Dynamics for Strategic Cooperation – The Diplomat

In the course of the Chilly Battle, U.S. professor Nicholas John Spykman championed the planning of safety insurance policies via the lens of geography, or “Rimland idea,” which reshaped world politics. On account of this geopolitical idea, which stresses the very important significance of the maritime fringe of the Eurasian continent, Vietnam and different weaker littoral international locations sadly skilled the bloody legacies of geopolitical competitions amongst rivalry powers. 

Because it emerged as an impartial nation-state after the 1975 reunification, Vietnam, as some consultants argue, has needed to battle with “the tyranny of geography.” The nation’s geographical proximity to and uneven bilateral relationship with China make it troublesome for Vietnam to broaden its ties with america and its allies. As a serious research by Do Thanh Hai notes, China and Vietnam are “ideological bedfellows” and have skilled ebbs and flows of their relations all through recorded historical past. Given this, one could surprise how Vietnam would deepen its strategic partnerships with completely different powers whereas sustaining mutual political belief with China. 

The current go to of Vietnam’s Nationwide Meeting Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to Australia and New Zealand sheds new mild on the nation’s post-COVID overseas coverage. One the one hand, Hue’s visits to the most important economies within the South Pacific matches the momentum of their bilateral relations. Identical to the U.S.-Vietnamese ties, bilateral relations between Vietnam and the 2 largest US. allies in Oceania have turned from foe to good friend in current a long time. 

Australia and New Zealand have supplied quite a few assist applications to assist nation-building and assist a stronger Vietnam. The comfortable energy of those international locations in Vietnam may very well be present in schooling sector, the place Australia and New Zealand are among the many largest donors for instructional reforms. 

RMIT College Vietnam, Australia’s largest providers funding in Vietnam, is a vivid icon in Australia-Vietnam ties. The college is now Vietnam’s main worldwide college and has over 17,000 alumni in Vietnam – a lot of whom are holding essential positions within the nation’s governing our bodies. 

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“Our aim is to play a significant and rising half in skilling Vietnam’s future workforce and supporting business innovation,” mentioned Professor Claire Marken, professional vice-chancellor and normal director of RMIT Vietnam, in our current e mail interview. “The function RMIT College intends to play in Vietnam sooner or later is to create constructive impression and tackle shared challenges. With Vietnam working as the center of RMIT’s regional community, RMIT College’s objectives are to associate with business and authorities and to speed up sustainable improvement within the Asia Pacific via inclusive partnerships. Our function can be act as a entrance door for Australia to know and interact with Southeast Asia.”

For Australia and Vietnam specifically, 2023 marks their fiftieth anniversary of normalization and Hue’s well timed go to issues for either side to set off a deeper and extra complete partnership. Vietnam is in excessive want of financial restoration after nearly three years of COVID-19 lockdowns. The nation is proactively widening and diversifying essential markets to rehabilitate home export-processing industries for financial progress. This provides ample areas for the presence and cooperation of Australia and New Zealand in Vietnam along with conventional sectors, similar to schooling, poverty discount, and governance reforms. 

The Mekong Delta, which is feeling the transboundary dire impacts of upstream Mekong dams, emerges as the following hotspot for cooperation and funding in Vietnam. Australia and New Zealand ought to contemplate collaboration within the Delta on human sources improvement, agricultural innovation, participatory local weather change adaptation, and public well being.

Alternatively, the rising safety issues within the Mekong area and South China Sea necessitate Vietnam to befriend strategic companions. The go to of Vietnam’s Nationwide Meeting chairman underscores how far the trilateral ties might go, and their impression within the area stay to be seen. Hue’s go to to underpin partnerships with key powers within the South Pacific – the place China is increasing its strategic presence and affect – follows the current essential visits of Vietnam’s highest rating leaders to essential associate international locations, together with america and China, additional reaffirms Hanoi’s so-called “bamboo diplomacy” coverage of independence and refusing to take sides in worldwide disputes. 

The three-day go to of Vietnam’s Communist Occasion Basic Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to Beijing in late October issues for Sino-Vietnamese political ties, however different Vietnamese state leaders’ journeys to extra-regional powers and participation in regional essential boards such because the ASEAN and APEC summits reveal the nation’s efforts to determine itself as a honest, energetic, and accountable member in regional and worldwide communities. Vietnam, as a rising financial system and strategically essential occasion in Southeast Asia, is keen to diversify and deepen its relationship with completely different companions, particularly america, Australia, and New Zealand, amongst different international locations to maintain peace and stability within the area.

Hue’s visits to Australia and New Zealand are anticipated to bolster bilateral relations of the concerned international locations after the COVID-19 disaster. This essential journey, along with the three visits of high-ranking state and occasion leaders in late 2022, helps make clear how Vietnamese leaders handle to cope with “the tyranny of geography” as they proceed to broaden diplomatic choices for nation constructing and safety.