Washington could deliver weapons to Vietnam, angering China

(Patria) - The Biden administration is in negotiations with Vietnam over an agreement for the largest arms transfer in history between former Cold War adversaries, according to two people familiar with the deal, which could anger China and wean Vietnam away from Russia, Reuters reported.

The package, which could be concluded within the next year, could complete a newly upgraded partnership between Washington and Hanoi by selling a fleet of American F-16 fighter jets as the Southeast Asian country faces tensions with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea.

The deal is still in its early stages, and exact details need to be worked out. It was a key topic of Vietnam-US talks in Hanoi, New York and Washington last month.

Washington is considering structuring special financing terms for expensive equipment that could help Hanoi move away from its traditional reliance on cheaper Russian weapons.

“We have a very productive and promising security relationship with the Vietnamese and we see interesting moves from them toward some American systems, especially anything that can help them better monitor their maritime area, possibly transport aircraft and some other platforms,” a US official said.

“Part of what we are working on internally as the US government is being creative about how we could provide Vietnam with better financing options to get them things that could be of use to them,” he added.

A major arms deal between the United States and Vietnam could anger China, Vietnam's neighbor. A long-simmering territorial dispute between Vietnam and China is heating up in the South China Sea and explains why Vietnam wants to build up its naval defenses.
The Biden administration has said it is trying to balance geopolitical competition with China, including in the Pacific, and responsibly manage relations between the two superpowers. Earlier this month, Vietnam elevated Washington to its highest diplomatic status, alongside China and Russia, when US President Joe Biden visited the country.

The diplomatic shift comes nearly half a century after the end of the Vietnam War.
Since the arms embargo was lifted in 2016, US defense exports to Vietnam have been limited to coast guard ships and training aircraft, while Russia has supplied about 80% of the country's arsenal.

Vietnam is estimated to spend about two billion dollars annually on arms imports, and Washington is optimistic that in the long term it could shift some of that budget to weapons from the United States or its allies and partners, particularly South Korea and India.

The cost of American weaponry is a major hurdle, as is training on the equipment, and is one reason the country has taken delivery of less than $400 million in US weapons over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has complicated Hanoi's long-standing relations with Moscow, making it difficult to procure supplies and spare parts for Russian weapons. Regardless, Vietnam is also actively in talks with Moscow over a new arms supply agreement that could trigger US sanctions, Reuters reported.