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US President Joe Biden and Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong during an official reception ceremony at the presidential palace in Hanoi, September 10, 2023. Photo AFP |
Tran Nam Tien, professor at the Department of International Relations at HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said that this partnership falls into the highest category of foreign policy relations that Vietnam maintains with other countries.
He said the American partnership demonstrates the United States’ awareness of the “strategic” factor in its relations with other countries.
Discussions of a formal partnership began when Vietnam changed its foreign policy in the 1990s, restoring relations with several countries and integrating as a nation open to the region and the world.
At the 9th National Party Congress in April 2001, Vietnam proclaimed that one of its major goals was to deepen international relations across the world. The leaders stressed the need to establish strategic and higher-level partnerships to develop and guarantee Vietnam’s interests in three important aspects: security, prosperity and international position.
Vietnam has found that when it comes to strategic partnerships, the above three concepts are equally important. The “strategic” factor does not only concern security, which is a common conception of foreign policy between nations.
As Vietnam began its formal “integration” into the contemporary socio-geopolitical world, several countries and territories have deeply cooperated with Vietnam in many areas, but few have not yet reached the level of “strategic partnership”. » according to the official government definition, normally due to differences between the two parties’ views on certain issues.
Vietnam has therefore established the concept of “comprehensive partnership” as a framework for initiating strategic cooperation. Vietnam then established comprehensive partnerships with 12 countries, including the United States, to highlight the positive aspects of international collaboration and continue to foster trust, Tien said.
He said Vietnam’s foreign policy mentality is not to make security issues the top priority of a strategic partnership, but its main goal is for the partnership to also serve its other two major priorities: prosperity and international reputation. The goal of deepening relations with other countries is to make rapid progress in these three areas.
At the same time, the United States considers close security and defense cooperation to be an indispensable aspect of “strategic” relations with other countries, for example, Saudi Arabia.
The United States and Saudi Arabia established their strategic partnership more than 80 years ago, in which security operations have always been a priority. Saudi Arabia is the largest US arms buyer, having purchased a total of more than $100 billion in weapons from the world’s largest national arms supplier, according to White House statistics . Since the 1950s, American military engineers have also played a key role in civilian and military structures in Saudi Arabia.
Tien said that before Vietnam and the United States established their comprehensive partnership in 2013, the two countries already had most of the factors necessary for a strategic partnership. But their divergent views on the “strategic” aspect of foreign policy could have become an obstacle hindering the efforts of both sides.
However, over the years, US administrations, particularly that of President Joe Biden, have seen major changes in their official foreign policy positions, and US leaders no longer view security as an obstacle to relations. strategic.
In US strategic documents on a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, the North American superpower introduced a new level of cooperation in the traditional “strategic ally” relationship that the United States has deployed since the war period cold: Washington has since introduced a new approach called “new partners”.
The United States appears to have realized that not all partners want to focus on security and defense as the sole or priority basis for bilateral relations to reach the strategic level. This is why the United States wants to establish new, more equal partnerships with other countries in which military and security operations do not occupy a central place.
This was demonstrated when the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided to transform their relationship into a comprehensive strategic partnership at the 2022 ASEAN Summit in Cambodia in November last. When it comes to international relations, ASEAN’s policy is not to choose sides and its members are not militarily affiliated. Instead, this influential regional body focuses on economic cooperation and other development-related issues.
This new parallel awareness on the part of the United States was seen as a step towards establishing a more appropriate “strategic trust” for countries like Vietnam, which have initiatives similar to the foreign policy of the United States. ASEAN on non-military integration and focus on development.
The previous deepening of ASEAN-US relations was in fact a springboard for the United States, signaling that Washington’s direction and ambitions were indeed changing, and that from this new awareness, strengthening relations with every ASEAN member state, including Vietnam, would reach new heights. .
The United States also wants to send the message that it wants to strengthen its relationship to a higher level, not to build an alliance against a third party or to provide security at a distance from Washington, but to actually see if the other side is a development partner with whom the United States can establish equal relations, according to some analysts.
As such, Tien believes that the evolution of their relations towards a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2022 is an important step and an important indicator of things to come in realizing the potential of Vietnam-US relations.
The two countries have established several dialogue mechanisms at different levels of leadership and in different areas of cooperation to foster trust. In the period after 1995, Washington’s awareness of the “strategic” factor also became more relevant to Vietnam’s policies in peace, cooperation, development, international integration and other areas.
The two countries have had frequent exchanges and more congruent institutionalizations of shared perspectives and mutual interests, leading to a reduction in disagreements and differences.
Tien said the main advantage of the comprehensive strategic partnership that Vietnam and the United States recently established compared to their initial “strategic partnership” is not only the more “comprehensive” nature of collaborations between the two governments and financial companies of the two countries, but also a deeper and increasingly stronger “strategic trust”.
The speaker also said that this new relationship would not deviate from Vietnam’s steadfast foreign policy of independence, peace and development for 30 years.
At the highest-level official dialogue on Sunday, Trong affirmed that the motto and signature of the development of Vietnam-US relations is “overcoming differences and utilizing similarities.”
He stressed that Vietnam greatly respects and appreciates the United States’ commitment to supporting a strong, independent and prosperous Vietnam.
Trong said mutual understanding between the two great nations would continue to grow with time.
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Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong chats with U.S. President Joe Biden at the Party Central Committee office in Hanoi, September 10, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy |
Biden said he supports the start of a new era of economic and science and technology cooperation between the two countries in support of developing responses to climate change and clean energy. Biden said improving relations between Vietnam and the United States toward a comprehensive strategic partnership would benefit both countries and their common international interests.
The White House said in a statement that it and Vietnam will strengthen cooperation in eight major areas – including key priorities of economy, science and technology, as well as trade – as leading forces of the new high-level partnership.
In terms of security cooperation, the United States plans to announce aid packages and programs to provide new equipment to Vietnam, strengthening the country’s ability to combat transnational crime. The United States also plans to strengthen medical cooperation, help resolve the consequences of the war and strengthen trade relations between the two countries.
Vietnam has established a comprehensive strategic partnership with China, Russia, India and South Korea.
Tien said the new relationship is important because the United States is only the fourth major country with which Vietnam has this level of relations, after China, Russia and India.
“Strategic relations with the big four countries will provide Vietnam with great opportunities for development, expansion of influence and diversification of cooperation,” he said.
“A comprehensive strategic partnership with the United States, as well as mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation, would ensure that Vietnam would more effectively maintain its balance in its relations with all countries, especially in today’s complex international competition. ‘today.’
