Dr. Alexander Vuving’s latest article is “Will Vietnam Be America’s Next Strategic Partner?” published by The Diplomat.

In the article Vuving states that “Times of trouble are often times of truth. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for people to signal their true commitment to friends. To get a sense of how close countries are in geopolitical terms and how warm their relationships are, one can simply count the number of high-level visits or the amount of COVID-19 vaccines donated between them.”

He goes on to say that “The relationship between Washington and Hanoi is one of the most delicate and most subtle in the world. Historical memories, ideological differences, and domestic concerns often make things unspeakable in this growing relationship. But the largest factor of all that renders the U.S.-Vietnam relationship so delicate and so subtle is China. It is also the critical factor that makes and unmakes the strategic aspect of U.S.-Vietnam ties.”

Alexander L. Vuving is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.  The views expressed in this article are his own and do not reflect those of DKI APCSS, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.