Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and US President Joe Biden agreed in a telephone call on Wednesday to “promote, develop and deepen” ties, Vietnamese state media reported.
The call, a rare engagement for Biden with a foreign leader who is not a head of state or government, came as the US president is hosting a second Summit for Democracy.
The White House said in a statement that Biden reinforced in the call a US commitment to a strong, prosperous, resilient and independent Vietnam.
Photo: AFP
The two countries would work together to address regional challenges and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region, the statement said.
The US is Vietnam’s largest export market, and the two former foes are celebrating the 10th anniversary of a “comprehensive partnership” this year.
However, Hanoi has been careful to ensure that its US ties do not alienate neighboring China, while Vietnam’s human rights record has been a sticking point in the relationship with the US, with Washington critical of Hanoi’s intolerance of dissent, and frequent jailing and harassment of those who speak out against it.
ASEAN, HUMAN RIGHTS
Biden also emphasized a US commitment to the centrality of the ASEAN, respect for human rights and cooperation on climate goals, the statement said.
Experts have said that a push by the US to upgrade ties with Vietnam this year is facing resistance in Hanoi over concerns that China could see it as hostile at a time of tension between the two superpowers.
“The two leaders will assign relevant authorities of the two sides to discuss details for further promoting ties,” the party’s official newspaper, Nhan Dan, reported.
The report said that Biden and Trong, who is Vietnam’s most powerful figure, repeated invitations to visit each other’s country.
Trong had spoken with former US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump when they were in office.
“Vietnam consistently pursues its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation, diversification and multilateralization of relations, active and proactive global integration,” Nhan Dan cited Trong as telling Biden.
Trong in October last year was the first foreign leader to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing after he secured a third term as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS