Vietnam

Politics

Vietnam plans to fundamentally restructure its administrative localities, reducing its 63 provinces and centrally run cities by about 50%, districts by 100%, and communes and wards by 60% to 70%, Bao Chinh Phu reported on March 20.

Vietnam: Hanoi Proceeding With Major Administrative Restructuring

United States

Economics

Energy

Vietnamese companies signed six preliminary deals worth $4.15 billion with U.S. companies in energy and minerals, including liquefied natural gas, crude oil and equipment procurement, during Vietnam's trade minister's visit to Washington, Reuters reported on March 14.

Vietnam, U.S.: Energy, Minerals Deals a Step Forward in Calming Trade Worries

Indonesia

Singapore

Environment, Science & Technology

Military & Security

Science & Technology

Vietnam upgraded ties with Indonesia and Singapore to comprehensive strategic partnerships, Indonesia's and Vietnam's top designation short of an alliance and a label of similar importance to Singapore, Nikkei Asia reported on March 12. 

Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam: Diplomatic Upgrades Strengthen Industry and Trade Ties

Brunei Darussalam

Cambodia

China

Laos

Malaysia

Myanmar

Philippines

Thailand

Five diplomats with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said China was increasingly likely to agree to make the long unrealized South China Sea code of conduct legally binding, The Straits Times reported on Feb. 28.

ASEAN, China: Expectations Rising for South China Sea Code of Conduct

New Zealand

New Zealand and Vietnam upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam's highest level of bilateral tie short of an alliance, Vietnamese state-run newspaper Bao Chinh Phu reported on Feb. 26. 

New Zealand, Vietnam: Countries Upgrade Ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Vietnam released a new baseline map delineating its maritime claims in the Gulf of Tonkin, state-run Bao Chinh Phu reported on Feb. 21. 

Vietnam, China: Hanoi Releases New Gulf of Tonkin Map Disputing China's Demarcation Line

Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien signaled readiness to import more U.S. agricultural and energy products a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced global reciprocal tariffs, Reuters reported on Feb. 14.

Vietnam, U.S.: Hanoi To Buy More U.S. Agricultural, Energy Products

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son in which he urged the Southeast Asian country to address its $110 billion trade surplus with the United States, Reuters reported on Jan. 24.

U.S.: Vietnam: Washington Already Pushing Hanoi To Reduce Trade Imbalance

Assessments

Timor-Leste

The flags of the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, are seen on display.

U.S.-China Relations

Malaysia's chairmanship will be pivotal in navigating security risks as well as those from U.S. trade restrictions, potential Chinese economic coercion, and supply chain realignments that threaten ASEAN's cohesion and strategic autonomy.

Previewing Malaysia's 2025 ASEAN Chairmanship

Japan

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hold a joint press conference on Jan. 10, 2025.

Japan is intensifying its diplomatic and security engagement in Southeast Asia through defense, trade and infrastructure agreements to counterbalance China and enhance regional stability.

Ishiba Strengthens Japan's Role in Southeast Asia With Defense and Trade Deals

Columns

On Geopolitics

Asia-Pacific

Australia

South Korea

Taiwan

India

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures to reporters after landing on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept. 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. 

Trump's more aggressive and transactional approach could deliver quick wins for the U.S.'s position in the region, though it could also strain ties with key partners. 

Trump's Asia-Pacific Approach Will Test Biden's Gains

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (R) and his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Gang, meet at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on Sept. 9, 2024. 

Global Elections

Trump is more likely to impose tariffs to minimize the trade deficit, while Harris is more likely to call for supply chain decoupling from China -- either of which could strain U.S.-Vietnam ties.

What a Trump vs. Harris Presidency Would Mean for Vietnam

The Geopolitics of Water

Amid pressing energy and geopolitical needs, the accelerating construction of upstream dams will exacerbate the Mekong River region's water shortages and environmental degradation.

The Geopolitics of Water: National Interests Sideline Environmental Concerns in the Mekong River Region

Laos' Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone (center) and other ASEAN leaders take part in the 2024 ASEAN summit in Vientiane on Oct. 9, 2024. 

The deals signed at the summit reflect an increasing focus on economic integration amid the Southeast Asian bloc's continued failure to find consensus on security issues.

Reviewing the 2024 ASEAN Summit

The flags of ASEAN members are displayed at a naval base during the ASEAN Solidarity Exercise in Batam, Natuna regency, Riau Islands province, Indonesia, on Sept. 20, 2023. 

ASEAN's economic and geopolitical diversity will impede significant progress toward deeper integration, despite members' intention to collaborate more closely.

Economic and Geopolitical Diversity Hinders ASEAN's Path to Deeper Integration

Angola

Botswana

Comoros

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lesotho

Madagascar

Malawi

Mauritius

Mozambique

Namibia

Seychelles

South Africa

Eswatini

Tanzania

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Egypt

Iran

Israel

Lebanon

Palestinian Territories

Qatar

France

Yael Braun-Pivet, a French lawmaker for the ruling Renaissance party, delivers a speech after being reelected as National Assembly president following the third round of voting on July 18, 2024.

Israel-Hamas Conflict

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: France Resumes Political Horse-Trading, Blinken Returns to Middle East

A man in Hanoi, Vietnam, reads a news article on the death of the country’s top leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, on his phone on July 19, 2024.

The death of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong will likely see the country's security-minded president permanently take over the role, portending a less effective business climate and strained Vietnam-U.S. trade ties. 

What To Expect Following the Death of Vietnam's Top Leader 

Mexico

Germany

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump on June 22 in Philadelphia. Should Trump return to the White House in 2025, a second term would see him target China, Mexico, Vietnam and the European Union to varying degrees.

Should former President Donald Trump return to the White House in 2025, a second term would see him target China, Mexico, Vietnam and the European Union to varying degrees.

What a Second Trump Term Could Mean for Global Trade: Who Trump Would Tariff, and How They Would Respond

Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Vietnamese President To Lam attend an event in Hanoi, Vietnam, on June 20, 2024. 

Russia and Vietnam agreed to collaborate on various energy projects, including in the contested South China Sea, but reviving their defense industrial relationship will prove more challenging.

Putin's Trip to Vietnam Yields Energy Deals, but Defense Cooperation Will Remain Constrained

To Lam is sworn in as Vietnam's president during the National Assembly's summer session in Hanoi on May 22, 2024. 

With To Lam no longer at the helm, Vietnam's sweeping anti-graft drive will likely slow. But the former security chief's promotion still primes him to assume the country's top political role in 2026, portending more scrutiny of foreign entities.

The Enforcer of Vietnam's Anti-Corruption Campaign Has Been Appointed President

Vietnam is located on the easternmost edge of the Indochinese Peninsula, with China to the north and Laos and Cambodia to the west. Its more than 2,000 mile-long coastline abuts the Gulf of Tonkin, the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. These seas create both direct access to the wider Pacific Ocean and a critical buffer to Vietnam's long and narrow land territory.    Modern Vietnam consists of two geographic and population cores — the Red River Delta in the north, home to the capital of Hanoi, and the Mekong River Delta in the southern lowlands, where Ho Chi Minh City sits.  These cores are separated by over 1,600 miles and connected by a thin and largely mountainous coastal spine, only around 30 miles wide at its narrowest point.    Despite mountains and jungles, the northern Vietnamese core has a long history of invasion by forces from China. This almost continuous pressure from the north in part forced Vietnam's early rulers to expand the country's boundaries, first southward, to the Mekong River Delta, and then westward, into present day Laos and Cambodia.    Historically and today, the natural geographic separation of Vietnam's northern and southern cores has exacerbated the two regions' social, cultural and political divide — leaving the country vulnerable to invasion by foreign powers, whether Chinese, French or American.    Vietnam’s primary geographic challenge is to secure buffer space both on land and sea. Today, Vietnam's need for space and security in the South China Seas pits it against China, also in the throes of maritime expansion, thus adding a new dimension to Vietnam's longstanding struggle to carve space for itself against its larger northern neighbor.  

SITUATION REPORTS

Vietnam: Hanoi Proceeding With Major Administrative Restructuring

Vietnam, U.S.: Energy, Minerals Deals a Step Forward in Calming Trade Worries

Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam: Diplomatic Upgrades Strengthen Industry and Trade Ties

ASEAN, China: Expectations Rising for South China Sea Code of Conduct

New Zealand, Vietnam: Countries Upgrade Ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Vietnam, China: Hanoi Releases New Gulf of Tonkin Map Disputing China's Demarcation Line

Vietnam, U.S.: Hanoi To Buy More U.S. Agricultural, Energy Products

U.S.: Vietnam: Washington Already Pushing Hanoi To Reduce Trade Imbalance

Forecasts

ANALYSES

SECTIONS

Explore

Subscribe

Help & Support