China intends to disrupt US Secretary of State Blinken’s trip to Asia

Washington is trying to compensate for the crisis in relations with Beijing in the region

The US is looking to strengthen ties with Vietnam as China is reportedly disrupting a visit by State Department Secretary Anthony Blinken amid strained relations between Washington and Beijing.

China has reportedly refused to reschedule the US Secretary of State’s visit, while Anthony Blinken has embarked on a trip to Vietnam, a key trading partner in Southeast Asia with which Washington is seeking to strengthen ties as it seeks to balance Beijing’s growing self-confidence in the region and beyond. The Guardian.

In his first visit to Hanoi as a senior US diplomat, Blinken will meet top Vietnamese officials, including Vietnamese Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, and officially open the new US embassy building in Hanoi on Saturday. On Sunday, he travels to Japan for the G7 meeting.

Earlier, China refused to allow Blinken to visit Beijing amid fears that the FBI would release the results of an investigation into an alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down in February, according to The Guardian. This was reported by the Financial Times on Saturday, citing sources.

China told the US it was not ready to reschedule the trip, which Blinken canceled in February, while it remained unclear what the Biden administration would do with the report of the downing of the Chinese aerial probe, the paper said, citing four people familiar with the talks.

On Saturday, Blinken stressed the importance of human rights in a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Min Chin, a US State Department spokesman said. Human rights organizations regularly express concern about the treatment of dissidents by the Vietnamese authorities.

The US is facing challenges in Southeast Asia in building a coalition to counter China and contain any potential moves by Beijing against Taiwan. Many countries in the region are reluctant to feud with their giant neighbor, who is not only a military power but also a key trading partner and source of investment.

For Hanoi, being open to greater cooperation with Washington without upsetting Beijing has been a difficult balancing act, even as Vietnam is alarmed by China’s growing military claims in the South China Sea. Diplomatic calculations are further complicated by the increasingly close relationship between Beijing and Moscow, notes The Guardian.

Analysts say Washington will look forward to progress in moving relations with Vietnam towards a “strategic” partnership that has been called “comprehensive” for the past decade. Officials didn’t say what this closer relationship might entail, but Southeast Asia expert Murray Huibert, who visited Vietnam in February and spoke with senior government officials, said it could include increased U.S. military cooperation and arms transfers. .

As the Vietnam War era becomes more and more a distant memory, Washington now considers Hanoi to be, in the words of Daniel Kritenbrink, a senior U.S. diplomat on East Asia, “one of America’s most important partners in the region.”

Last month, a phone call took place between US President Joe Biden and Nguyen Phu Trong, leader of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party, which, together with Blinken’s visit, could lead to a meeting between the two in July, the 10th anniversary of the existing official bilateral partnership, analysts said.

But while the United States is likely to push for stronger ties with Vietnam, Hanoi may not be as enthusiastic, said Derek Grossman, an analyst at the Rand Corporation. “Firstly, from the perspective of Vietnam, there is no need to unnecessarily antagonize China … Another thing is that Hanoi wants to avoid being openly seen as part of the US Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at countering China,” the expert said.