The head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, will visit Vietnam at the end of the week to underline the increasingly close relations there with the communist country, as well as in Japan, in full tension with China over Taiwan, the State Department announced Monday.
Blinken will stop in Hanoi en route to a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Karuizawa, Japan, from April 16-18, according to a statement.
He will address in the Vietnamese capital “our shared vision of an Indo-Pacific region that is prosperous, peaceful and resilient”, said the State Department.
Relations between the United States and Vietnam have grown stronger in recent years, including in the military and economic sphere, as the two countries have largely reconciled despite the scars of war.
“I believe that what you will see during this visit […] it’s also about a partnership based on mutual respect,” Under Secretary of State for Southeast Asia Daniel Kritenbrink told reporters.
The diplomat also highlighted “the almost complete alignment between Washington and Hanoi on what we want to see the Indo-Pacific region become. […] where large countries do not harass » others, in a thinly veiled allusion to China with which Hanoi maintains tense relations.
The issue of human rights in Vietnam, where “the picture is mixed” according to the official, should also figure in discussions with the Vietnamese authorities.
This will be the US Secretary of State’s first visit to Vietnam since taking office two years ago, but Vice President Kamala Harris has already been there.
Mr. Blinken will also launch the start of the construction of a new American embassy in Hanoi, according to the same source.
This visit to Asia comes amidst tensions with China over Taiwan.
The Chinese army said on Monday that it had “successfully completed” its military maneuvers aimed at encircling for three days the autonomous island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as one of its provinces, carried out in retaliation for the stopovers last week of the President. Taiwanese in the United States.
In addition, Mr. Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are due to meet with their Filipino counterparts in Washington on Tuesday.
The Philippines and the United States recently signed an agreement providing American access to four new military bases, angering Beijing.
Mr. Blinken will travel to Hanoi from Ireland, where he will accompany President Joe Biden who is traveling to this country and to the United Kingdom from April 11 to 14 with a stopover in Northern Ireland on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement.