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Wednesday, February 14, 2024
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Asia Pacific|Vietnam Chases Secret Russian Arms Deal, Even as It Deepens U.S.
Ties

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VIETNAM CHASES SECRET RUSSIAN ARMS DEAL, EVEN AS IT DEEPENS U.S. TIES

Defying U.S. sanctions, a Vietnamese government document lays out a plan to buy
Russian weapons, which officials see as a way to upgrade its military as a hedge
against China.

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President Biden arriving in New Delhi on Friday for the G20 summit, ahead of his
trip to Vietnam.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times


By Hannah Beech

Sept. 9, 2023
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When President Biden is greeted by Vietnamese officials in Hanoi on Sunday, he
will be celebrating the prospect of adding another friend in Asia to a coalition
that his administration hopes will side with American interests rather than
China’s and Russia’s.

During Mr. Biden’s visit, the two nations will underscore their commitment to
“increase peace, prosperity, and stability in the region,” a White House press
statement said. Nguyen Phu Trong, the top Vietnamese leader, is expected to
confer upon the United States an upgrade of strategic ties. The Biden
administration has reciprocated early, glossing over the Communist Party of
Vietnam’s intensifying human rights crackdown.

But even as the United States and Vietnam have nurtured their relationship over
recent months, Hanoi is making clandestine plans to buy an arsenal of weapons
from Russia in contravention of American sanctions, an internal Vietnamese
government document shows.

The Ministry of Finance document, which is dated March 2023 and whose contents
have been verified by former and current Vietnamese officials, lays out how
Vietnam proposes to modernize its military by secretly paying for defense
purchases through transfers at a joint Vietnamese and Russian oil venture in
Siberia. Signed by a Vietnamese deputy finance minister, the document notes that
Vietnam is negotiating a new arms deal with Russia that would “strengthen
strategic trust” at a time when “Russia is being embargoed by Western countries
in all aspects.”



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For Vietnam, the idea makes a certain sense. Once one of the world’s top 10 arms
importers, Vietnam has long depended on Russian weaponry. The United States’ vow
to punish nations that buy Russian weapons has roiled Vietnam’s plans to revamp
its military and create a tougher deterrent to Chinese encroachment on its
maritime borders in the South China Sea.

Yet by developing its secret plan to pay for Russian defense equipment, Vietnam
is stepping into the center of a larger security contest that is steeped both in
Cold War politics and the hot war of the moment, in Ukraine.

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Hannah Beech is the senior correspondent for Asia based in Bangkok. She was
previously the Southeast Asia bureau chief. More about Hannah Beech

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 10, 2023, Section A, Page 12
of the New York edition with the headline: Vietnam in Secret Talks To Buy
Russian Arms. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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