VIETNAM | America's New Ally?
Summary
TLDREn septembre 2023, le président américain Joe Biden a effectué une visite d'État au Vietnam, à l'invitation du secrétaire général du Parti communiste vietnamien. Cet événement marquant a abouti à un partenariat stratégique complet entre les deux pays, soulignant une évolution historique dans leurs relations. Malgré des différences idéologiques profondes et un passé conflictuel, le rapprochement est motivé par des enjeux économiques et sécuritaires, notamment face à la montée en puissance de la Chine en mer de Chine méridionale. Cette nouvelle coopération illustre un rééquilibrage géopolitique dans la région Asie-Pacifique.
Takeaways
- 🇺🇸 En septembre 2023, Joe Biden a effectué une visite d'État au Vietnam, invité par le secrétaire général du Parti communiste.
- 🤝 Les deux pays ont signé un partenariat stratégique global, marquant un tournant historique dans leurs relations.
- 🕊️ Les États-Unis et le Vietnam ont un passé difficile, notamment à cause de la guerre du Vietnam, mais ils ont forgé des liens étroits malgré leurs différences idéologiques.
- 🌍 Le Vietnam est situé en Asie du Sud-Est, avec des voisins comme la Chine, le Cambodge, le Laos et la mer de Chine méridionale.
- 📉 Après la guerre, le Vietnam a souffert économiquement et a réclamé une aide pour la reconstruction et le développement.
- 🔗 Les relations entre les deux pays ont commencé à s'améliorer dans les années 1990, après l'effondrement de l'Union soviétique et le changement d'attitude des États-Unis.
- 💼 Le commerce bilatéral est important, mais déséquilibré, avec 80 % des échanges en faveur des exportations vietnamiennes vers les États-Unis.
- ⚖️ Des questions sur la démocratie, les droits de l'homme et la corruption subsistent dans les relations entre les deux pays.
- 💥 La montée en puissance de la Chine et ses revendications territoriales en mer de Chine méridionale ont renforcé les liens sécuritaires entre le Vietnam et les États-Unis.
- 🇨🇳 Bien que la Chine et le Vietnam partagent des similitudes idéologiques, leurs relations sont tendues, notamment à cause des différends territoriaux.
Q & A
Qu'est-ce qui rend la visite de Joe Biden au Vietnam en septembre 2023 si significative?
-La visite de Joe Biden au Vietnam en septembre 2023 a été marquée par la signature d'un partenariat stratégique global entre les deux pays, ce qui représente un tournant majeur dans leurs relations après des décennies de tensions historiques et de divergences idéologiques.
Comment les relations entre les États-Unis et le Vietnam ont-elles évolué depuis la fin de la guerre du Vietnam?
-Après la fin de la guerre, les relations ont été difficiles, marquées par un embargo américain. Cependant, à partir des années 1980, les deux pays ont progressivement normalisé leurs relations, culminant avec la levée de l'embargo en 1994 et la normalisation complète en 1995.
Pourquoi les États-Unis et le Vietnam sont-ils devenus des partenaires stratégiques malgré leurs différences idéologiques?
-Leur partenariat est principalement motivé par des préoccupations communes concernant la montée en puissance de la Chine et les tensions en mer de Chine méridionale, ce qui les pousse à renforcer leur coopération en matière de sécurité et de défense.
Quels sont les principaux domaines de coopération entre les États-Unis et le Vietnam depuis la normalisation de leurs relations?
-Les deux pays coopèrent dans les domaines économique, éducatif, culturel, ainsi qu'en matière de défense et de sécurité. Ils ont également signé des accords commerciaux en 2001 et 2007 et mènent des initiatives pour réparer les dégâts environnementaux causés par la guerre.
Quel rôle la Chine joue-t-elle dans les relations entre le Vietnam et les États-Unis?
-La montée en puissance de la Chine et ses revendications territoriales en mer de Chine méridionale ont poussé le Vietnam à se rapprocher des États-Unis pour renforcer sa sécurité. Cependant, le Vietnam maintient également des relations économiques importantes avec la Chine.
Quelles sont les préoccupations des États-Unis concernant le Vietnam, malgré leur partenariat stratégique?
-Les États-Unis s'inquiètent des déséquilibres commerciaux, de l'accès limité au marché vietnamien, ainsi que de la situation des droits de l'homme et de la corruption au Vietnam, tels que soulignés dans les rapports du Département d'État.
Comment la guerre du Vietnam a-t-elle affecté les deux pays sur le plan politique et social?
-La guerre a laissé des cicatrices profondes des deux côtés. Le Vietnam a subi une destruction massive et continue de souffrir des conséquences des armes chimiques utilisées. Aux États-Unis, la guerre a provoqué une perte de prestige, coûté la vie à près de 60 000 soldats et laissé des séquelles politiques et sociales durables.
Pourquoi le Vietnam a-t-il décidé d'ouvrir son économie dans les années 1980?
-Le Vietnam a commencé à ouvrir son économie en raison de la perte de soutien soviétique après la fin de la guerre froide et des tensions croissantes avec la Chine, ce qui l'a poussé à réévaluer ses alliances et à chercher à se développer économiquement.
Quels sont les principaux défis auxquels le Vietnam est confronté dans ses relations avec la Chine?
-Le Vietnam fait face à des tensions continues avec la Chine, en particulier à propos des revendications territoriales en mer de Chine méridionale. Malgré cela, la Chine reste son plus grand partenaire commercial, et les deux pays partagent une proximité idéologique en tant qu'États communistes.
Comment la Chine a-t-elle réagi au rapprochement entre les États-Unis et le Vietnam?
-La Chine semble préoccupée par le rapprochement entre les États-Unis et le Vietnam, comme en témoigne l'appel de Xi Jinping en octobre 2023 pour rappeler les 'bons moments' partagés par les deux pays, signalant une tentative de réchauffer leurs relations.
Outlines
🌍 Visite historique de Biden au Vietnam
En septembre 2023, le président américain Joe Biden a effectué une visite d'État au Vietnam à l'invitation du Secrétaire général du Parti communiste. Cette visite a conduit à la signature d'un partenariat stratégique global entre les deux pays, marquant un tournant dans leurs relations malgré un passé difficile et des différences idéologiques profondes. Cette évolution pose des questions sur la profondeur de cette nouvelle alliance.
💥 La guerre du Vietnam et ses séquelles
Les États-Unis ont progressivement intensifié leur engagement dans la guerre du Vietnam à partir des années 1960, envoyant plus de 500 000 militaires sur le terrain. Malgré des bombardements massifs, le Nord a lancé une contre-offensive en 1968. Après des années de guerre brutale, marquée par des destructions et des pertes humaines importantes, les forces américaines se sont retirées en 1973. Deux ans plus tard, le Vietnam a été unifié sous un régime communiste, laissant des séquelles profondes tant pour le pays que pour les États-Unis.
📈 Normalisation des relations post-guerre
Malgré un embargo imposé par les États-Unis après la guerre, les relations ont commencé à s'améliorer dans les années 1980, notamment avec la coopération sur la question des militaires portés disparus. Après l'effondrement de l'Union soviétique, le Vietnam a dû réévaluer ses alliances, notamment en raison des tensions persistantes avec la Chine. En 1994, les États-Unis ont levé l'embargo, et les relations économiques et culturelles entre les deux pays se sont rapidement développées dans les décennies suivantes.
🚨 Tensions avec la Chine et coopération sécuritaire
Malgré des relations tendues avec la Chine, notamment en raison des revendications territoriales dans la mer de Chine méridionale, le Vietnam partage des liens économiques importants avec son voisin. Cependant, les préoccupations sécuritaires communes avec les États-Unis, notamment face à la montée en puissance de la Chine, ont renforcé leur coopération en matière de défense. Les deux pays ont intensifié leurs échanges militaires et leur partenariat stratégique, bien que le Vietnam cherche à maintenir un équilibre fragile avec la Chine.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Partenariat stratégique global
💡Guerre du Vietnam
💡Mer de Chine méridionale
💡Relations sino-vietnamiennes
💡Réformes économiques du Vietnam
💡Embargo américain
💡Équilibre des pouvoirs en Asie du Sud-Est
💡Tensions économiques
💡Droits de l'homme
💡Aide au développement
Highlights
In September 2023, US President Joe Biden paid a state visit to Vietnam, marking a historic moment in relations between the two nations.
The trip resulted in the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the United States and Vietnam.
This partnership is a significant turnaround for two countries with a difficult past and ideological differences.
Vietnam, with a population of nearly 100 million and a GDP per capita of $3,750, is classified as a lower-middle-income country.
Vietnam's history includes periods of Chinese domination, French colonialism, and a long-standing conflict with the United States during the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, left a legacy of destruction, environmental damage, and deep societal scars for both Vietnam and the United States.
Despite the war’s aftermath, the normalization of relations began in the 1990s, with the US lifting its embargo and formalizing ties in 1995.
Since the early 2000s, relations have improved with visits from US Presidents like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.
Economic ties between the US and Vietnam have grown, with bilateral trade reaching around $150 billion per year, though there are concerns about the trade imbalance.
While the two countries maintain strong ties, issues like democracy, human rights, and corruption in Vietnam continue to raise concerns in the US.
The growing strategic partnership is driven by mutual concern over China's regional influence, especially in the South China Sea.
Vietnam has a complex relationship with China, involving both cooperation and rivalry, influenced by historical and territorial disputes.
Since the 1979 conflict and subsequent border skirmishes, Vietnam’s relations with China have remained tense, particularly over the South China Sea.
The US has provided military assistance to Vietnam, with increasing cooperation on security and defense, including joint military exercises.
China’s President Xi Jinping expressed concerns over Vietnam’s growing ties with the US, indicating China's apprehension about the strategic shift.
Transcripts
In September 2023, US President Joe Biden paid a state visit to Vietnam.
Invited by the Secretary General of the Communist Party, the most senior Vietnamese
political leader, the trip saw the two countries sign a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Widely hailed as a historic moment by both governments,
it certainly appears to mark an extraordinary turnaround in ties between two countries
with a notoriously difficult past - and which maintain fundamental ideological differences.
So, what exactly lies behind this agreement? And just how deep is this new partnership?
Hello and welcome. If you're new to the channel, my name is James Ker-Lindsay and
here I take an informed look at international relations, conflict, security, and statehood.
One of the most interesting questions in international relations is how
countries build their links after conflict.
All too often, a peace agreement will stop the fighting, but it won't end the tensions.
Instead, the parties will maintain a frosty relationship for decades
afterwards and may even return to war.
At other times, an uneasy peace prevails.
While the sides normalise their ties, they certainly aren't close.
But occasionally, two warring countries will go on to establish a close strategic partnership.
One of the best examples in the current international system is
the relationship between the United States and Vietnam.
Having fought one of the most bitter and brutal wars in modern times, the countries have seemingly
forged an increasingly close relationship - despite their ongoing ideological differences.
But what exactly lies behind all this?
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam lies in Southeast Asia.
At 330,000 Square km or 130,000 Square miles, it's the 66th largest country in the world.
To its west are Cambodia and Laos. And to its North is China.
To its south and east is the South China Sea.
This means that regional neighbours include the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brunei.
Its population stands at a little under 100 million.
Its GDP per capita stands at around $3,750 a year.
This makes it a lower middle-income country.
Vietnam has a long and fascinating history.
Emerging around 5,000 years ago when the country established its first monarchy,
over the following centuries, it was increasingly influenced by China,
both politically and culturally, before coming under direct Chinese rule.
This lasted until 938 when Vietnam became a separate Kingdom, albeit
maintaining a complex and often conflictual relationship with its northern neighbour.
However, everything changed in the 19th
century with European colonial expansion into southeast Asia.
Starting in the 1850s, France took control of the southern part of the country.
From there, it steadily expanded and in 1887, it merged its holdings - including
present-day Cambodia and Laos - to form the Union of French Indochina.
Under French rule, Vietnam's traditional
monarchy was dismantled and the country was heavily exploited.
Although roads and other infrastructure were built, this favoured the French Elite.
At the same time, France increased its cultural influence.
As resentment grew, an anti-colonial movement emerged - including a Communist Party formed
in 1925 under the leadership of a young revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh.
However, it was the outbreak of the Second World War that would change everything.
Having been defeated by Nazi Germany in Europe,
France lost control over Vietnam, which became occupied by Imperial Japan.
But while Paris sought to reassert its control after Japan's defeat, Ho declared
the creation of an independent communist state: the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
This would go on to spark the First Indochina War.
As Vietnamese guerilla forces from the Communist-controlled North,
supported by the People's Republic of China and then the Soviet Union, took on the French army,
Washington, fearful of a communist takeover in Indochina, threw its support behind France.
However, by the early 1950s, France was losing the will to fight.
As decolonisation gained pace, and after losing a significant battle, it gave up.
In July 1954, the sides signed a peace agreement.
This divided the country pending national elections.
From the start, this partition was rejected by the United States and
South Vietnam, which had by now declared independence as the Republic of Vietnam.
This would, in turn, spark the second Indochina War - otherwise better known as the Vietnam War.
Although Washington initially limited its support to the South, it steadily
increased its commitment from the start of the 1960s, and by the second half of the decade,
the United States had more than half a million personnel on the ground.
At the same time, the war was becoming ever more brutal.
As the Northern insurgency made inroads into the South,
the US launched devastating bombing campaigns.
This included using chemicals designed to destroy the dense
forestry that covered much of the country.
Nevertheless, in early 1968, the North launched a major counter-offensive.
By 1970, with the South losing the war and growing opposition at home,
the US began to draw down its presence and embarked on peace talks.
In 1973, the sides reached an agreement.
This would see the final withdrawal of all US forces and the peaceful reunification of Vietnam.
However, problems soon emerged, and the conflict would drag on for several more years.
Two years later, on 30 April 1975, as the final US forces made their hasty departure,
North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam.
The country was now united under communist control,
becoming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The war profoundly affected both Vietnam and the United States - socially, politically,
and economically - and would shape their postwar relations for many years afterwards.
Apart from the massive loss of life,
estimated to be up to three million dead, the war left much of Vietnam destroyed.
As well as continuing deaths from mines and unexploded bombs, the chemicals used
in the country caused long-term damage to the environment and widespread illness and disability.
Vietnam therefore linked any normalisation of ties to significant development aid and assistance.
Meanwhile, the conflict also scarred the United States.
Having lost the war - the first loss in its history - at the cost of almost 60,000 troops,
it also faced the issue of over 2,500 personnel listed as either
missing in action or held as prisoners of war.
As a result, Washington imposed an embargo on Vietnam.
As well as hindering reconstruction, this left Vietnam reliant on the Soviet
Union - especially after its relations collapsed with communist China in 1979.
But despite the bitter legacy of war, things began to change in the middle of the 1980s.
While the Communist Party remained in power, the country now began to open its economy.
At the same time, it agreed to assist with the issue of the US personnel missing in action.
In return, Washington now allowed non-governmental aid organisations to engage with Vietnam.
This process would take off following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991,
which deprived Vietnam of its crucial ally.
With ongoing tensions with Beijing, Vietnam was forced to rethink its orientation.
At the same time, attitudes in the United States also changed.
As the immediate memories of the Vietnam War faded, and it emerged
as the sole hyperpower on the world stage, Washington accepted the need for engagement.
All this would come to fruition in 1994.
Following efforts by two senior US senators who had both served in Vietnam, the United States
lifted its embargo, and the following year, the two countries normalised their relations.
By the start of the new millennium, things were changing rapidly.
In November 2000, Bill Clinton became the first US
president to visit Vietnam since the end of the war.
This was followed by a visit by Barack Obama in May 2016.
Meanwhile, both George W Bush and Donald Trump
also visited the country - albeit to attend multilateral meetings.
On top of this, relations continued to strengthen in other ways.
Building on the sizeable Vietnamese diaspora in the United States,
economic ties between the countries rapidly developed.
Investment and trade grew, underpinned by agreements signed in 2001 and 2007.
On top of this, the two countries established educational and cultural
programs and launched initiatives to address environmental damage.
But although ties were now seemingly flourishing,
critical points of difference nevertheless remained.
For example, there were concerns about the massive imbalance in trade.
While recent figures show that bilateral trade is now at around US$150 billion
a year, 80 percent of this comprises Vietnamese exports to the United States.
This has raised questions about market access.
Additionally, questions about democracy and human rights also underpin the relationship.
Calling the country an authoritarian state with serious corruption, the
most recent State Department report highlights problems relating to freedoms of expression,
freedom of movement, arbitrary arrest, judicial Independence,
and cruel and unusual punishment - to name just a few areas of concern.
However, as serious as these other issues might be,
there's one factor that now drives the relationship: security - specifically
mutual concern over China's growing regional and international significance.
Although, Vietnam and China have an extremely long relationship, and China was instrumental in
supporting the North during the Vietnam War, their relationship has been strained since the 1970s.
After a brief conflict in 1979, the 1980s saw sporadic border skirmishes.
And while diplomatic relations were eventually restored in 1991, tensions have continued.
Specifically, there's been a steadily escalating dispute over the South China Sea,
where China has increasingly asserted its territorial claims.
And it's this that's been the key factor that shaped the relationship
between Vietnam and the United States over the past decade.
As well as driving economic and political ties,
it's seen the two countries increase their defence and security cooperation.
As well as regular discussions on matters of mutual concern,
the US has provided Vietnam with military equipment and training
and the two countries have even engaged in joint military exercises.
But just as the strong relationship with the United States is tempered with difficulties,
so Vietnam's poor relations with China are also more complex than they may appear.
For all the tensions that may exist, China is nevertheless Vietnam's largest trading partner.
Likewise, as neighbours ruled by communist parties, they continue
to share ideological and political similarities.
More to the point, Vietnam has no wish to see a full-scale conflict with China.
In this sense, the Vietnam-China relationship is a delicate balance of cooperation
and rivalry shaped by historical, economic, and geopolitical factors.
However, China seems to recognise that something has changed following
the latest meeting between Biden and the Vietnamese leadership.
Beijing appears rattled by how Vietnam and the United States are building their ties.
This was apparently highlighted in October 2023 when, just a month after Biden's visit,
China's president, Xi Jinping, issued a seemingly heartfelt appeal for Vietnam to
consider all the "good times" their countries had previously enjoyed.
But as tensions continue to escalate in the South China Sea,
it seems that Vietnam will continue to move ever closer to the United States.
Of course, this isn't the only point of contention over the South China Sea.
If you want to know more about what really lies behind this issue,
here's another video that you might find helpful.
Thanks so much for watching, and see you in the next video.
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