СТРАТЕГІЧНЕ ЗБЛИЖЕННЯ США ТА В’ЄТНАМУ ЯК РЕЗУЛЬТАТ СПІЛЬНОГО СПРИЙНЯТТЯ ЗАГРОЗИ КИТАЮ В ПІВДЕННО-СХІДНІЙ АЗІЇ

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the position and features of the Vietnam-US relations development over the past decade – the time of their qualitative changes and the acquisition of the status of “comprehensive partnership”. Particular attention is paid to the period of the Trump’s presidency. This paper provides an overview of high-level meetings and bilateral negotiations, examines the key issues of the partnership between both countries in the field of defence and security. Owing to their common perception of the China threat, especially in the South China Sea, the SRV and the USA are steadily and firmly expanding their defence and strategic cooperation, which gave to Hanoi and Washington the opportunity to consider upgrading bilateral relations to the level of “strategic partnership”. At the same time, the United States and Vietnam, in contrast to the relations between the United States and China, were able to avoid the escalation of trade disputes and maintaining high rates of trade and economic cooperation, which remains the basis in bilateral relations. The research shows that since the Trump administration came to power, the US-Vietnam relations have undergone certain changes, primarily due to the announced pragmatic approach of the White House to the national foreign policy strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, where the special place is given to Vietnam, with whom the United States intend to build equal, mutually beneficial relations both in political and economic spheres. Simultaneously Hanoi considers its cooperation with the United States through the prism of economic benefits and also as a counterbalance to the China expansion in the South China Sea. Thus, the United States and Vietnam are gradually changing the vector of bilateral interaction, increasingly focusing on political, defence and security issues. Due to the strategic interests both countries are intending to receive mutual support to counter China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region. In the near future, we should expect further strengthening mutual trust, improving bilateral ties between Vietnam and the United States in all fields of cooperation, incl. promoting more substantive strategic initiatives.