US and Russian defense firms yesterday displayed weapons and promoted models of aircraft at Vietnam’s first large-scale arms fair, as the two powers vie for influence and arms sales in the strategic Southeast Asian country that borders China.
The event at an airbase in Hanoi attracted 174 exhibitors from 30 countries, including all large arms-making nations except China, as Vietnam signaled its interest in diversifying military procurement, and possibly starting exports of its own weapons.
The arms fair “represents a new stage in Vietnam’s efforts to globalize, diversify and modernize, and the United States wants to be part of it,” US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper told reporters on the sidelines of the event.
Photo: EPA
He said the US wanted to boost its military cooperation with Vietnam — limited mostly to coastguard ships and trainer aircraft — and was ready to discuss its defense needs, especially on maritime capabilities.
Vietnam and China have been locked in a long-running territorial dispute over archipelagos and energy exploration in the South China Sea, with concerns it could lead to confrontation.
China was invited to join the arms fair, but declined the offer.
Vietnam has had the option to buy US weapons only in the past few years following Washington’s gradual removal from 2014 to 2016 of an arms embargo on Vietnam, which was one of the last vestiges of the Vietnam War.
Hanoi aims to diversify arms sources “for the purpose of protecting the nation and the people amid rising conventional and unconventional challenges,” Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at the event’s opening.
Diversification is widely seen as a byword for reducing dependence on Russia for weapons, although analysts underline that any possible shift would be gradual.
Russia’s arms trade agency Rosoboronexport had a large booth at the fair displaying Russian drones, armored vehicles, helicopters, planes and small arms.
The agency “is ready to discuss cooperation in the field of industrial partnership and the construction of infrastructure facilities,” Rosoboronexport director Alexander Mikheev said in a statement.
Russia is the main weapons supplier to Vietnam, covering 80 percent of its needs, but its appeal has decreased, as the Ukraine war could constrain its defense exports and sanctions deter potential buyers.
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