Vietnam is also actively in talks with Moscow over a new arms supply deal that could trigger U.S. sanctions, Reuters has reported.
I’m all for making allies with Vietnam
I think the saying in Vietnam is: they fought against the Americans for two decades, the French for two centuries and the Chinese for two millenia.
They definitely prefer to be allies with the West to protect against China.
Yep it’s actually mutually beneficial, granted that doesn’t always last for allies of the US, but I doubt we want any of that smoke a second time
I think in this scenario it actually makes sense for Vietnam to play both sides. China has been investing a ton of money into Vietnam in recent years. I’m sure the Vietnamese would like that to continue. Vietnam would also benefit from promoting itself as an alternative manufacturing base for US capital fleeing China. If they can avoid antagonizing either side in this conflict, they’ll end up being the real winners.
Where are you getting this saying from lol
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why China doesn’t do this with countries like Cuba that are on the American’s doorstep?
Might not be arms deals, but China is making billions of investments in Central and South America.
I’m pretty sure they don’t actually want to escalate tensions with one of their biggest customers. It just doesn’t make sense for them. The US however is in a catch 22. US companies save tons of money by manufacturing in China but Chinese economic growth threatens the geopolitical dominance the US has enjoyed since WW2.
China is an economic power, not a military power. They like to get influence by giving loans, rather than by selling weapons.
There isn’t much value in doing so.
The USA doesn’t have any disagreements with other countries in the Caribbean regarding claims to the sea like China has with its neighbors.
China would need to invest a significant amount of funding into arming Cuba in such a way as to enforce an embargo of the Gulf Coast. Even then, it isn’t anticipated that Cuba could hold it long to an invasion. If Cuba could hold on, the USA could still use its other two coasts to ship goods.
And it isn’t like China doesn’t have economic access to the region.
China doesn’t actually want a war, nor do they want to give any indication that they want to escalate tensions.
China stands the most to gain in a peaceful world order where they never have to use their military. Their military doctrine is defensive in nature, as is their nuclear doctrine (which, contrary to US/Russian policy, explicitly prohibits first-strike capability).
With a peaceful world order, relations with Taiwan can be normalized and the economy can continue to grow without impediment. Without the threat of encirclement and invasion, China doesn’t have much means to justify their military budget (given that they are already regionally superior and have no real global power projection capability) and would see much more domestic backlash to their rapidly expanding military. China’s core domestic geographical goals are to secure a more robust supply of O&G, secure the Himalayas as their southern border against potential Indian aggression, and prevent Xinjiang from devolving into a humanitarian crisis as it tries to integrate the (previously) predominantly rural Xinjiang population into the urbanized world that China has created.
When US-China relations were better back in 2018, the US even helped Chinese interests by striking ETIM training camps near the border between China and Afghanistan.
Biden is on a roll lately
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is in talks with Vietnam over an agreement for the largest arms transfer in history between the ex-Cold War adversaries, according to two people familiar with a deal that could irk China and sideline Russia.
A package, which could come together within the next year, could consummate the newly upgraded partnership between Washington and Hanoi with the sale of a fleet of American F-16 fighter jets as the Southeast Asian nation faces tensions with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea, one of the people said.
Washington is considering structuring special financing terms for the pricey equipment that could help cash-strapped Hanoi steer away from its traditional reliance on lower-cost, Russian-made arms, according to the other source, who declined to be named.
Ordaniel said Washington should shift funds set aside for financing militaries in the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific region “so partners like Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan can afford the weapons they need to resist Beijing.”
Earlier this month, Vietnam upgraded Washington to Hanoi’s highest diplomatic status, alongside China and Russia, when U.S. President Joe Biden visited the country.
Vietnam spends an estimated $2 billion annually in arms imports, and Washington is optimistic that they can shift a share of that budget over the long term to weapons from the United States or its allies and partners, especially South Korea and India.
The original article contains 655 words, the summary contains 232 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Good. Any thing that pisses off that paper tiger is a good thing.
There’s not much that doesn’t piss them off so you’re in luck
China is so serious and scary though. The USSR was such a serious big world power. Have you seen how much ass Russia is kicking? Super scary stuff. Chinas army is probably close to as good.
I mean at least Russian had been involved in some degree of material conflict to back up the idea they were a real army before this event.
Without even that… idk.
Vietnam’s asking for a US arms deal so that they can get leverage on their Russian arms deal…
Vietnam hasn’t exactly had the best recent history with the US, after all. They’ve also shown a really strong capability for asymmetric warfare, so I doubt they’re that concerned about self-defence with advanced technologies either, particularly when those technologies were designed under the assumptions of an offensive war against Russia and/or China.
