Opinion | Why the US-Vietnam strategic alliance in the South China Sea is unlikely to last

Last week, as the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group sailed through Vietnam’s territorial waters en route to a rare port call in Da Nang, knowledgeable high-level defence officials on both sides must have swallowed their pride and bit their tongues.

To combat the “China threat”, the US strategy is to “redouble [its] commitment to established alliances and partnerships, while expanding and deepening relationships with new partners that share respect for sovereignty, fair and reciprocal trade, and the rule of law”, as set out in its 2017 national security strategy.

This strategy is intended to implement its grand vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”. According to then US national security adviser H.R. McMaster, the core principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific include freedom of navigation, the rule of law, freedom from coercion, respect for sovereignty, private enterprise and open markets, and the freedom and independence of all nations.

As for Vietnam, because of its disputes with China over territory and maritime space in the South China Sea, it has become to some observers the most anti-China and pro-US military presence member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Indeed, it clearly welcomes and supports the US military presence and has been appealing to the US to balance China’s influence in the region. Accordingly, Vietnam has proclaimed a policy of “diversification and multilateralisation” of relations with the major power.