Biden in VietnamBiden Forges Deeper Ties With ‘Critical’ Partner in Hanoi

Mr. Biden added that the United States is “a Pacific nation, and we’re not going anywhere,” a statement that appeared intended to put China on notice.

The news conference came after Mr. Biden met with Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, at the party headquarters in Hanoi. The general secretary, speaking through a translator, welcomed Biden and talked about how their meeting would be an important chance to improve cooperation.

“Vietnam is a friend, a reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community,” Biden said at the meeting.

Human rights activists have accused the U.S. government of casting aside its professed commitment to promoting democracy and human rights abroad in favor of shoring up U.S. dominance in the region. Vietnam continues to be one of the most authoritarian countries in Southeast Asia, and Mr. Trong’s government has waged an especially harsh crackdown on dissent and activism in recent years.

Some tension over Vietnam’s track record on human rights was detectable: Though Mr. Biden mentioned he brought up the issue, Mr. Trong stressed the importance of “non-interference in domestic affairs.”

Vietnam is among the few Southeast Asian nations that have publicly pushed back against China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea, and a statement from its Central Foreign Affairs Committee, said Mr. Trong had told Mr. Biden that his country “highly appreciates” U.S. support for the interests of Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia there.

At the news conference, which took place about 90 minutes later than expected, several questions from reporters centered on America’s relationship with China, including accusations by Beijing that the United States has a “Cold War” mentality amid recent investment restrictions and heightened tensions over technology access.

“I don’t want to contain China,” Mr. Biden said. “I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the up-and-up and squared away.”

He added that he had not spoken to President Xi Jinping of China in months, saying that Mr. Xi was busy dealing with domestic issues. “Look, this is not a criticism,” he said. “It’s an observation. He has his hands full right now.”

During his remarks, Mr. Biden twice referred to the “Third World” in his answers, verbiage that many people in developing countries consider offensive. The first time, he quickly corrected himself to say he was referring to the “Global South” and in the second instance, he said “the southern hemisphere.”

Biden traveled to Hanoi on Sunday from India, where he had been attending the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi. At the meeting, he and other leaders of the group issued released a declaration that omitted any condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or its brutal conduct of the war, instead lamenting the “suffering” of the Ukrainian people.

In Hanoi, Mr. Biden suggested that the declaration could not have been stronger because Russia and China are both members of the G20 group, but said the leaders had agreed to “the need for justice for just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.

As the news conference concluded, the president told reporters he wanted to go to bed, before starting to answer another question. An aide came on the loudspeaker, interrupting the president, to say the news conference was over.

Sui-Lee Wee contributed reporting.

Signed by a Vietnamese deputy finance minister, the document notes that Vietnam is negotiating a new arms deal with Russia that would “strengthen strategic trust” at a time when “Russia is being embargoed by Western countries in all aspects.”

For Vietnam, the idea makes a certain sense. Once one of the world’s top 10 arms importers, Vietnam has long depended on Russian weaponry. The United States’ vow to punish nations that buy Russian weapons has roiled Vietnam’s plans to revamp its military and create a tougher deterrent to Chinese encroachment on its maritime borders in the South China Sea.

Yet by developing its secret plan to pay for Russian defense equipment, Vietnam is stepping into the center of a larger security contest that is steeped both in Cold War politics and the war in Ukraine.

But as Beijing continues to encroach on waters claimed by Vietnam and as the United States looks for more partners to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, the former enemies have found common ground.

For decades, Vietnam has leveraged its ties with Russia and China to gain an advantage, even while making clear that it would not choose sides in any conflict. Hanoi is unlikely to join a coalition against China because of its “Four No’s” policy: no participating in military alliances, no siding with one country to act against another, no foreign military bases, and no using force in international relations.

But as the Biden administration has urgently sought displays of solidarity against China, Vietnam is one of the few Southeast Asian nations that has publicly pushed back against China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea.

For these reasons, Vietnam represents “a critical swing state,” according to Kurt Campbell, Washington’s Indo-Pacific point person. “Even though we have different kinds of government, different overall values, I believe, fundamentally, the ability to work closely with Vietnam will be decisive for us going forward,” Mr. Campbell said in 2021.

President Biden was in New Delhi to attend the annual Group of 20 summit, held amid low expectations because of nations’ divergent positions on the war in Ukraine and the absence of the leaders of Russia and China. But the summit managed to produce a surprise consensus declaration before the end of its first day.

The group omitted the strong condemnation of Russia’s aggression that it made last year, instead focusing on the “impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth.” Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, said on Facebook that the omission of Russian aggression was “nothing to be proud of.”

The declaration included new language on the issue of global debt and on overhauling institutions like the World Bank to address the growing strains on poorer countries; an invitation to the African Union to join the G20; and a push for more financing to help vulnerable nations deal with the costs of addressing climate change. The declaration also underscored the potential for digital technologies to increase inclusion in global economies.

On the sidelines of G20, President Biden joined other leaders in announcing a project to create a rail and shipping corridor linking India to the Middle East and, eventually, Europe. It was a promise of new technological and trade pathways, they said, in a part of the world where deeper economic cooperation was overdue.

She rattled off a list of economic and development finance achievements, starting with reforms to the Multilateral Development Banks, or M.D.B.s, tasked with driving economic development in poorer countries. The measures, she said, were intended to make the banks “bigger, better and more effective.”

The M.D.B.s, which include the World Bank, the BRICS’ own New Development Bank and a dozen others, have been under review by an independent “expert group” appointed by India and led by Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard, and N.K. Singh, an Indian economist.

The review found that the current funding — at $192 billion for 2022 — was now equivalent to just two-thirds of what it was during the financial crisis and a fraction of the world’s developing countries’ GDP. The banks would need deeper pockets, Mr. Summers and Mr. Singh wrote, along with a greater focus on cross-border challenges like climate change and pandemics.

Ms. Sitharaman announced that one reform alone, of the banks’ “capital adequacy frameworks,” would open up an additional $200 billion in lending to the Global South.

She listed seven more achievements, including the expansion of India’s digital-public infrastructure to other countries via a two-year financial-inclusion plan — again focused on the Global South.

There also was a notable shift on climate finance. The United States, the European Union and other wealthy countries had pledged more than a decade ago to mobilize $100 billion per year in financing to help poorer countries shift to clean energy and adapt to future climate risks. But they have fallen short and sidestepped questions about the fund.

On Saturday, however, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India made a statement that redirected the group’s attention from climate finance to the development of biofuels to help reduce emissions. His remarks also seemed to cast doubt on his country’s commitment to the benefits of carbon-credit trading, though Indian officials later clarified that India remains committed to it.

To finish the day, several heads of government unveiled a more tangible development. The India-Middle-East-Europe Economic Corridor — announced by President Biden, Mr. Modi and the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman — would run oil, gas and other forms of energy from the Persian Gulf through countries north, south, east and west with the exception of Iran. However, the project lacked key details, including a time frame.