Viet Minh (precursors to the Viet Cong) fought the Vichy French and Japanese in that era.
The organizational continuity with the current government of Vietnam is a good deal less
tenuous than current Russia with the USSR.
We have more to offer them than the Russians and Chicoms.. Get it done.
The Vietnamese Communists and Russia fought together against us in Vietnam just as the North Korean Communists and Russia fought against us and the UN forces in Korea and today they fight together in Europe.