According to global network reports, on September 24, local time, two people familiar with the matter revealed that the United States is currently negotiating with Vietnam on the largest arms transfer agreement in history. It is worth mentioning that in this deal, the Biden administration intends to sell important equipment such as F-16 fighters to Vietnam.
US President Joe Biden visiting Vietnam
Since Biden's visit to Vietnam, at the request of the United States, the relationship between the United States and Vietnam has "risen two levels in a row", and now in order to further deepen the Washington-Hanoi partnership, the United States seems to be considering special financing terms for Vietnam to sell it American-made weapons as soon as possible.
But the question is is whether this idea works? For a long time, Russia, as one of the world's major arms exporters, has many buyers in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and Vietnam is no exception, and is one of Russia's main customers in Asia.
According to incomplete statistics, at least eighty percent of Vietnam's weapons and equipment come from Russia or the former Soviet Union, which means that Vietnam's military equipment today still has a strong Soviet or Russian color.
Vietnam often buys weapons from Russia
After the US-Vietnam relationship has been upgraded by two levels, the United States, as the world's largest arms manufacturer, also sees the potential of Vietnam's arms market, so it wants to squeeze Russia's market space by selling high-end weapons and equipment to Vietnam.
At present, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is still continuing, with the attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the intensity of the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine is also escalating, at this time Russia urgently needs external economic support, if Russia can be squeezed out of the international arms market at this time, it is also a very good thing for the United States - not long ago, the United States and India signed a joint production agreement on aircraft engines, and now Vietnam, another Russian arms exporter, is also targeted by the United States.
Of course, another reason why the United States tried to reach this deal is not difficult to guess, that is, to provide American equipment to the Vietnamese army to create more favorable conditions for the United States to further influence the situation in Vietnam.
U.S. Capitol
So, in the face of sugar-coated shells thrown by the United States, is it possible for Vietnam to agree?
First, Vietnam is unlikely to buy too many F-16s. It is said that Vietnam's available funds in arms imports are about 2 billion US dollars a year, and even if all these funds are used to buy the F-16, if the lowest price of the F-16 is calculated, and there are no supporting facilities such as later parts and missiles, Vietnam can only buy 2 to 3 squadrons at best, which is about 31 aircraft. Frankly speaking, these fighters are really not enough for the PLA to see, and the Western media's claim that "China will be provoked" is simply ridiculous.
Second, the economic ties between China and Vietnam are very close. Although the Biden administration does intend to woo Vietnam now, Vietnam values its own interests more than the United States. At present, China is still Vietnam's largest trade exporter, and under such circumstances, not to mention whether Vietnam intends to fight between China and the United States, the various economic and trade cooperation between China and Vietnam alone has to let Vietnam weigh more which side it should fall to.
The United States wants to sell the F-16 to Vietnam
After all, Washington is willing to make this deal with Vietnam, in addition to seizing Russia's arms market share, to a large extent, it is also looking at Vietnam's special geographical location in the South China Sea, intending to use Vietnam's hand to provoke disputes in the other direction of the South China Sea, and constantly create regional tensions.
As for Vietnam, on the one hand, it does want to improve the combat effectiveness of the Vietnamese army by introducing more advanced weapons and equipment, and on the other hand, it probably hopes to further open up the international arms market by reaching new cooperation with the United States.
In addition, the United States and Vietnam tried to reach this military equipment deal, which does not rule out that there is also the intention of "balancing China". However, judging from the current situation, it is still unknown whether the cooperation between the United States and Vietnam can be successfully achieved in the end, after all, the United States will hold another election next year, and if the president changes, everything will have to be reshuffled.