Designed to fulfill the developing countries' demands on their infrastructure investment in the Asia-Pacific region, China's "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) plays a major role in national economic and geopolitics' strategy by connecting those infrastructures in Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and East Africa. Among a variety of BRI projects, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) generates enormous political influence by establishing a military-civilian dual-function port investment projects in order to create a favorable strategic condition for Chinese military and thus in keeping with China's national security interests in these areas. Vietnam has climbed up to the status of developing countries in just recent years. However, her infrastructure buildup cannot keep up with the requirement that her rapid economic development needs. The emergence of China's BRI initiative fits Vietnam's needs at right time. Despite her disagreement with China on South China Sea's sovereignty, Vietnam continues to maintain her own autonomy and ability to face possible conflicts in the South China Sea through balanced diplomacy, international multilateral cooperation and military modernization by importing armaments from various sources. Russia has been a major partner of Vietnam for long time. Vietnam is thus Russia's crucial arms sales country in the Southeast Asia. At the same time, Vietnam is a pivotal country for the United States to conduct her "Asia-Pacific rebalancing" strategy in order to check the rise of China. The lift of arms embargo, promoting arm sales, strengthening Vietnam's coast defense and ensuring maritime navigation freedom are all parts of efforts to maintain regional stability in this area by the US. This paper reveals both US and Russia's attempts to counterbalance China's increasing influence through arm sales to Vietnam.