A free press has been an anathema in Vietnam ever since the communists seized control of the north in 1954 and annexed the south 21 years later. But there are hopes that Hanoi’s rigid control of journalism might ease amid its growing dependency on the West as a bulwark against Beijing’s expanding military reach across the region.

That dependency was highlighted by the recent visit by the United States aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, a show of military strength in Vietnamese waters which coincided with the scrapping of two-term presidencies in China, enabling Xi Jinping to rule for life as paramount leader.

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