{"id":33502,"date":"2017-08-11T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T20:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=33502"},"modified":"2017-08-10T18:24:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-10T08:24:18","slug":"asean-50-view-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

At the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting last week, Vietnam attracted international media attention for its struggle to insert strong language on the South China Sea<\/a> into the ministers\u2019 joint communiqu\u00e9. The episode highlights an enormous evolution in Vietnam\u2019s perception of ASEAN as well as the importance that the country attaches to the regional grouping in its foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Established in 1967 when the Vietnam War was at its peak and communist-led insurgencies were spreading in Southeast Asia, ASEAN was partly a response of the five founding member countries to the communist threat. Vietnam therefore viewed ASEAN with much suspicion. After the war ended, Vietnam made efforts to improve ties with ASEAN countries as exemplified by the ASEAN tour of Prime Minister Pham Van Dong in 1978.<\/p>\n

But after Vietnam intervened in Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge regime in late 1978, the atmosphere between Vietnam and ASEAN members turned hostile again. ASEAN worked with China and the West to isolate Vietnam diplomatically and economically. It was only after Vietnam completely pulled out of Cambodia in 1989 and the Paris Accords on Cambodia were concluded in 1991 that Hanoi\u2019s relationship with ASEAN started to improve. In July 1992, Vietnam acceded to the Bali Treaty and became an ASEAN observer. Three years later, it became the association\u2019s seventh member, formally putting an end to the ASEAN\u2013Indochina confrontation.<\/p>\n

In pursuing ASEAN membership, Vietnam\u2019s main interest at the time was to facilitate economic cooperation with ASEAN members and to secure a peaceful regional environment conducive to its domestic economic reforms. Vietnam was looking for exactly what the Thai prime minister, Chatichai Choonhavan, referred to in 1989<\/a> as a process to turn Indochina \u2018from a battlefield into a marketplace\u2019.<\/p>\n

Since joining ASEAN 22 years ago, Vietnam has benefited significantly from its trade and investment ties with fellow ASEAN member states. ASEAN members are now collectively Vietnam\u2019s third-largest export market after the United States and the European Union, and its second-largest source of imports after China. Meanwhile, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are among the top 10 foreign investors of Vietnam.<\/p>\n

What is more interesting and hard to conceive from the current perspective is that, at the time, Vietnam didn\u2019t seriously contemplate the idea of enlisting ASEAN\u2019s support in its disputes with China over the South China Sea. As demonstrated in a chapter by Dr Nguyen Vu Tung and Dr Dang Cam Tu of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam to be published next year in a book that I\u2019ve co-edited, Vietnamese diplomats were convinced that, because ASEAN wasn\u2019t a collective defence organisation, its members would not be willing to antagonise China by supporting Vietnam in the disputes. ASEAN\u2019s rather indifferent stance on a number of incidents, such as the 1988 Sino-Vietnamese naval clash in the Spratlys, China\u2019s grant of a concession to an American oil company to drill in Vietnam\u2019s waters in 1992, and China\u2019s seizure of Mischief Reef in 1995, further strengthened that conviction.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Vietnam\u2019s view of ASEAN\u2019s role in managing the South China Sea disputes has evolved significantly since then. In particular, Vietnam has made extensive use of ASEAN-led arrangements to both engage with and soft-balance against China. On the one hand, economic cooperation with China through such avenues as the China\u2013ASEAN Free Trade Agreement has created growing economic interdependence between the two countries, which has buffered, to some degree, the bilateral maritime tensions. On the other hand, Vietnam is trying to employ the political and legal tools made available by ASEAN to shape China\u2019s behaviours in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

For example, Vietnam was one of the key driving forces behind the adoption of the 2002 ASEAN\u2013China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Hanoi is now pushing for a legally binding code of conduct to be negotiated soon. At ASEAN meetings, Vietnam often lobbies for a strong ASEAN stance on the issue, as seen at the ministerial meeting last week. On occasion, such as at the 17th ASEAN Regional Forum held in Hanoi, Vietnam skilfully made use of the platform to rally international support for its position on the disputes.<\/p>\n

The change in Vietnam\u2019s perception of ASEAN\u2019s role in managing the South China Sea disputes is rooted in a mixture of new developments since the early 1990s. For example, China\u2019s increasing maritime assertiveness has both necessitated Vietnam\u2019s utilisation of ASEAN channels to deal with China and made other ASEAN member states less indifferent to the issue and more sympathetic to Vietnam\u2019s approach. At the same time, the emergence of new ASEAN-led arrangements with China\u2019s participation, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (1994), the East Asia Summit (2005) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers\u2019 Meeting \u2013 Plus (2010), also facilitates Vietnam\u2019s efforts to soft-balance against China through ASEAN.<\/p>\n

ASEAN has evolved significantly over the past 50 years, and so has Vietnam\u2019s perception of ASEAN and its role in regional affairs. Vietnam\u2019s accession to ASEAN marked a turning point in its foreign policy, and despite certain frustration now and then due to the grouping\u2019s inability to forge a consensus on politically sensitive issues, it remains indispensable to Hanoi\u2019s diplomacy in both economic and strategic terms. The case of ASEAN\u2013Vietnam relations is yet another story of how valuable an asset ASEAN is to its member states, a story that\u2019s likely to continue to be told in the next 50 years and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting last week, Vietnam attracted international media attention for its struggle to insert strong language on the South China Sea into the ministers\u2019 joint communiqu\u00e9. The episode highlights an enormous …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":33503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[189,471,540],"class_list":["post-33502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-asean","tag-south-china-sea","tag-vietnam"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting last week, Vietnam attracted international media attention for its struggle to insert strong language on the South China Sea into the ministers\u2019 joint communiqu\u00e9. The episode highlights an enormous ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-10T20:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-10T08:24:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/36197492491_a29d434dde_z.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"458\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Le Hong Hiep\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Le Hong Hiep\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/36197492491_a29d434dde_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/36197492491_a29d434dde_z.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":458},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/\",\"name\":\"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-10T20:00:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-10T08:24:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/45694e10e40bdaeb50c3dd5c7770aef1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/45694e10e40bdaeb50c3dd5c7770aef1\",\"name\":\"Le Hong Hiep\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27888c72a9505fb2d8ab6dccccacbcc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27888c72a9505fb2d8ab6dccccacbcc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Le Hong Hiep\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/le-hong-hiep\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam | The Strategist","og_description":"At the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting last week, Vietnam attracted international media attention for its struggle to insert strong language on the South China Sea into the ministers\u2019 joint communiqu\u00e9. The episode highlights an enormous ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2017-08-10T20:00:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-10T08:24:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":458,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/36197492491_a29d434dde_z.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Le Hong Hiep","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Le Hong Hiep","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/36197492491_a29d434dde_z.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/36197492491_a29d434dde_z.jpg","width":640,"height":458},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/","name":"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2017-08-10T20:00:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-10T08:24:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/45694e10e40bdaeb50c3dd5c7770aef1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asean-50-view-vietnam\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ASEAN at 50: the view from Vietnam"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/45694e10e40bdaeb50c3dd5c7770aef1","name":"Le Hong Hiep","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27888c72a9505fb2d8ab6dccccacbcc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27888c72a9505fb2d8ab6dccccacbcc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Le Hong Hiep"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/le-hong-hiep\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33504,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33502\/revisions\/33504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}