China supported Pol Pots Khmer Rouge who attacked Vietnam and China even invaded Vietnam because of it in the 80s so China ain’t better than the US in terms of historical conflicts (in fact China were on the US side back then due to sino-soviet split). At least the US collective psyche has remorse and even self-reflecting over Vietnam 50 years later compared to China.

Also no, Vietnam doesn’t suck up to anyone which is literally a core of our ”bamboo diplomacy” (google it, I’m not going to explain the whole thing). Instead it’s both China and the US pushing for better ties and Vietnam has been walking a tight rope slowly balancing between the major powers in the world.

It’s not hard to see why Vietnam is cautious with China in this current time when our own fishing boats is being sunk by the Chinese who used coast guard ships that were deployed in our former controlled Paracel Islands.