Tag: Vietnam

Three Months After Biden, It’s Xi’s Turn to Court Vietnam

Media Library

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a relatively rare trip abroad, seeking to elevate ties with an important neighbor just three months after President Biden visited Hanoi on a similar mission. Few nations now feature more centrally in the great-power competition between the United States and China, placing Vietnam, which has a long history of fierce independence, in a high-risk, high-reward position. Keeping both giants happy could mean a transformative economic boost; angering one or the other could bring heavy costs. “This is a very delicate…

China concerns drive historic upgrade in US-Vietnam relations

Media Library

Over the weekend, US President Joe Biden arrived in Hanoi and finalised a diplomatic agreement with former foe Vietnam that was, until recently, almost unthinkable. Shortly after touching down in the country, Biden met Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam, to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP), the highest of Vietnam’s three diplomatic levels – save for a special category reserved for Cambodia and Laos. This puts the US in the same category as China, Russia, India, and South Korea, a move…

Today’s Top News: The Aftermath of the Earthquake in Morocco, and More

Media Library

The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — it’s available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. The Headlines brings you the biggest stories of the day from the Times journalists who are covering them, all in about 10 minutes. Hosted by Annie Correal, the new morning show features three top stories from reporters across the newsroom and around the world, so you always have…

Biden Forges Deeper Ties With Vietnam as China Mounts Ambition

Media Library

President Biden cemented a new strategic relationship with Vietnam on Sunday, bringing two historical foes closer than they have ever been and putting the ghosts of the past behind them out of shared worry over China’s mounting ambitions in the region. During a landmark visit to Hanoi by the American president, Vietnam’s Communist Party leadership formally raised the country’s ties to the United States to the highest level in Hanoi’s diplomatic hierarchy, equivalent to those it has with Russia and China. Mr. Biden said the breakthrough was “the beginning of…

Joe Biden calls for stable US-China relationship during south-east Asia tour

Media Library

Joe Biden’s national security tour of south-east Asia reached Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, where the president called for stability in the US-China relationship against an increasingly complex diplomatic picture in the region for his country. “I don’t want to contain China,” Biden said. “I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away, everybody knows what it’s all about.” Biden also said that China’s recent economic downturn may limit any inclination to invade Taiwan. “I don’t think it’s…

Vietnam in Secret Talks to Buy Arms From Russia

Media Library

When President Biden is greeted by Vietnamese officials in Hanoi on Sunday, he will be celebrating the prospect of adding another friend in Asia to a coalition that his administration hopes will side with American interests rather than China’s and Russia’s. During Mr. Biden’s visit, the two nations will underscore their commitment to “increase peace, prosperity, and stability in the region,” a White House press statement said. Nguyen Phu Trong, the top Vietnamese leader, is expected to confer upon the United States an upgrade of strategic ties. The Biden administration…

Competition over the South China Sea explained in 30 seconds

Media Library

The South China Sea is one of the most strategically and economically important waterways in the world. In 2016 more than 21% of global trade was estimated by UN bodies to have transited through it, and it contains extensive oil and gas reserves. But it is highly contested. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all have claims over areas within the 3.5m sq km area, many of which overlap. Brunei is the only party that does not lay claim over any disputed islands, but it does say part…

China building airstrip on disputed island, satellite images suggest

Media Library

China may be constructing an airstrip on a disputed island in the South China Sea that is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, satellite images suggest. Pictures of Triton Island, one of the major islands in the Paracel group, appear to show the construction of a runway of more than 600 metres (2,000ft) long, according to analysis by Associated Press. This would be long enough to accommodate drones, but not fighter jets or bombers. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite an international tribunal finding its arguments…

Studio defends Barbie movie after controversial map prompts Vietnam ban

Media Library

Warners Bros has described a map that appears in its coming Barbie movie as a “child-like crayon drawing” with no intended meaning, after Vietnam said it would ban the film after claiming the map depicted the disputed South China Sea. The Barbie movie provoked controversy in both Vietnam and the Philippines over its inclusion of the map that apparently features China’s “nine-dash line”. The line marks China’s claim to much of the South China Sea – a demarcation opposed by Vietnam and other south-east Asian countries and which was repudiated…

Vietnam bans Barbie film over disputed map of China’s South China Sea claims

Media Library

Vietnam has banned Warner Bros’s Barbie film from domestic distribution over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media have reported. The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions. Barbie is the latest movie to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated in an international arbitration…