China isn't necessarily bullying the US, it bullies other countries. My point was that China isn't good at international relationships. They have squandered the relationship with the US and have bullied other smaller countries to the point that even Vietnam would much rather deal with the US than with China.

Look at the India relationship, it's awful. China has no clue how to create positive and mutually beneficial relationships around the world.

It sees everything as a zero-sum game. The US, despite it's flaws, is excellent at building and maintaining deep economic and political relationships around the world. Europe, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, all have had benefited massively from their relationships with the US.

China's CCP has had 50 years to develop ties with Vietnam and the Vietnamese hate the CCP.