U.S.-Vietnam relations

The momentum is now set for the two countries to announce their long overdue strategic partnership the next time their top leaders meet in person.

According to the latest Asian Barometer Survey, China has more influence – but a less positive image – in Vietnam compared to United States.

The unprecedented designation threatens to generate frictions with an important U.S. partner in Southeast Asia.

The South China Sea is where the rubber meets the road for U.S.-Vietnam security ties, and in this regard, Hanoi has gone as far as it is comfortable.

Common concerns over China’s have brought the United States and Vietnam together, but there are frictions, too.

Is there any meat to the rumors that Vietnam would lease Cam Ranh Bay to the United States?

Is China’s South China Sea behavior changing amid the pandemic or continuing as usual?

There is ample room to expand the burgeoning U.S.-Vietnam relationship.

Mutual willingness to proceed with the visit indicates that the trust between Washington and Hanoi has reached a new level.

Vietnamese victims have yet to receive compensation – and many live in desperate poverty.

Vietnam is likely the Trump administration’s next trade target. But the calculus differs in key ways from China.