U.S.-Vietnam Cooperation under Biden’s Indo-Pacific Strategy

[Viet]

Photo: John Minchillo-Pool/Getty Images
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March 2, 2022
On February 11, 2022, the Biden administration released its Indo-Pacific Strategy. The document covers a vast geographic area including many nations and touches on a wide range of issues. What does the new strategy mean for U.S.-Vietnam cooperation?

Diplomatic Cooperation​

The strategy names Vietnam as one of the United States’ leading regional partners. Keen observers have anticipated the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership signed in 2013 to be upgraded to a strategic partnership. Although some U.S. and Vietnamese officials have said that the name does not matter, formally upgrading to a strategic partnership with a written joint statement will assure both sides’ commitments.

Economic Cooperation​

Vietnam’s digital economy is rapidly expanding. In 2011, only 35 percent of the Vietnamese population used the internet, which doubled to 70 percent by 2020. According to the e-Conomy SEA 2021 report, 71 percent of Vietnamese internet users have made at least one purchase online. The report projected Vietnam’s gross merchandise value (GMV) to reach a total value of $21 billion in 2021, when all sectors, except online travel, experienced double-digit growth. E-commerce is leading the pack, with a 53 percent increase from $8 billion to $13 billion. Vietnam’s GMV is expected to grow from $21 billion in 2021 to $57 billion in 2025.
Meanwhile, one important element of Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is the focus on digital economy. The United States can work with Vietnam to speed up the latter’s digital transformation and support its fast-growing digital economy. This involves building secure digital infrastructure to expand access to reliable internet and developing rules and regulations to govern cross-border data flows. Given Washington’s current aversion to free trade agreements, deals on digital trade are more feasible, as they do not require congressional approval because of their limited nature.

Cooperation on Traditional Security Issues​

As tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea have escalated, the United States has helped Vietnam improve its maritime law enforcement capabilities, including the transfer of two Hamilton-class cutters to the Vietnamese Coast Guard in 2017 and 2020, as well as the delivery of 18 “Metal Shark” patrol boats in the last few years.
The FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, Section 1263, known as the Indo-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative, specifies Vietnam as one of seven countries to which the United States will provide assistance and training. The initiative, which remains in effect until December 2025, aims to “increase maritime security and maritime domain awareness of foreign countries along the South China Sea and into South Asia.”

Cooperation on Nontraditional Security Issues​

Energy Security
Economic growth in Vietnam has significantly increased demand for electricity. This, in turn, has led to concerns about inadequate energy services, high prices, and environmental and health impacts.
Through the Vietnam Low Emission Energy Program, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has allocated $36.25 million between 2020 and 2025 to support Vietnam’s transition to a clean, secure, and market-based energy sector. This involves increasing the deployment of advanced energy systems, enhancing energy sector performance, promoting competition in the energy sector, and promoting innovation, incubation, and inclusion. From 2019 to 2023, the USAID Vietnam Urban Energy Security project, with $14 million in funding, is working with major Vietnamese cities to improve policies and regulations, mobilize public and private sector investment, and increase adoption of innovative solutions.

Health
In the fight against Covid-19, the United States has donated more than 24 million vaccine doses and USAID has provided $23.06 million in assistance to Vietnam. In addition, USAID has launched several projects to strengthen Vietnam’s capacity to prevent, detect, assess, and respond to public health emergencies. Those include Risk Mitigation and Management of Human Health Threats along Animal Value Chains, One Health Workforce-Next Gen, and Infectious Diseases Detection and Surveillance. In August 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris opened the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Southeast Asia Regional Office in Hanoi, elevating Vietnam’s role as a regional health hub.

Cybersecurity
China has conducted cyberattacks in Southeast Asian countries to deepen its regional influence. In a recent report from Insikt Group, Chinese hackers are said to be potentially state sponsored because the attacks “almost certainly support key strategic aims of the Chinese government,” such as gathering intelligence on countries engaged in South China Sea disputes or countries strategically important to the Belt and Road Initiative. According to the report, Vietnam is one of the top three targeted countries.
As Biden’s Indo-Pacific Strategy signals U.S. intention to help regional countries improve their cyber capacity, the United States can support Vietnam in protecting against, recovering from, and responding to cyberattacks.

Cooperation on Education​

Through educational assistance, the United States has aimed to strengthen ties with nations in the Indo-Pacific and nurture the next generation of global leaders, while cultivating positive views of the United States. The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), which provides fellowships, workshops, and grant funding to young leaders, has bolstered leadership development and networking in the region.
USAID is supporting Vietnam’s efforts to modernize its higher education system by helping Vietnamese universities improve academic quality and enhance institutional governance. Launched in 2016, Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) is the country’s first fully independent nonprofit university. From 2020 to 2024, FUV is set to receive $21.1 million from USAID to advance its goal of achieving international accreditation. In addition, Partnership for Higher Education Reform is a five-year initiative (2021–2026, $14.2 million) supporting the three largest Vietnamese universities with higher education policy advocacy and reform, technology and digitization, and gender empowerment for success and long-term sustainability.

Overcoming Obstacles​

Although Vietnam may welcome U.S. approaches to many issues, the newly issued Indo-Pacific Strategy’s emphasis on “democratic institutions” and “democratic governance” may intimidate Hanoi and hinder deeper bilateral cooperation. Going forward, the Biden administration should emphasize cooperation on the areas discussed above and tailor its message to the Vietnamese audience. For instance, the United States could emphasize the importance of anti-corruption and economic reforms in attracting foreign investment. Using similar approaches, the Biden administration can work more effectively with countries in the Indo-Pacific.

U.S.-Vietnam Cooperation under Biden’s Indo-Pacific Strategy

On February 11, 2022, the Biden administration released its Indo-Pacific Strategy. The document covers a vast geographic area including many nations and touches upon a wide range of issues. What does the new strategy mean for U.S.-Vietnam cooperation?

www.csis.org

 

[vi-va]

It seems Vietnam has forgiven what US did in Vietnam.

agent orange - Пошук Google

 

[kankan326]

Vietnamese are much smarter than Ukrainians. They won't make same mistake.

 

[etylo]

Oh Yeah, see what you Viets' sugar daddy Yankees have in store for you, overthrow your Vietnamese Communist gov and have a color revolution in a few years time and have Vietnam to fight China, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand all the time in the future. Then, the Yankee soldiers will boot back in Vietnam as colonizers as they did in South Vietnam in the 60s and 70s of last century, and Yankees will father with Viet women many more "mixed and deformed Vietnamese kids". Enjoy your great future with Yankees while you can !

 

[Viet]

It seems Vietnam has forgiven what US did in Vietnam.

agent orange - Пошук Google

You forget the Russians took large parts of China? Putin may want more after Ukraine war. He won’t stop there. Read his speeches.

 

[etylo]

You forget the Russians took large parts of China? Putin may want more after Ukraine war. He won’t stop there. Read his speeches.

Yes, Russian empire did took parts of land from China hundreds of years ago when China was under corrupt and crumbling Qing dynasty, but, the Yankees invaded, bombed, roasted and mass killed you Viets like killing cockroaches just 40 years ago ! The Yankees even savagely used forbidden deadly chemical Agent Orange to wipe out your kind's existence and now many of your country's children are born with deformities. Yet, you Viets want to forget all this and want Yankee to be your country's best friend. Good luck and have a great future with the snake country USA ! Indeed, both USA and Vietnam are snakes that will betray and bite others at will, no surprise there !

 

[Turingsage]

And the Americans helped and aided the Chinese during the second world war.

 

[etylo]

And the Americans helped and aided the Chinese during the second world war.

The truth is that Americans helped themselves foremost in WW II. For years in the Sino-Jap war or Asian WW II, the Americans were selling iron and oil to the Japanese that were needed to sustain the war on Jap's side, and USA stopped the exports only after Jap attacked Pearl Harbour. For years, China was fighting the Jap alone in the war to bog down the Jap's army from attacking American, British and French assets in Asia and Pacific.

 

[Turingsage]

the Americans were selling iron and oil to the Japanese that were needed to sustain the war on Jap's side, and USA stopped the exports only after Jap attacked Pearl Harbour.

You mean America traded with Japan , as it did with China and Russia and even Germany,

 

[etylo]

You mean America traded with Japan , as it did with China and Russia and even Germany,

Yes, and the trade consisted of iron and oil that were lifelines for Jap's army in Sino-Jap war. What do you think ? What can you expect from those self-serving selfish and maybe evil Yankees from the start. Or, you Indians who sided with Jap in WW II will not think anything wrong with Americans supplying oil and iron to Jap's army ? Not a surprise.

 

[Viet]

Yes, Russian empire did took parts of land from China hundreds of years ago when China was under corrupt and crumbling Qing dynasty, but, the Yankees invaded, bombed, roasted and mass killed you Viets like killing cockroaches just 40 years ago ! The Yankees even savagely used forbidden deadly chemical Agent Orange to wipe out your kind's existence and now many of your country's children are born with deformities. Yet, you Viets want to forget all this and want Yankee to be your country's best friend. Good luck and have a great future with the snake country USA ! Indeed, both USA and Vietnam are snakes that will betray and bite others at will, no surprise there !

Telling people about the past war to justify the present day war is a very lame excuse.

 

[etylo]

Telling people about the past war to justify the present day war is a very lame excuse.

Don't know what the hell you talking about. You Viets want to be best friends of the Yankees, by all the means go ahead !

 

[MH.Yang]

And the Americans helped and aided the Chinese during the second world war.

When the USA entered the war, the war between China and Japan had begun for four years. China and Japan have reached an impasse on the battlefield. Even if the USA does not participate in the war, China with more territory and population is bound to win the final victory. Americans should think about what would happen to the US Pacific battlefield if the Chinese surrendered to Japan and joined the fascist camp. Refer to the Chinese army the United States met in North Korea. If they helped the Japanese in WW2, what would be the consequences?

The USA is not helping China, it is just helping itself. And in 1856, the USA helped Britain launch the second Opium War against China.

On the contrary, it was China that helped the USA defeat the Soviet Union. During the cold war, China has always restrained more than one million Soviet troops on the border. Moreover, China consumed a lot of materials and national strength of the Soviet Union by participating in the Soviet Union's Afghanistan war and China's Vietnam War.

 

[MH.Yang]

Don't know what the hell you talking about. You Viets want to be best friends of the Yankees, by all the means go ahead !

Vietnamese netizens will cheer for the USA on the Internet, but in reality they will not take refuge in the USA.
Vietnamese are not stupid. They just want to ask for benefits from the USA, but they won't do anything for the USA. They will do less than Indians, but they will want more than Indians.
If the US govt asked the Indian govt to contact the Vietnamese, the effect would be better. Because Vietnamese public opinion is more favorable to Indians and the Chinese govt has higher tolerance for India, the Vietnamese govt will be much bolder. But this means that India will expand its influence in Southeast Asia, not the USA. This is unacceptable to the declining USA.

 

[Viet]

Don't know what the hell you talking about. You Viets want to be best friends of the Yankees, by all the means go ahead !

You don’t understand let’s me explain. It’s just geopolitics no offense bro. we are very concerned of potential chinese invasion. Ukraine is a good excuse.
Xi Jingping can accuse Vietnam is run by drug addicts, Nazi gang. the Viets want to join the NATO. Not to forget, Vietnamese genocide chinese ethnic in cities.