HO CHI MINH CITY — Vietnam’s military is going shopping. Anxious about a more assertive China on its doorstep and frictions over territory in the South China Sea, officials in Hanoi recently hosted a group of foreign defence contractors looking to sell the Communist nation everything from radar systems to night-vision technology and aircraft.

The military’s top officers were not present because of the sensitivity of hobnobbing with American defence companies eight days before celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the defeat of the United States and its allies. But the meeting shows how Vietnam’s leaders are looking past ideology to practical realities.

… Still, Vietnam, which has long relied on Russia for weapons, is unlikely to become a major US client, said Mr Collin Koh, associate research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Russia supplies Vietnam with planes and submarines — the third of six kilo-class submarines was delivered in January — and is helping build a nuclear power station.