Vietnam
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Partnerships
India, Vietnam deepen defense partnership to confront regional challenges
Mandeep Singh Facing shared security concerns, India and Vietnam are stepping up their defense ties, including a port visit to Vietnam by two Indian Navy vessels, New Delhi’s delivery of a missile corvette to Hanoi, senior-level meetings, and participation in bilateral and multilateral exercises. The Indo-Pacific is confronting challenges to peace and stability, as well as to sustainable development endeavors,…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Hanoi, Manila to boost maritime domain awareness, South China Sea cooperation
Maria T. Reyes Recent steps by the Philippines and Vietnam to deepen cooperation could expand maritime domain awareness and help ensure a rules-based order in the South China Sea amid Beijing’s militarization of the strategic waterway, analysts say. The Southeast Asian nations agreed to boost collaboration between their coast guards and to “promote trust, confidence and understanding through dialogue and…
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Climate
Scientists Identify 380 More Species in Mekong Region
Radio Free Asia An aggressive color-changing lizard, a venomous snake named after a goddess in Chinese mythology and a camouflaging green frog found only in the forested limestone mountains of northeastern Vietnam were among the hundreds of plant and animal species discovered in the Mekong River region in the past two years, researchers announced in May 2023. Hundreds of scientists…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Philippines, Vietnam expanding cooperation in South China Sea
The Associated Press The Philippines and Vietnam signed agreements in late January 2024 to prevent incidents in the South China Sea and broaden cooperation between their coast guards in a growing alliance that will likely be frowned upon by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Beijing claims almost all of the strategic waterway in defiance of a 2016 international tribunal ruling that…
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Partnerships
Southeast Asian nations strengthen regional unity
FORUM Staff Southeast Asian nations are increasingly willing to act on issues requiring collective defense and cooperation, as evidenced by the mid-January 2024 talks in Hanoi between Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on strengthening joint maritime security and commerce. The leaders “reaffirmed the importance of peace, stability … and freedom of navigation” in the contested…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
ASEAN demonstrates solidarity as PRC drags feet on South China Sea code of conduct
FORUM Staff Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members are reinforcing partnerships that uphold stability in the South China Sea. Recent diplomatic efforts come as an increasingly aggressive People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims decadeslong talks on a code of conduct (COC) for the crucial waterway are “going smoothly.” Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Experts call for scientific diplomacy to promote South China Sea stability
Tom Abke Establishing a foundation for a secure, stable and prosperous South China Sea region requires moving away from disruptive “gray-zone” activities in favor of clarity, cooperation and communication, experts contend. That entails identifying shared national interests scientifically and strategically and safeguarding them through international agreements. Coercive actions in the strategic waterway, a vital route for global trade, include the…
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Climate
PRC’s hydroelectric dams threaten Mekong River
FORUM Staff The Mekong River stretches nearly 5,000 kilometers from the Tibetan plateau, winding through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and, ultimately, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The river, the longest in Southeast Asia, carries nutrient-rich sediment essential to the livelihoods of those who rely on the waterway for agriculture and fisheries. But the river is drying up. In recent years, its water…
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Partnerships
Indonesia, Vietnam strengthen defense cooperation as PRC’s maritime aggression persists
Gusty Da Costa Indonesia and Vietnam are moving closer to upgrading their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership as indicated by their leaders’ September 2023 meeting and the nations’ third Defense Policy Dialogue a month later. The nations are enhancing defense cooperation in particular, according to officials and experts. The two countries, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
U.S., Vietnam warn against ‘threat or use of force’ in South China Sea
Agence France-Presse The United States and Vietnam warned in September 2023 against the “threat or use of force” in the disputed South China Sea, days after clashes involving Chinese Communist Party (CCP) vessels. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said competing claims on the strategic waterway must be settled under international norms. The…
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