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WALL
STREET JOURNAL
Vietnam Is the Early Winner From the Trump-Kim Summit
Hosting the talks is a chance for the country to elevate its
standing just as it is looking for more foreign partners to counter the
rising regional influence of its vast northern neighbor, China
By
James Hookway
HANOI—This week’s talks between President Trump and North Korean
leaderKim Jong Un are a logistical headache for the host, Vietnam.
Officials closed a highway to the capital from the Chinese border, where
Mr. Kim got off his armored train and was driven into Hanoi among a
phalanx of motorcyclists and armored vehicles. Traffic ground to halt as
he traveled back and forth from his hotel to the North Korean Embassy,
and the congestion grew worse when Mr. Trump arrived and the meetings
began.
Vietnam’s government is picking up the tab for roughly 100 rooms in the
hotel where the North Korean delegation is staying, at a cost of around
$150,000, people familiar with the accounting said. That is in addition
to the cost of securing the safety of the visiting leaders. But
the potential rewards for Vietnam are significant: Hosting the summit is
a chance for the country to elevate its standing just as it is looking
for more foreign partners to counter the rising regional influence of
its vast northern neighbor, China.
Vietnam has entered into trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
which the U.S. abandoned after Mr. Trump’s election. It has developed
stronger security relationships with the U.S., with whom it fought a
long and bloody war, and with Russia, India and Japan. Its economy has
drawn some of the world’s most prominent investors, such as Samsung
Group, which makes many of its best-selling smartphones there. The
more nations Vietnam engages, the less the threat that Beijing will one
day move to overpower it, said Vo Tri Thanh, a policy expert at the
Central Institute for Economic Management, a government-linked think
tank in Hanoi. “We
want to make sure the world has a stake in what happens to Vietnam,” he
said.
People familiar with the government’s thinking say this hoped-for quid
pro quo is why Hanoi was quick to offer itself as host for this week’s
summit. Since getting the green light, it has moved quickly to make the
most of it, revamping facilities and allowing freer access to foreign
media. Large
billboards around the city show off Hanoi’s role as host. Potential
irritants have been removed, including an Australian who has made a name
for himself impersonating Mr. Kim; he was deported on Monday.
Ordinary Hanoians are getting into the swing of things, too.
Around Hoan Kiem Lake, the historic heart of the city, many Vietnamese
turned up in national costumes to mark Mr. Kim’s arrival on Tuesday. One
white Lexus sport-utility vehicle drove around with a young boy popping
up through the sunroof to show off his new Kim Jong Un-style haircut. There
is tension beneath the surface, however, much of it driven by the
difficult relationship between Vietnam and China.
Vietnamese officials rolled out the red carpet for North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un in Hanoi on Tuesday ahead of his second summit with
President Trump. Photo: Zuma Press China
ruled Vietnam for centuries until it ended its domination in 938 A.D.
Later, when both were under communist control, they were at loggerheads
during much of the Cold War, when Vietnam allied with Russia rather than
Beijing.
Antipathy toward China continues and is occasionally violent, fueled by
the two countries’ disagreements over territorial claims in the South
China Sea and China’s expanding influence in Southeast Asia. Several
people were killed in anti-China riots in 2014 after China towed an
oil-exploration rig into waters Vietnam claims. Many people still speak
glowingly about how two sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, raised an
army against China in the first century A.D. in a fleeting attempt to
secure Vietnam’s freedom.
Diplomats and academics said the government is playing catch-up with
public opinion by nurturing new allies and partners to ease some of the
pressure from Beijing. To
that end, Vietnam has stepped up its efforts to court the U.S., sending
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to visit Mr. Trump in May 2017. This
time, Mr. Trump also met with Vietnam’s most senior leader and Communist
Party chief, President Nguyen Phu Trong. They looked on together as
Vietnamese airlines signed more than $21 billion in aircraft orders and
service contracts Wednesday with Boeing Co. and General Electric Co.
Vietnam’s leaders are also cautiously distancing themselves from China,
which remains the country’s largest trading partner. State
media recently marked the biggest commemoration of Vietnam’s 1979 border
war with China after years of pressure from veterans and activists.
Previously, official outlets brushed over the conflict as an awkward
encounter between two communist brothers that was better left
unmentioned. “It’s
a game,” said Nguyen Chi Tuyen, a political activist who co-founded an
amateur soccer team to publicize his concern over China’s growing sway
in the South China Sea. “The communist regime is swinging between the
powers: China and the U.S.”
Still, it is a game at which the Vietnamese are proving adept. There
has been little in the way of repercussions from China. There has also
been relatively subdued criticism from the U.S. and others over
Vietnam’s habit of sentencing bloggers, dissidents and others critical
of the government to lengthy prison terms. Amnesty International counts
more than 100 prisoners of conscience in Vietnamese jails.
Nguyen Canh Binh, deputy director at another Hanoi policy group, the
Vietnam Asia Pacific Economic Center, described the mood in the country:
“It’s good to have a lot of friends.” |