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China, Iran join for the first time Vietnam's fair on Dec.

19-22

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Firms sanctioned by the West to have booths in expo

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US's Boeing ( BA ), Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) to attend, official says

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Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) in advanced talks with Hanoi to sell

military

transport planes

By Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio

HANOI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Companies from Iran, Israel,

China, Russia and the United States will showcase military

equipment at an arms expo in Hanoi in December, Vietnam's

defence ministry said on Tuesday, a rare case of geopolitical

rivals exhibiting their wares together.

Communist-run Vietnam has for years been seeking to

diversify its military supplies to reduce its decade-long

reliance on Russia, and has discussed potential procurement

deals with multiple countries trying to leverage its flexible

diplomacy of good relations with great powers.

At the defence expo to be held in the capital Hanoi on Dec.

19-22, nearly 200 companies from 27 countries have already

reserved booths, the ministry said in a statement, including

firms from China and Iran, which had not attended Vietnam's

first international military fair in 2022.

The expo will bring together defence companies from Israel

and Iran, who have launched missile attacks and airstrikes on

each other in the past year. Iran will attend even though it is

subject to sweeping Western sanctions.

At the past edition in 2022, Israeli defence firms Elbit

Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems were among

the exhibitors.

Vietnam's defence ministry has not released yet a full list

of participants and it is not clear what arms will be displayed.

Companies at times showcase only models of their bigger weapons.

China's state-owned defence giant Norinco Group, which is

subject to U.S. sanctions, will attend, Le Quang Tuyen, deputy

head of the defence industry department, said on the sidelines

of a press conference about the expo on Tuesday.

In the same large exhibition area in a military airport in

the outskirts of Hanoi, U.S. companies Boeing ( BA ) and

Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) will also have their booths, Tuyen

added.

Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) is in advanced talks with Vietnam for the

supply of a handful of C-130 Hercules military transport planes,

a senior U.S. official said earlier this month, confirming an

earlier Reuters report.

A company spokesperson did not immediately reply to a

request for comment on the matter.

The variegated list of attendees is "bamboo diplomacy on

show," said Nguyen The Phuong, an expert on Vietnamese security

at Australia's University of New South Wales, using a popular

definition for Vietnam's flexible foreign policy.

"Vietnam will play with any partner it sees fit,

particularly in defence," he said.

The country also intends to use the fair to strengthen

cooperation with foreign partners to boost its growing domestic

industry with tech transfers and "seek opportunities to export,"

the defence ministry said.

At the 2022 expo, Vietnam signed five contracts with foreign

defence firms, Tuyen said, although there is no public record

for them.