietnamese search for those missing from the war.
This month, Mr Marc Knapper, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the next US ambassador to Vietnam, vowed to boost security ties, but said they could only reach their full potential if Hanoi made significant progress on human rights.
In a meeting with Mr Austin yesterday morning, Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he was looking forward to an upcoming visit to Vietnam by US Vice-President Kamala Harris.
REUTERS