Biden announces plans to visit Vietnam ‘shortly’

President Biden on Tuesday announced he will be visiting Vietnam “shortly” during remarks at a campaign fundraiser, not elaborating on details about his upcoming trip.

“I’m going to be going to Vietnam shortly because Vietnam wants to change our relationship and become a partner,” Biden told a group of donors in New Mexico. “We find ourselves in a situation where all these changes around the world are taking place at a time — we have an opportunity … to change the dynamic.” 

He was discussing in his remarks that “allegiances are changing around the world” as a result of the war in Ukraine.

“They’re changing in terms of, for example, the idea that there was going to be a response to his aggression in Ukraine was not likely,” he said, adding that he spent “over 200 hours with the heads of state of the European countries to hold this together.”

National security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday that he didn’t have any travel details to share, adding, “we have a very good relationship with Vietnam and that relationship is improving and its improving across lots of sectors.”

The president said during a campaign reception in Maine last month that Vietnam leadership has wanted to elevate the U.S. relationship. 

“I’ve gotten a call from the head of Vietnam, desperately wants to meet me when I go to the G-20,” Biden said, referring to the upcoming Group of 20 summit. “He wants to elevate us to a major partner, along with Russia and China. What do you think that’s about?  No, I’m not joking.”

The G-20 summit is in New Delhi in September.

Biden in March spoke to Vietnam’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and “reinforced the United States’ commitment to a strong, prosperous, resilient, and independent Vietnam,” according to a White House readout of the call.

Former President Trump famously visited Vietnam for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Metropole hotel in Hanoi in February 2019. 

Before the meeting, Trump visited the Presidential Palace in Hanoi in to meet with Trong and also met with then-Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Updated at 11:32 a.m.