Thayer US-Vietnam Relations Post Mortem - 2

Thayer Consultancy Background Brief:
ABN # 65 648 097 123

US-Vietnam Relations Post
Mortem – 2
September 12, 2023
President Biden’s visit to Hanoi resulted in the upgrade of Vietnam-U.S. bilateral

relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Q1. What is your assessment of this development?
ANSWER: The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Peace, Cooperation and
Sustainable Development (CSP) agreed by the President of the United States Joe Biden
and the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu
Trong expanded and deepened cooperation already in train under the 2013
Comprehensive Partnership.
The CSP duplicated the structure of the Comprehensive Partnership and its nine areas
of cooperation. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership expanded this to ten areas
by the addition of a substantial section on coordination on regional and global issues.
The two leaders agreed that “innovation-driven inclusive economic growth” is “the
core foundations and sources of momentum in the bilateral relationship.” They also
agreed that science, technology and digital innovation cooperation was a “new
breakthrough” under the CSP. This was a major deepening of cooperation when
compared to the Comprehensive Partnership.
Cooperation to address environment and health issues in the Comprehensive
Partnership was refined as follows: “climate, energy, environment and health” in the
CSP.
Cooperation in “culture, sports, and tourism,” listed eighth or last in the
Comprehensive Partnership, was elevated to seventh place in the CSP and expanded
to include people-to-people ties.
In summary, the U.S.-Vietnam CSP is not an anti-China alignment. This is clear in the
subtitle of the CPS – Peace, Cooperation and Sustainable dDevelopment and in the
section on defence and security where the emphasis is on support for Vietnam’s
contribution to UN peacekeeping, search and rescue, disaster response, non-
traditional security issues, and sustainable development in the Mekong Subregion.
One new area worth noting is the aspiration to ”further cooperation in defense
industry and trade… to assist Vietnam to develop its self-reliant defense capabilities…”
2
The U.S.-Vietnam CSP is a major commitment by the two countries to enhance and
deepen their economic ties through regulatory reform, education and training
interchange and harnessing of emerging technologies.
Q2. What is the role of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong as he – not President Vo
Van Thuong or Prime Minister Pham Van Chinh – announced the upgrade with
President Joe Biden?
ANSWER: General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is primus inter pares or first among
equals in Vietnam’s political system, outranking the prime minister and state
president.
General Secretary Trong played the role of interlocutor with President Biden to
emphasize that the important upgrade of relations with the United States had the full
authority of the Communist Party of Vietnam, “the leading force of the State and
society” (Article 4, Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, 2013).
This was the message sent to Vietnam’s domestic audience and to China. All members
of the CPV, the military, and members of mass organisations are on notice that they
must support this new relationship. China, which often stresses the commonalities of
the two socialist countries, is on notice that Vietnam is exercising its independence to
do what is right for the country. The door to continued cooperation with China is still
open.
Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “US-Vietnam Relations Post Mortem – 2,”

Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, September 12, 2023. All background briefs are
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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.

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Thayer Consultancy Background Brief:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

President Biden’s visit to Hanoi resulted in the upgrade of Vietnam-U.S. bilateral

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “US-Vietnam Relations Post Mortem – 2,”

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