Vietnam foreign policy

The upgrade came three days after Vietnam similarly elevated Indonesia to the highest tier in its diplomatic hierarchy.

The past three years have seen a significant expansion in Vietnam's relations with its major regional and global partners.

Over the past three years, the Vietnamese government has established Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships with nine nations.

New Zealand has become the 10th nation, and the seventh in the past three years, to be promoted to the top tier of Vietnam's diplomatic hierarchy.

Despite its growing prosperity and ambition, the country still has to tread a careful line between larger regional and global powers.

Malaysia has become the ninth nation, and the first in ASEAN, to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam.

The agreement, Vietnam's first free trade deal with a Middle Eastern nation, comes after a busy couple of years in the country's foreign relations.

The country's omnidirectional foreign policy doctrine cushions it from changes in the domestic affairs of key partner states.

The Russia-Ukraine war has rearranged the configuration of Vietnam’s web of partnerships but has not drastically changed its foreign policy approach. 

Vietnam's evolving strategic narrative, as articulated by To Lam, reflects a nation at the crossroads of global affairs.

France has become the eighth nation, and the fifth in the past two years, to rise to the top of Hanoi's diplomatic hierarchy.

Hanoi's interpretation of its painful history with the U.S. and China reflects its desire to maintain peaceful relations with the two powers.