Russian President Putin's visit is the latest achievement of Vietnam's bamboo diplomacy

Vietnam's "bamboo diplomacy " has been a great success after visits by US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and most recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Financial Times commented.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 20. Photo: VNA

Over the past nine months, Vietnam has welcomed US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The series of visits by leaders of the world's leading powers shows that Vietnam - a country that is good at attracting manufacturing investment from companies looking to diversify supply chains - is skillfully handling international relations, writes Financial Times writer A. Anantha Lakshmi. President Vladimir Putin's visit to Vietnam this week is the first by a Russian leader since 2017. President Vladimir Putin's visit comes less than a year after US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam last September and Vietnam and the US upgraded bilateral relations. Three months after Mr. Biden's visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Vietnam and Vietnam and China agreed to jointly build a community of shared future of strategic significance. Expert Nguyen Khac Giang of the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, commented that Vietnam is implementing a fairly good foreign policy. Vietnam has been “proactively neutral”, Vietnam understands that it needs to actively balance relations with different powers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his visit to Vietnam on the evening of June 20. Photo: VNA

The Financial Times noted that in recent years, Vietnam has become a favorite destination for companies like Apple as they seek to diversify their supply chains. Foreign direct investment in Vietnam reached $36.6 billion last year. Ms. Susannah Patton - Director of the Southeast Asia program at the Lowy Institute - said that Vietnam is very astute in international relations. "Vietnam has benefited from a foreign policy stance that is multilateral and makes the country suitable for many partners," she pointed out. Vietnam and Russia established diplomatic relations in 1950. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between Vietnam and Russia. In that context, scholar Prashanth Parameswaran of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center in the US, said that Vietnam is strengthening its traditional relationship with Russia while diversifying with newer partners. AP commented that Vietnam's "bamboo diplomacy" policy is increasingly being demonstrated. As a manufacturing powerhouse and an increasingly important player in the global supply chain, Vietnam welcomed both US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2023. Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, UK, pointed out that President Vladimir Putin's visit was very important for Vietnam at the diplomatic level, to demonstrate that Vietnam "can maintain a very flexible balance in its bamboo diplomacy". "Within 1 year, Vietnam had visits from the heads of state of the 3 most powerful countries in the world, which is quite impressive" - ​​he pointed out. According to the New York Times, for Vietnam, President Vladimir Putin's visit is a testament to "bamboo diplomacy". The US news agency commented that Vietnam established the highest level of bilateral relations with 7 countries, including Russia, China, the US, India, South Korea and Australia. Huong Le Thu, deputy director of the International Crisis Group’s Asia division, said Putin’s visit was a testament to Vietnam’s ability to “maintain relationships with all parties, despite competition among major powers.” This approach is called “bamboo diplomacy,” in which the country can balance multiple relationships with major powers. She stressed that this is to ensure Vietnam’s interests.

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Source: https://laodong.vn/the-gioi/chuyen-tham-cua-tong-thong-nga-putin-la-thanh-tuu-moi-nhat-cua-ngoai-giao-cay-tre-viet-nam-1355643.ldo