Eduardo Araral, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore spoke to CGTN Europe on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit in Vietnam.
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00:00 Eduardo Araral is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
00:05 This year is the 15th anniversary of Vietnam and Chinese strategic partnership, strategic
00:13 cooperation. And as you know, Vietnam is a neighbor of China and very close fraternal
00:22 brothers in terms of the ideology of the ruling party. They're very close economic ties,
00:27 although there are also differences in terms of the maritime border. But both China and Vietnam
00:34 have managed to deal with those maritime disputes. And also, this visit comes shortly after the
00:42 visit of US President Joe Biden to Vietnam recently. And Vietnam just upgraded its ties
00:49 with the US to the highest tier, a comprehensive partnership. So it's very important that China
00:56 and Vietnam tries to balance their relationship as well. So we saw an upgrade of ties as well
01:03 between China and Vietnam. What do you think that might mean for the wider region?
01:08 Well, anything that leads to peaceful cooperation between China and its neighbors,
01:15 not only Vietnam, but also including the Philippines, Thailand and other
01:18 countries would be good overall. So despite the fact that China and Vietnam has some differences
01:26 in the South China Sea, and they managed to dissolve and put this at the back burner.
01:31 So and they managed to continue to cooperate as neighbors is very good. Anything, as I said,
01:38 anything that improves stability, economic cooperation in the region is very good for
01:45 ASEAN, very good for China. So we did see various agreements being signed.
01:51 Which do you think could be the most significant?
01:54 I would put the economic agreements as the most significant, especially the
02:00 construction of a railway line between the Vietnamese port city of Haiphong and Tonminh
02:09 and Southern China, because the value chain between Southern China and Vietnam are very
02:17 closely linked. So that will improve connectivity. And if President Trump becomes president again
02:25 next year, then Vietnam would be a very important part of Chinese export strategy. And
02:33 anything that brings Vietnam and China closer in terms of economic cooperation would also be good
02:40 for the Mekong country. So overall, it's a win-win situation.
02:45 And you mentioned that Vietnam have already strengthened ties with the United States
02:49 earlier this year. How do you think that affects the diplomatic dynamics in the region?
02:54 Well, as long as Vietnam does not have security arrangements with the United States,
03:01 Vietnam will look after its security arrangements. And the US is still and would still remain as a
03:10 very important economic and trade and technological partner for Vietnam, because Vietnam aspires to
03:16 become an upper-middle-income country. And to do that, it needs technology, not just from China,
03:22 but also from the West. And as you know, there's a lot of US companies headquartered also in
03:27 Vietnam, such as Apple, Microsoft, and all those.
03:31 So Vietnam is trying to balance its relationship between the US as well as China.