China ‘may need a rethink’ as Vietnam moves closer to US

The stepped-up military ties ­between Vietnam and the United States is a worrying sign to Beijing, even though Hanoi is unlikely to acquire advanced American weapons, analysts say.

Some added that Beijing had not anticipated Vietnam would strike such a partnership with Washington, and called on Beijing to adjust its posturing in the South China Sea.

Last week, US President Ba­rack Obama lifted a decades-long embargo on lethal arms sales to Hanoi, saying the change would ensure that Vietnam had access to necessary equipment for defence.

“What worries Beijing is the prospect of an increasingly close strategic partnership between the US and Vietnam. The lifting of the arms embargo is a poignant symbol of this – and a sign of just how far US-Vietnam ties have come in recent years,” Ashley Townshend, a research fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said.

Townshend said Vietnam was unlikely to become a US ally, but Beijing was worried about where the deepening defence ties ­between the two countries – and between other partners and Washington – might lead.