ASEAN Beat

Chinese Leader’s Visit Reflects Vietnam’s ‘Omnidirectional’ Foreign Policy

Recent Features

ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia

Chinese Leader’s Visit Reflects Vietnam’s ‘Omnidirectional’ Foreign Policy

China’s paramount leader Xi Jinping will reportedly soon make a state visit to Vietnam, just weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden.

Chinese Leader’s Visit Reflects Vietnam’s ‘Omnidirectional’ Foreign Policy

Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, and Vietnam Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, right, wave during a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Hanoi, Vietnam Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017.

Credit: Hoang Dinh Nam/Pool Photo via AP

Vietnam and China are reportedly preparing for a possible visit by China’s President Xi Jinping to Vietnam at the end of this month or early next. The visit, if it happens, will come around two months after U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Hanoi, during which he announced the elevation of U.S.-Vietnam ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and one year after Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong last visited Beijing in November 2022, the first visit by a foreign leader to China after the COVID-19 pandemic.

One item reportedly on the agenda of Xi’s mooted Hanoi visit is the elevation of Vietnam-China ties, especially the inclusion of the phrase “community of common destiny” in the joint statement, to signal that China wants to put Vietnam at the “highest level of bilateral relations for the Xi Jinping administration.”

[...]
Dreaming of a career in the Asia-Pacific?
Try The Diplomat's jobs board.
Find your Asia-Pacific job