Kamala Harris became the first-ever U.S. Vice President to visit Vietnam in August 2021, when she met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, in Hanoi. © Reuters

Asia's odd couple: Vietnam and the U.S. find opposites attract

As China threat looms, Washington weighs up democracy with dominance in Pacific

LIEN HOANG, Nikkei staff writer

July 20, 2022 06:00 JST

HO CHI MINH CITY -- The U.S. says it is competing for the 21st century against China, a single-party communist state that censors media, jails critics, enjoys a big trade surplus and embraces state-supported capitalism.

For help in this contest, the U.S. is turning to Vietnam, a single-party communist state that censors media, jails critics, enjoys a big trade surplus and embraces state-supported capitalism.