Seeing that the new president of the Philippines has a tendency to ease the situation in the South China Sea, this is not the United States recently rushed to pull in another small partner: Vietnam.

 
     U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Hanoi on the evening of the 22nd to begin a three-day visit to Vietnam. According to the White House, the visit includes promoting the completion of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), regional security issues, maritime security and cooperation in disaster response, peaceful settlement of regional disputes, and strengthening cooperation in educational enterprises. The White House hopes the visit will show a "significant upgrade" in relations between the two countries.

       U.S. President Barack Obama announced on May 23 the end of a decades-long arms embargo against Vietnam, saying the decision was part of deepening defense cooperation with the country, RIA Novosti reported on May 23rd. Alexei Fenenko, associate professor at the Department of International Politics of Moscow State University, said the decision to lift the arms embargo on Vietnam is one of the U.S. strategy to keep China in check, although the U.S. previously emphasized that the lifting of the ban has nothing to do with China. However, after the lifting of the ban on the export of weapons to Vietnam, Vietnam will switch from purchasing Russian weapons and equipment to purchasing American weapons and equipment, and the United States will take advantage of this situation to keep China in check.

 
     As the key point of the South China Sea, Cam Ranh Bay of Vietnam is only about 550 kilometers away from China's Spratly and Paracel Islands, and is also the largest sheltered harbor in Southeast Asia, with deep water, which is of great strategic significance. In March of this year, Vietnam also officially opened a newly built international port on Cam Ranh Bay and has been opened to the Japanese. After this U.S. visit, I wonder if the possibility of opening the harbor to U.S. troops has also become more likely?

       Will Vietnam become the next Philippines?What exactly did the Philippines do?In the southern waters, the Philippines has not only illegally occupied eight islands and reefs in China's Spratlys, but also continuously strengthened its so-called "actual control" of the eight islands and reefs, attempted to turn the Ren'ai Reef, which is "sitting on the beach," into an actual possession of the reef, and insisted on inviting foreign capital to engage in oil and gas development in disputed waters in the South China Sea; recklessly promoted the internationalization of the South China Sea issue; and desperately pulled extra-territorial countries as a backer to increase its leverage over China. It is also determined to promote the internationalization of the South China Sea issue, and desperately tries to increase its bargaining chips against China by using extra-territorial countries as backers, seriously lacking sincerity in resolving the South China Sea issue through dialogue and cooperation.

 
     On the South China Sea issue, the Philippines has ignored the facts, continuously violated China's sovereignty and related rights in the South China Sea, wantonly infringed on the lives and properties of Chinese fishermen, and gone further and further down the road of jeopardizing regional peace and stability and China-Philippines bilateral relations.

       It is necessary to mention that the biggest bane of the current chaos in the South China Sea is not the Philippines, but Vietnam. The biggest challenger to China's policy of peacefully resolving disputes in the South China Sea is also Vietnam, only that the Philippines' high profile has stolen Vietnam's thunder in recent years.

       Viet Nam is the most prominent country in the South China Sea region that pursues an adventurist policy; at present, Viet Nam has illegally occupied 29 islands and reefs in the South China Sea, which is the largest number; it has made the largest profit from the plundering of oil and gas in the South China Sea; and it has a very aggressive attitude towards China. It is also the main advocate of bringing the United States into the South China Sea to "balance" China. Vietnam's leadership seems to have gotten carried away in its attitude toward China through a nationalist propaganda campaign that advocates a hard-line confrontation with China. Hanoi's approach has had a bad effect on the entire Southeast Asian region. 

 
     Since the 1988 conflict between China and Viet Nam in the waters of the Spratly Islands, which was on a very limited scale, Viet Nam's island-grabbing and infringement of our maritime rights and interests have intensified. It has turned a deaf ear to China's idea of "setting aside disputes and joint development" and has continuously challenged the bottom line of China's national interests and national dignity. 

       The embargo-lifting bonanza brought by Obama will allow Vietnam to introduce all kinds of U.S. military technology, especially maritime combat technology and equipment. If the Vietnamese side gets a special boost in military power, then it also stimulates the neighboring countries in the South China Sea to engage in some arms race. In fact, this is not conducive to peace and stability in the South China Sea, which is also contrary to the grand declaration of the United States to maintain freedom of navigation, peace and stability in the South China Sea.  

 
     Nowadays, the whole country of Vietnam has fallen into a kind of misjudgment: as long as there is a "balance" of the United States in the South China Sea region, Vietnam can "use the small to control the big", seize the first opportunity in the fight with China over sovereignty and jurisdiction of the South China Sea, and realize the ultra-maximization of Vietnam's interests. Since Vietnam's reunification, it seems to be accustomed to taking risks, and in the few conflicts it has had with China, the Chinese side's retaliation has been quite measured, which has made it lack the prudence to think twice about attacking such a giant as China.

 
     But given that in the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. and Vietnam were enemies of each other, and the post-war policy embargo lasted more than a decade. The disconnect of the war is such that current leaders who fought in the Vietnam War will still have a soft spot in their hearts for the United States. This makes Vietnam and the Philippines different (share the Philippines firmly believe that the United States is the Philippines' most loyal ally), Vietnam in the South China Sea with China to fight for sovereignty, more will take into account their own influence, and does not fully trust the United States, and the United States of America's guard will not be eliminated in the short term, which is why Vietnam has not been in tandem with the Philippines. So for Vietnam, it's hardly a radicalized version of the Philippines that looks up to the US.