Thayer Consultancy Background Brief:

ABN # 65 648 097 123

US-Vietnam Relations Post
Mortem – 4
September 13, 2023

Vietnam and the U.S officially upgraded their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic
Partnership, which is a major breakthrough in Vietnam's external relations.
We request your assessment of the following four issues:
Q1. Vietnam has strategic partnerships with five permanent members of the U.N
Security Council (UNSC). China, Russia, and the U.S, are Comprehensive Strategic
Partners. What does this mean to the position and international prestige of Vietnam?
ANSWER: Vietnam’s partnerships with the five individual Permanent Members of the
Security Council (Perm 5) are bilateral relations.
Russia was the first country to become Vietnam’s strategic partner in 2001 and
relations were raised to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in 2012. China
became Vietnam’s Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partner in 2008. The United
States was a Comprehensive Partner for ten years before its relations were raised to
a CSP. This demonstrates a high level of political trust between Vietnam and Russia,
China and the United States.
The United Kingdom and France became Vietnam’s strategic partners in 2010 and
2013, respectively.
Vietnam’s ability to forge these partnerships is a major source of prestige in the
international community because it gives Vietnam’s leaders access to the thinking of
the leaders of these major powers.
Vietnam’s partnerships also bolsters Vietnam’s position as a state that pursues an
independent foreign policy.
Q2. What can Vietnam’s strategic partnerships with the Perm 5 accomplish in shaping
practical values for global cooperation and addressing global issues?
ANSWER: Vietnam has been a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council
twice, first in 2008-09 and second 2020-21. Vietnam was the unanimous choice of the
Asia bloc at the United Nations, and was overwhelmingly approved for non-
permanent membership by the General Assembly.
Vietnam’s international position and prestige is reinforced by its experience working
with all five permanent members of the UN Security Council on global issues in a
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multilateral setting. This experience has spilled over to positively contribute to

bilateral relations.
There are other sources affecting Vietnam’s international position and prestige such
as its membership in ASEAN and APEC and Vietnam’s role as ASEAN Chair on three
occasions and APEC chair for two.
Q3. How does Vietnam's latest partnership with the U.S affect regional geopolitics,
especially amidst competition among the major powers?
ANSWER: It is clear from the subtitle of the CSP – Peace, Cooperation and Sustainable
Development – that this new partnership aims at economic development and not
alignment.
The Vietnam-United States CSP adds a tenth new area of cooperation from the 2013
Comprehensive Partnership’s nine areas of cooperation. The new area of cooperation
is coordination on regional and global issues to achieve “peace, stability, cooperation
and development” in a multilateral setting. Vietnam and the U.S. will coordinate
together to address regional and global issues in the UN, APEC, East Asia Summit,
ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus, and ASEAN-related
sectoral ministerial meetings.
Vietnam’s CSP with the United States will enhance its position in ASEAN because both
parties have agreed to support ASEAN-centrality and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-
Pacific. This will spur other major powers to work with Vietnam and ASEAN to address
regional and global issues of concern in a constructive manner. This multilateral
approach won’t end strategic rivalry between China and the United States but it will
contribute to lowering tensions by refocusing on more cooperation and less
confrontation.
As the Vietnam-United States CSP develops, Vietnam will become a model and a hub
for next generation innovation-driven economic development through e-commerce,
digital technology, decarbonisation, and green energy transition. This will be an
enormous asset to ASEAN and its development plans, particularly making Southeast
Asia the hub of Electric Vehicle manufacturing.
Q4. Did observers pay close attention to the fact that Vietnam skipped the "strategic
partnership” with the U.S and upgraded straight to a "comprehensive strategic
partnership"? What is the significance of this upgrade?
ANSWER: Most foreign attention focused on the upgrade of Vietnam’s relations with
the U.S. on a par with China and Russia. This focus often overlooked that India and
South Korea were also Vietnam’s Comprehensive Strategic Partners.
Foreign observers also focused attention on China-U.S. rivalry and strategic
competition at the expense of the bigger picture. For example, President Biden and
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong declared that “innovation-driven inclusive
economic growth” was “the core foundations and sources of momentum in the
bilateral relationship.”
President Biden and General Secretary Trong also identified “science, technology, and
digital innovation cooperation” as the “new breakthrough of the Comprehensive
Strategic Partnership.
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In summary, Vietnam and the United States have set out a comprehensive model for
cooperation that will likely spur other major powers to join in and support. A stronger
and constructive Vietnam will be better able to contribute to regional stability and
development.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “US-Vietnam Relations Post Mortem – 4,”

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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.