The Indo-Pacific power play

The US bolstering its alliances in the region to counter China puts India's strategic autonomy to the test

On the concluding day of the New Delhi G20 summit on September 10, US President Joe Biden headed to Hanoi for a state visit. The two countries upgraded their Comprehensive Partnership, concluded in 2013, to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. From the press briefings during and after the visit, it was clear that the US is willing to provide military hardware, justifying it in terms of helping Vietnam diversify away from its current reliance on Russian supplies.

Vietnam, like India, shares a vulnerable land border with China and contests Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea. This latest development is