Funds from donors will be enough for Ukraine until the end of the year

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Vietnam and Japan this week. Among the issues on the agenda are the Russian war in Ukraine and nuclear disarmament, the press service of the State Department reported the day before.

Vietnam is the eighth largest trading partner of the United States, and the United States is Vietnam’s largest export market.

Blinken’s meeting with Vietnamese high-ranking officials in Hanoi is planned following a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and the head of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Chong, on March 29. Then both leaders agreed to expand bilateral relations between the countries.

Vietnam pursues an independent foreign policy. At the same time, China and Russia are among the countries that maintain close ties with Vietnam. The country’s Communist Party leader Chong was one of the first foreign leaders to visit Beijing last October after Chinese President Xi Jinping began his third term as Chinese leader. As observers report, official Hanoi has made it clear that it will not choose a side between Washington and Beijing amid growing tensions between the countries.

When asked by journalists whether Blinken would convince the Vietnamese government to stop buying Russian weapons, the State Department spokesman said that the US had already made its position on this issue public, in particular, to colleagues in Vietnam.

“It would clearly be in Vietnam’s interest, and it would also be consistent with US law, particularly the CAATSA law, for partners like Vietnam to diversify their defense purchases away from Russia. Of course, we have widely communicated our views on this topic. I will leave it to Vietnam and our friends in Ghana to comment on their own views and positions, but we have certainly made our position clear on this matter,” said US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel.

After Vietnam, Blinken heads to Japan, where on April 16 the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven will meet in the city of Karuizawa to discuss key security issues.

“The Secretary of State will discuss with his colleagues how to plan the way forward on a number of important issues, including Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, nuclear disarmament, food and energy security, as well as advancing the idea of ​​a free and open Indo-Pacific,” a State Department spokesman said. USA Vedant Patel.

He emphasized that the G7 partners will discuss in Japan how to hold Russia accountable for its aggression in Ukraine, in particular, for crimes committed by Russian troops. “Our G7 partners are united in holding the Russian Federation accountable for their blatant attack on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. I have no doubt that this will be a topic of discussion, and it is an issue on which our G7 partners targeted and will continue to discuss,” said Patel.

Another topic of discussion between the partners will be the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world, the spokesperson of the US State Department added. “When it comes to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, our G7 partners, including Japan, have an integral role to play. I have no doubt that we will continue to discuss this issue,” Patel said.

Anthony Blinken’s visit to Vietnam and Japan will take place from April 14 to 16.

See also: Ukrainians in the Vietnam War in the ranks of the US Army