| The Biden administration is in talks with Vietnam over an agreement for the largest arms transfer in history between the ex-Cold War adversaries, according to two people familiar with a deal that could irk China and sideline Russia.
“Part of what we’re working on internally as the US government is being creative about how we could try to provide better financing options to Vietnam to get them things that might be really useful to them.” Professor Ordaniel said Washington should shift funds set aside for financing militaries in the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific region “so partners like Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan can afford the weapons they need to resist Beijing”.
Vietnam spends an estimated $US2 billion annually on arms imports, and Washington is optimistic that they can shift a share of that budget over the long term to weapons from the United States or its allies and partners, especially South Korea and India.