In Geopolitics Today - Friday, August 20th
Washington Tries to Turn Vietnam into a Strategic Partner and
Washington Tries to Turn Vietnam into a Strategic Partner
President Biden has expressed that one of his administration’s foreign policy priorities is partnering with Asian nations. He has said that going forward, the United States will work to deepen their partnerships with India, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, and other ASEAN member states in order to “advance shared objectives.” Vietnam stands out as it is the only country from the region with a wholly different political system to the United States. But because the new administration regards Vietnam as a constructive geopolitical ally, these differences will have to be somehow reconciled.
The Vietnamese leadership remains distrustful towards any strategic agreements which might pull Vietnam into military commitments antagonistic to China. While Vietnam continues to maintain a balanced and constructive relationship with Beijing, historical and cultural ties between the two have been consistently antagonistic for centuries. Relations have also been strained recently too, with maritime sovereignty disputes as well as minor skirmishes between Chinese and Vietnamese fishing vessels causing friction between the two countries in the South China Sea.
Since the US and Vietnam normalised their relations, bilateral trade has skyrocketed, reaching $90 billion in 2020. The US is now Vietnam’s second-largest trading partner, only second to China, with gross trade increasing rapidly since Vietnam ascension to the World Trade Organisation. Defence ties have also deepened, with Vietnam now a buyer of US-made surveillance drones and other military hardware. Going forward, the Biden administration may be looking to charm Vietnam into buying more US arms as part of cooperative mechanisms corrosive to Chinese influence, thereby developing a strategic partnership with Vietnam at Beijing’s expense.
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Turkey Steps in to Mediate Disputes Over Tigray
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped in to offer Turkey’s assistance as a mediator to the ongoing border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan. Following a meeting with Ethiopian officials in Anakara reported to be over the signing if yet-undisclosed military agreements between the two countries, Erdogan has said that his government strongly supports a peaceful resolution to the border conflict in Tigray.
The conflict over the control of Tigray is just one of many tense disputes in the Horn of Africa that have the potential to escalate into a regional war. With the border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan seeking a flare-up in violence recently, and while the Grand Ethipian Renaissance Dam dispute remains unresolved between Egypt and Ethiopian, the region looks to remain tense as the stakes are high for the majority of players.
The visit by Ethiopian officials comes just weeks after Turkey agreed to increase cooperation with Sudan by offering infrastructure development. The warm Turkish reception of both parties to the dispute is yet another sign of Turkey’s hyper-active regional foreign policy. As a significant pole of power in the region and the wider Islamic world, Turkey sees itself as a natural leader in regional politics and seeks to influence much of what goes on in its near abroad.
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