2023-09-11 09:40:00
Joe Biden concludes his lightning visit to Hanoi on Monday, which he described as “historic”, between economic discussions, warning to China, and tribute to an American hero of the Vietnam War.
The American president, who will spend a total of 24 hours in the Vietnamese capital, announced in particular a juicy order for the American giant Boeing, worth 7.8 billion dollars (7.28 billion euros).
He said the contract was for 50 Type 737 aircraft.
Mr. Biden’s trip aims to demonstrate economic power and strategic solidity on China’s doorstep.
He also implicitly warned Beijing against “threats or use of force” in the South China Sea, in a joint statement signed with the leader of the Vietnamese Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong.
The 80-year-old Democratic president met the strongman of the regime on Sunday, shortly after his arrival.
He was also received by President Vo Van Thuong and participated, with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, in a meeting of business leaders from the two countries.
Tech
Vietnam and the United States on Sunday signed an enhanced strategic partnership agreement with strong economic and technological content.
The two countries intend in particular to work more together in semiconductors.
The United States, in a press release published on Sunday, praises “the capacity (of the South-East Asian country) to play an essential role in establishing robust semiconductor supply chains”. In other words: less dependent on China.
The agreement is a win-win. It must guarantee the United States, which Joe Biden wants to reindustrialize at high speed, supplies of essential electronic components.
Vietnam, for its part, can hope for support from the Americans to develop its production capacities, which are currently saturated, and to upgrade technologically, in particular by training its workforce.
Joe Biden repeated on Sunday, during a press conference, that he did not want to “isolate” nor “contain” China, and even less launch a “cold war”.
But he was happy to point out the social and economic “difficulties” of the Chinese giant.
The American president must conclude his visit to Vietnam with an evocation of the war (1955-1975).
Joe Biden, who will seek re-election in 2024, will visit the place marked with a monument where John McCain’s plane was shot down on October 26, 1967.
Seriously injured, the fighter pilot had been taken prisoner, incarcerated for more than five years and tortured.
Reconciliation
John McCain, whom the Democratic president considered a “brother” despite their partisan differences, subsequently became a figure in the Republican Party.
Before being killed in 2018 by brain cancer, he worked to heal the wounds between Vietnam and the United States.
Just like John Kerry, also a veteran. On his return from Vietnam, laden with decorations, he had become a fierce opponent of the conflict.
The former Democratic Party candidate for the 2004 presidential election, now the main American negotiator on climate issues, is present in the White House delegation in Hanoi.
Joe Biden, for his part, has in a way remained a stranger to this conflict so significant for his generation.
He did not fight, exempted for academic and health issues. Nor did he demonstrate against the war.
By paying tribute to John McCain, the American president also gives tokens of patriotic fervor on a day of September 11 that is obviously very special for Americans.
After leaving Vietnam, the American president will mark the memory of the jihadist attacks of September 11, 2001 on a military base in Alaska.
It’s an unusual choice, if not completely new. Most often, the “commander in chief” goes to New York or to one of the other places that had been attacked.
11/09/2023 09:38:55 – Hanoi (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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