By Andrew Beddow
‘It would be unwise to dismiss the dangers of a liberal approach to Vietnamese proliferation.’
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a critical component of the Asia Pivot – an emerging U.S. ally, a rapidly growing economy within ASEAN, and a militarily dynamic state that contests China’s claims in the South China Sea, particularly over the Spratly Islands. The justification for a military alliance between the United States and Vietnam is obvious: Vietnam occupies a strategically vital position along the western border of the South China Sea, and for this reason Washington’s interests in balancing China have coincided with Hanoi’s fear of its northern neighbor. There is a strong interest for both to cooperate as part of Washington’s broader containment strategy. This means that Vietnam could expect similar treatment from the U.S. that other strategically important partners in the Pacific Basin have seen – significant (and possibly unconditional) security guarantees to protect its territorial integrity.
It is important for the U.S. to retain strong ties with a coalition of allied states in the Pacific Basin and to ensure that they remain secure and prosperous, yet it is equally vital to avoid motivating any one of these junior partners to take an overly aggressive course of action, and thereby provoke a destabilizing response from Beijing. In the case of Vietnam, the recent US-Vietnam nuclear deal approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee represents one positive step towards solidifying such a coalition, though it is marked by long-term dangers that should be managed prudently. The deal itself does not present a danger as long as Vietnam’s enrichment remains entirely peaceful, which, according to Vietnam and the United States, is ostensibly the case. At this time, Vietnam participates in multiple confidence-building measures (including the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and Treaty of Bangkok) that seem to discredit the notion that the Socialist Republic is a proliferation danger.
Read the full story at The Diplomat