USA has been behaving like this too for far too long. No more kow-towing to the Maoist Chinese State. Trade war long overdue, but on.
Well, Vietnam “wanted” to be Communist. Does it like getting its wish?
For the region overall, this is pretty rotten news. The smaller claimants to the South China Sea (or West Philippine Sea as it’s called locally) had better group together to counter the local bully....Even if it means smoozing up to Uncle Sam for a while.
It could be too late to do something about it pretty darned quick if they are not careful.
My daughter spent a year teaching English in Vietnam. They all want to learn English and become capitalists. They love the United States. Well, except for the government. They still have Vietnam war memorial places where it shows how they defeated the evil Americans. But the Vietnamese people want to be like us.