Is Vietnam Tilting Farther Away From the U.S. Towards China? 

Visiting Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary To Lam was greeted in Beijing by his Chinese Communist Party counterpart Xi Jinping on April 15, 2026. Image provided by the Vietnam News Agency.

There’s mounting concern in some corners of Washington’s policy community that the decades-long improvement in U.S. ties with Vietnam is giving way to a new, more robust alignment between Hanoi and Beijing.

This was brought into sharp focus earlier this month when Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam traveled to China to meet with his counterpart Xi Jinping for what appeared to be a very convivial visit.

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by Eric Olander

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