Opportunities from remarkable imprints of the diplomacy
2024 was the year that Vietnam made spectacular breakthroughs with outstanding achievements in terms of diplomacy. This contributed to building the image of a Vietnam with deep international integration according to the policy of multilateralization and diversification of foreign relations, being an active and responsible member of the international community. It can be said that the achievements in foreign affairs and diplomacy have helped position the country and been a bridge to help Vietnam shine on the world map.
In its article “Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy has lessons for the Global South” published on October 2, 2024, the Japan Times newspaper affirmed that in the context of increasingly complex geopolitical competition among major countries, Vietnam has emerged as a strategic intermediary. This newspaper emphasized that through tough but flexible approaches, Vietnam’s “bamboo diplomacy” has successfully put the country in an advantageous position in the international arena in the context of great-power competition.
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A view of the conference to review the task performance of the diplomatic sector in 2024 and work out missions for 2025 |
In just three months, starting in June 2024, through diplomacy activities, especially high-level ones, Vietnam attracted billions of U.S. dollars in foreign investment. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Vietnam. In late July and early August, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited India. Also in August, Comrade To Lam, in his capacity as Party General Secretary and State President, visited China to further enhance bilateral cooperation between the two neighbors.
According to the Japanese newspaper, Vietnam has demonstrated its strategic value in relations with superpowers inside and outside the Indo-Pacific region. The country has had certain advantages in competing with China and India in terms of infrastructure, with Washington and Beijing in terms of advanced technology. It is a partner of Russia, China and India in addressing regional challenges. Countries in the Global South can learn from Vietnam's clever diplomatic strategy. The newspaper also commented that Vietnam has maintained an optimal balance between the benefits of international economic cooperation and geopolitical and security calculations in the region.
The Japan's largest English-language daily newspaper took the country’s capital investment attraction for infrastructure development as a successful lesson of Vietnam’s diplomacy. Like most developing countries, Vietnam has received loans and support from international financial institutions to develop its infrastructure. While taking advantage of investments from China, Vietnam has also attracted investors from Japan, the Republic of Korea and recently Adani Group, one of India's leading corporations, to its infrastructure development projects.
The Adani Group is planning to invest an estimated capital of USD 2 billion in Lien Chieu Port in the Central city of Da Nang, USD 2.8 billion in the Vinh Tan 3 Thermal Power Plant Project in the Southernmost coastal province of Binh Thuan and willing to engage in airports and logistics centers-building projects in Vietnam.
The Japan Times believed that increased competition gives Vietnam higher bargaining power in the international arena. In addition, the balanced foreign policy also helps Vietnam strengthen cooperation in trade, technology, and new fields, opening up opportunities for the country’s economy to grow.
Vietnam’s story
Vietnam is entering a new era - the era of the nation’s rise. Used to be a land with no name on the world map and a country heavily devastated by war, Vietnam has risen to become a symbol of peace, stability, hospitality, and a destination for international investors and tourists. From a backward economy, Vietnam has been listed in the top 40 leading economies, with a trade scale in the top 20 countries in the world. Additionally, it has been an important link in 17 free trade agreements (FTAs), connecting more than 60 key economies in the region and the world.
Once a besieged and isolated country, Vietnam has established diplomatic relations with 194 countries globally and has comprehensive partnerships, strategic partnerships, and comprehensive strategic partnerships with 32 countries, including all members of the U.N. Security Council and major countries. It is also an active member of over 70 regional and international organizations. Taking the happiness and prosperity of the people as its goal, Vietnam is considered by the U.N. and international friends as a success story, a bright spot in hunger eradication and poverty reduction and constant improvement of its people’s material and spiritual life.
However, Vietnam is also facing unprecedented challenges in the context of numerous complicated developments of regional and global situations. Threats to security, conflicts, injustice in international trade and financial relations, climate change, environmental degradation, the risk of falling behind, and unilateralism and international terrorism are developing so complicatedly that no single country could handle them.
Looking back on the complex and profound changes in the region and the world in 2024, it can be seen that Vietnam's foreign relations and diplomacy have made appropriate changes. On the basis of the principles of firmly maintaining the Party's leadership with close links with the three pillars of the Party’s foreign relations, the State’s diplomacy, and people-to-people exchange, Vietnam’s diplomacy has continued to strongly promote its pioneering role in creating and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national development while being more innovative and creative in using foreign relations tools to achieve specific results in the context of continued deep international integration, thus promoting sustainable development, consolidating Vietnam's position in the global production and supply chain.
Diplomacy helps build strategic trust, narrow the gap, resolve conflicts, and reduce disagreements on issues related to territorial sovereignty and national interests. International cooperation helps create an optimal political-security position on the regional and global strategic chessboard.
President Ho Chi Minh once said that “Strength is the gong, diplomacy is the sound. The bigger the gong is, the louder the sound is.” Vietnam's aspiration to rise reflects the country’s pro-active adaptation to a rapidly changing strategic environment, while contributing to spreading the message of an “independent, self-reliant, peaceful, cooperative, friendly, developing, prosperous, and happy Vietnam,” creating inspirations and arousing desire for prosperous and happy development in the world.
Translated by Mai Huong