After Vietnam announced that it would receive Putin, the United States immediately changed its face, and relations between the two countries had just risen to the "highest level"

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2024-06-18 16:21Published in Henan, Henan Petroleum News, Senior Reporter, International Creator

After learning that Russian President Vladimir Putin was going to visit Vietnam, the United States immediately could not sit still, because at the end of last year, when US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam, the two countries had just upgraded their relations by two levels, from a "comprehensive partnership" to a "comprehensive strategic partnership," which was also the "highest level" of Vietnam's foreign relations, which greatly pleased the United States, which was eager to find more "small partners" in the Asia-Pacific region. But I never thought that only half a year later, Vietnam would receive Putin again, and the White House was naturally very unhappy, what is the relationship between Russia and the United States now? The two countries are fighting a "proxy war" in Ukraine and are direct adversaries. As a result, the United States immediately changed its face toward Vietnam.

After Vietnam announced that it would receive Putin, the United States immediately changed its face, and relations between the two countries had just risen to the "highest level"

According to the Observer Network, recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a two-day state visit to the country from June 19 to 20. After learning the news, the United States was greatly dissatisfied, saying that no country should provide a platform for Putin to "promote its war of aggression" and that "if he can travel freely, Russia's flagrant violation of international law will be normalized", and the Vietnamese side did not answer. Some analysts have pointed out that from Vietnam's point of view, the reception of Putin's visit also reflects the country's balanced foreign policy of "not favoring any major country". In this regard, we will talk about three topics.

First, why is the United States dissatisfied with Vietnam's reception of Putin?

On the one hand, it is the United States itself that has ideas. Vietnam is both an Asia-Pacific country and a South China Sea country, and the United States is currently implementing the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy", which aims to contain China and prevent China's further rise. In addition to its allies Japan, South Korea, and Australia, the United States has drawn India and the Philippines into the camp in recent years, and has encouraged the Philippines to provoke China and escalate the situation in the South China Sea.

However, the rest of the South China Sea is reluctant to act as a lever for the United States, and even if the Philippines has the support of the United States, it will be alone in front of China. As a result, the United States used Vietnam's brains again, first, there was a border war between China and Vietnam; Second, Vietnam is also the country that has seized the largest number of islands and reefs in the South China Sea, and there are potential contradictions between the two countries. The United States believes that Vietnam can be its own help in the South China Sea, so in recent years, the US president, vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense have all visited Vietnam, and their relations have also been raised to the highest level, with the aim of pulling Vietnam into the anti-China camp.

However, I never thought that Vietnam had not only upgraded its relations with the United States, but also stopped developing relations with Russia and China, and the United States felt that its investment had failed, and of course it was not happy.

On the other hand, it is stimulated by the current state of relations between the United States and Russia. The United States and Russia have entered the third year of fighting a "proxy war" in Ukraine, and Vietnam is not unaware, but now in the context of the "arrest warrant" issued by the International Criminal Court, the United States is of course annoyed that it is not taking the United States seriously. But what is the use of Vietnam being angry when it is an independent sovereign state, and it is not an ally of the United States, and it also has its own national interests? Will there be another "Vietnam War"?

Second, why did Vietnam agree to Putin's visit?

First, as a socialist country, the relationship between Vietnam and Russia (the Soviet Union) has always been very good, and Russia is also Vietnam's largest arms supplier, and the two sides also hope to increase economic and trade cooperation, and even put aside the dollar and settle in rubles and Vietnamese dong, so of course Putin's visit is welcome, and many things can be decided directly by both sides.

Second, since Vietnam has publicly announced Putin's visit, it "will not consider what the United States thinks." Moreover, in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Vietnam, like China and other neutral countries, has not condemned Russia, nor has it followed the United States and the West in sanctioning Russia, but has maintained normal relations with Russia. Against this background, Vietnam welcomes Putin's visit out of its own national interests, not caring what pressure will arise, or in other words, it is already mentally prepared for the possibility of "pressure from the United States and the West."

Thirdly, Vietnam hopes to develop relations with all major powers and maintain balance. This is true with the United States, but also with Russia and China. But it has to be said that Vietnam has also made it clear that relations with China "are the top priority of Vietnam's diplomacy."

Fourth, although Putin was issued an "arrest warrant" by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a review of the list of signatory member states of the ICC found that Vietnam was not among them. In this way, Vietnam has nothing to worry about. It's just that although Vietnam does not have the obligation to "arrest Putin", it cannot be ruled out that other countries will make a fuss about it, especially Western countries, because the United States has already "spoken". Against this background, Vietnam's courage to invite Putin to visit shows that it is confident in doing a good job in Putin's security work, and we will wait and see.

Third, Putin's successive visits to North Korea and Vietnam also have something to do with China?

In fact, on the same day that Vietnam announced Putin's visit, Pyongyang also announced that President Putin would visit the DPRK on the 18th and 19th of this month, and it was observed that this was Putin's second visit to the DPRK after a lapse of 24 years. The last time he was in Pyongyang, it was in 2000, when Putin was still very young and had just taken charge of Russia, and the supreme leader of North Korea who received him was Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il.

If Putin's visit to Vietnam can make the United States unhappy, then Putin's visit to North Korea will make the United States even more unhappy, as well as South Korea. Because the situation on the peninsula is in a stage of rapid heating up under the impetus of the United States and South Korea, South Korea is worried that Putin's visit will greatly increase North Korea's confidence, and at the same time, it is also worried that Russia-North Korea military cooperation will further improve North Korea's missile and satellite technology. The United States is worried that North Korea provides military assistance to Russia, and after Kim Jong-un's last visit to Russia, South Korea said that "North Korea sent nearly 10,000 containers to Russia", but could not prove that it was military aid.

There may be two things related to China, one is that it was previously reported that during President Putin's visit to China, the two sides have reached a consensus on China to find an outlet from the Sea of Japan in the northeast with the help of the Tumen River waterway between Russia and North Korea, and Putin's visit to North Korea may also include "doing work" with North Korea to promote the implementation of this plan.

The other is that Cambodia said that it will build a 180-kilometer-long Dechongfu South Canal, so that the Mekong River channel in Cambodia bypasses Vietnam and directly enters the sea, if the project is established, it also means that Chinese merchant ships can directly sail through the Mekong River into the South China Sea, because the upper reaches of the Mekong River are China's Lancang River. In this regard, Vietnam obviously has emotions, after all, the ships that enter the sea have two options later. Perhaps, Putin will also "do the work" for Vietnam by the way, which is also a reflection of the current high level of Sino-Russian cooperation.

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