Letters | Vietnam’s political waltz with China and the US

Readers discuss Hanoi’s relations with Beijing and Washington, the reality of Chinese foreign relations, music to Chinese consumers’ ears, Hong Kong bargain-hunters, and the pursuit of happiness

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Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh bids farewell to China’s President Xi Jinping after their meeting in Hanoi on December 13, 2023.

Published: 11:30am, 13 Jan 2024

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Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vietnam, months after US President Joe Biden’s, underscores the scramble for regional influence amid a trend towards friendshoring. The reality on the ground is that Hanoi has to field Beijing’s overtures, without risking relations with its needed deterrent provider, Washington.

Historical discord still casts a shadow; China’s domination of Vietnam, known as nghin nam bac thuoc or 1,000 years of northern occupation, is still taken into strategic consideration as Hanoi deals with a Beijing showing renewed economic and diplomatic intent.

Being flexible is of the utmost importance, even as Vietnams maintains its strategy of “Four Noes”: no partaking in military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no foreign military bases in Vietnamese territory and no use of force in international relations.

The core idea is to be friends with all and an enemy to none. But in Hanoi, deep wariness persists, with concerns ranging from the contested South China Sea to the impact of Chinese dams on the Mekong River.

China remains Vietnam’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$200 billion a year. China is also the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam.

Xi’s visit is meant to take momentum away from Biden’s courtship of Hanoi. China hopes to include Vietnam in its Digital Silk Road, and invest in upgrading the railway between the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming and the Vietnamese port city of Haiphong, although Hanoi is known to be cautious about external loans and Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.