Joe Biden in Vietnam after G20: What's on the agenda

US president Joe Biden arrived in Vietnam to deepen cooperation between the two nations. Semiconductors and rare earth minerals are expected to be a key focus for talks as Joe Biden flew from the G20 summit in New Delhi to meet the leader of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong to sign off on a “comprehensive strategic partnership”. The US president may also shore up support against Beijing's increasing diplomatic influence. Here's what to expect from Joe Biden's Vietnam visit:

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1. The two sides are expected to announce new cooperation on semiconductors, Jon Finer, the US deputy national security advisor, said.
2. They will also hold detailed talks on supplies of rare earth minerals used in the manufacture of high-tech devices such as smartphones and electric car batteries.
3. The United States said Vietnam has a key role to play as it looks to source less from China after supply chain disruptions rocked the global economy.
4. Last month, the Joe Biden administration moved to restrict US investment in Chinese technology in sensitive areas including semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
5. This comes as Vietnam shares US concerns about its Beijing's growing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea.
6. Ahead of Joe Biden's visit, the New York Times reported that Vietnam was secretly arranging to buy arms from Russia. The report cited a Vietnamese finance ministry document that laid out plans to fund arms purchases from the Kremlin through a joint oil and gas project in Siberia.
7. Jon Finer said that Washington acknowledged Vietnam's decades-long military relationship with Russia adding that there was "increasing discomfort on the part of the Vietnamese with that relationship", and the new partnership would help Vietnam "diversify away from those partnerships" by allowing it to source from the United States and its allies.
8. National security advisor Jake Sullivan said before the trip that Joe Biden would raise issues related "to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and other basic human rights".
9. Biden's Vietnam trip will also include a visit to a memorial to his friend former US senator John McCain. He was shot down and held captive during the Vietnam War but in later years helped rebuild ties between the two countries.

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