Vietnam agrees to strengthen ties with Russia amid US criticism for hosting Putin

Russia and Vietnam have pledged to strengthen ties after Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to Hanoi to signal that his country still has allies in the region.

The Russian president arrived at Hanoi airport in the early hours of Thursday morning and was greeted on a red carpet by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha and senior Party diplomat Le Hoai Trung. He was arriving from a high-profile visit to North Korea, where he signed a defense pact with Kim Jong-un that included a clause committing the two countries to help each other if either was attacked.

Speaking to reporters in Vietnam at the end of his two-day trip, he said he would not rule out supplying high-precision weapons to North Korea and accused NATO of posing a security threat to Russia in Asia.

Putin’s visit was met with criticism from the USA, one of Vietnam’s most important trading partners. The USA warned against normalizing Russia’s “obvious violations of international law”.

Vietnamese President To Lam had previously stated that his country and Russia are “advancing cooperation in defense and security, how to deal with non-traditional security challenges based on international law, for peace and security in the region and the world”.

Lam and Putin signed 11 memoranda of understanding on cooperation in areas such as civilian nuclear projects, energy and gasoline cooperation, education and disease prevention. Putin told reporters the talks were constructive and both sides had “identical or very close” positions on major international issues.

He said they discussed the creation of “an appropriate and credible security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region based on the principles of non-use of force and peaceful settlement of differences”.

In an editorial published in the Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan on the occasion of his visit, Putin listed the progress made in the areas of payments, energy and trade between the countries and praised Vietnam for supporting “a pragmatic way to resolve the crisis” in Ukraine.

Vietnam has repeatedly abstained from voting at the UN General Assembly on the Russian war in Ukraine.

Vietnam’s leadership favors so-called “bamboo diplomacy”, which moves with the wind and avoids picking sides in international disputes – including over Ukraine and the US-China rivalry.

Vietnam, an industrial powerhouse, has moved closer to the US and its allies, and last year Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong hosted US President Joe Biden and improved relations with Washington as well as Australia and Japan. Three months later, China’s President Xi Jinping also paid a state visit.

Analysts questioned whether Putin’s visit would bring any tangible benefits to Vietnam, saying it was more a reflection of the two countries’ historical ties.

/TheGuardian/