Vietnam charts steady diplomacy with China, avoiding escalation
For Vietnam, diplomacy with China is less a slogan than a daily calculation—especially when tempers flare in the East Sea. US News Hub Misryoum reports that Hanoi’s approach reflects pragmatism and strategic clarity, treating managing China as a permanent condition rather than a temporary choice. The stated goal is not to defeat Beijing, but to live alongside it while protecting autonomy and national interests.
Vietnam and China also differ sharply on key issues. The largest rift concerns territorial claims in the South China Sea (SCS)/East Sea (ES), where China claims almost 90% of the area through its nine-dash line, which it continues to expand. Beijing has created artificial islands and turned them into military outposts, and it has changed traditional names of several features. US News Hub Misryoum notes that aggressive patrolling in areas Hanoi considers belonging to Vietnam is common.
In 2014, China placed a giant oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam near the Paracel Islands, and objected to Vietnam’s drilling operations with foreign partners. Incidents have included Beijing forces sinking Vietnam’s fishing boats, and confrontations can occur. Yet Vietnam does not allow these events to escalate into a war. This restraint, however, is not described as acquiescence: Hanoi says it has firmly resisted China’s expansive claims, upheld UNCLOS, and supported the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration Ruling. It remains the most vocal opponent of the Chinese illegal claims.
Tensions extend beyond the waterline. US News Hub Misryoum reports that disagreements also arise from China’s upstream dams on the Mekong River, which affect water flows and agricultural livelihoods in Vietnam’s delta. Hanoi has also approached China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with caution, factoring risks around debt, dependence, and strategic vulnerability.
That mix helps explain why Vietnam leans on balancing rather than betting everything on confrontation. By keeping resistance calibrated and engagement functional, Hanoi aims to preserve space for economic growth while signaling that autonomy will not be traded away.
Vietnam’s broader regional outlook also diverges from China’s. While Beijing seeks a China-centric regional order, Hanoi advocates ASEAN centrality and sovereign equality among states. On global alignments, China sees the US as its principal strategic rival, while Vietnam considers engagement with Washington essential for economic growth and security diversification.
Vietnam’s diplomatic thinking is tied to Lam’s integrated vision that links national security, economic growth, and long-term strategic planning. US News Hub Misryoum says Vietnam’s foreign policy seeks stability, attracts investment, and builds sustainable cooperation frameworks. It also emphasizes partnerships to develop manufacturing capabilities, secure energy requirements, and reach new markets, arguing that development cannot occur in isolation but is integrated with regional development.
Driving the day-to-day approach is Lam’s “Bamboo diplomacy,” elevated into a comprehensive doctrine of statecraft that blends security, economic policy, and international engagement with strategic confidence. US News Hub Misryoum reports that the doctrine claims constructive engagement between different systems remains achievable and offers a counter-model to zero-sum major-power rivalries.
Lam’s diplomacy, officials say, also comes with clear limits. Vietnam alone cannot militarily balance China, open alignment against China is not required because of economic ties, and wars carry tremendous costs that could damage development progress. Therefore, policy centers on diplomatically managing differences with China while maintaining independence, using three components: engaging China to avoid conflict or escalation of tension; diversifying partnerships to avoid over-dependence; and asserting sovereignty and strategic autonomy without provoking China.
Engagement relies on party-to-party and government-to-government links alongside ASEAN structures. Vietnam also diversifies partnerships, with strategic partnership arrangements with 38 countries, creating counterweights without formal containment. Vietnam then seeks to assert sovereignty and autonomy in a way designed to keep overall tensions from spiraling.
The telephonic conversation in January between Lam and Xi Jinping highlights how Hanoi says it manages Beijing. US News Hub Misryoum reports that Lam described Vietnam’s priorities decided at the 14th National Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party, saying Vietnam is determined to build a peaceful, independent, democratic, prosperous, civilised and happy nation, steadily advancing towards socialism in a new era of development. He underscored unwavering commitment to national independence and socialism, a people-centred development approach, a new growth model, and an independent, self-reliant foreign policy of peace, friendship, cooperation and development, with diversification and multilateralisation of external relations.
He called for breakthroughs in practical cooperation, urging expanded imports—especially of Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products—prioritising railway cooperation, and seeking enhanced high-quality investment tied to technology transfer and workforce training, as well as enhanced science and technology cooperation. He also stressed national interests. In the same discussion, Lam reaffirmed Vietnam would continue to prioritise developing relations with China, presenting ties as a stable, long-term pillar with deep strategic links.
He assured adherence to “One China” and said Vietnam holds high regard for China’s role as a responsible major country for regional and global peace and development. He proposed elevating political trust to guide comprehensive cooperation. US News Hub Misryoum adds that Lam, in an article in April 2025, described those dimensions while avoiding mention of controversial issues.
Vietnam’s handling of the China relationship reflects an understanding that not every dispute must be elevated in bilateral talks. By selecting what to emphasize—technology, trade, and investment—Hanoi looks to support its 2030 goals while keeping channels open.
US News Hub Misryoum reports that Lam’s stress on ASEAN is shown by travel to Indonesia and Singapore after taking over as General Secretary of the VCP, followed by visits to Central Asia, North Korea and Russia. Against this backdrop, Lam’s forthcoming visit in mid-April to Beijing is expected to focus on reinforcing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including agreements on trade, investment, and technological cooperation.
While concerns may surface, officials say Lam would work to ensure they would not disrupt overall ties, using available opportunities to meet Vietnam’s requirements. US News Hub Misryoum reports that Hanoi frames this statecraft as pushing Vietnam’s ascent as a confident middle power capable of navigating a complex global environment, crafting outcomes toward its objectives, and avoiding provocation that could escalate tension—key to Vietnam’s diplomacy with China and a steady path forward for Vietnam’s focus_keyphrase.