Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping said Beijing is ready to work with Hanoi “to build a community with a shared future of strategic significance,” in his message to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two communist states, CCP mouthpiece Xinhua reported on Jan. 18. Observers have said that it’s hard to achieve as the two regimes have different goals and competing interests.
Vietnamese news agencies reported that Vietnamese leaders told Xi that the communist regime will continue to prioritize its relations with China, which “aligns with Vietnam’s broader foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and diversification of international relations.”
The Chinese regime built diplomatic relations with the communist regime in Northern Vietnam on Jan. 18, 1950. Xi and the Vietnamese Communist Party’s new leader, To Lam, and new president, Luong Cuong, who took office last year, exchanged remarks on the 75th anniversary, according to Xinhua.
The Chinese regime’s last major war was fought against Vietnam over land disputes in 1979. In recent years, the dispute between the two countries over territory in the South China Sea has intensified as the Chinese regime increased its activities and expansion in the disputed waters.
Vietnam has had a closer relationship with the United States in the past few years, Yeh Yao-Yuan, assistant professor of political science at the University of St. Thomas, said on Jan. 19, because “Vietnam needs the United States’ support in the South China Sea against China’s expansion.”
“On security issues, Vietnam will definitely move closer to the United States,” he told The Epoch Times.
Su Tzu-yun, researcher and director at the division of defense strategy and resources at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, shared a similar assessment.
“They’ve even been purchasing arms from the United States,” he said.
“The United States is also Vietnam’s largest export market.”
The Biden administration has also made efforts to improve relations with the Southeast Asian country in the Indo-Pacific region to contain China.
The congratulatory remarks on the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties “are a just friendly attitude, and Vietnam will not really get close to the CCP,” Su said.
“After all, they’re in fierce competition, as Vietnam wants to replace China to be the world’s factory, and many foreign companies have moved their production to Southeast Asian countries, especially Vietnam,” he added.
Su said that Xi’s remarks show that “Beijing is adjusting its foreign policy this year, softening up a little.”
“Because China’s economy is in a downturn, and CCP is trying to improve relations with neighboring countries to mitigate the impact of the trade sanctions and containment [from the West], especially facing incoming Trump’s tariff hikes,” he said.
Yeh said that Vietnam also maintains trade relations with China as they are neighboring countries.
However, “Vietnam’s focus has been looking for opportunities to develop itself,” he said, adding that despite that both regimes are based on the same ideology, “Beijing’s effort to pull Vietnam into its agenda to resist the United States and to compete with the United States is in vain, as Vietnam doesn’t see it that way.”
