Rajaratnam School of International Studies and

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

 Normalization

China-Vietnam United States-Vietnam

™ Cambodian Conflict 1979-91 ™ Vietnam War 1965-75

™ 1990-91 Normalization ™ 1994 trade embargo lifted

™ 1999-2000 Comprehensive ™ 1995 Normalization and

Cooperation in the New Century appointment of first DA
™ No defence clause
™ 2001 Bilateral Trade Agrm.
™ 2005 bilateral defence
consultations
™ 2003 VCP Plenum

™ 2004 annual defence dialogue

™ 2008 strategic partners
DA = Defence Attache; IMET = International ™ June 2005 IMET Agreement
Military Education and Training and intelligence sharing
 High-Level Visits
China-Vietnam
Z 2002-06 four visits by
Vietnamese Defence
Minister and only one return
visit by Chinese Defence
Minister
Z Roughly equal exchanges by
chiefs of General Staff, GPD
and GLD (political/logistics)
Z Exchanges by Military
Region Commanders
United States-Vietnam
Z 2000-06 two visits by U.S.
Secretary of Defense and
only one visit by
Vietnamese Defence
Minister
Z 1994-2007: nine visits by
Commander Pacific
Command
 Naval Port Visits
China-Vietnam
™ 2000 Gulf of Tonkin delineation
and Fisheries Agreement
™ Nov. 2001 PLAN Jiangwei II
guided missile frigate visits Ho
Chi Minh City
™ April 2006 joint naval patrols in
Gulf of Tonkin
™ December 2006 joint naval
patrols in Gulf of Tonkin
United States-Vietnam
™ 2003 USS Vandergrift HCMC
™ 2004 USS Curtis Wilbur, Da Nang
™ 2005 USS Gary, HCMC
™ 2006 USS Patriot and USS Salvor,
HCMC
™ 2007 USS Peleliu, Da Nang; and
USS Patriot and USS Guardian,
Hai Phong
™ 2008 USS Mercy, Nha Trang
 Professional
Military Education and Training

China-Vietnam United States-Vietnam

Z Extensive discussions on Z Extended IMET
army-building Z Foreign Military Training:

Z Under consideration: Z FY2003 & 2004 = nil

Z Exchanges in personnel Z FY2004 N = 20 (13 at APCSS)
training
Z Vietnamese participation Z FY2005 17 (9 at APCSS and 8
IMET).
at National Defence
University suggested Z IMET – English language and
medical training
Other Defence Cooperation

China-Vietnam United States-Vietnam

Z Demining along land Z MIA-POW full accounting
border Z Demining and UXE

Z Agreement on land border Z Agent Orange joint research

(1999) and subsequent
Z Humanitarian assistance and
demarcation disaster relief (flood control)

Z Counter-terrorism

Z Military medicine research

(HIV/AIDS)
UXE = unexploded ordnance
Other Defence Cooperation
Vietnam-United States
™ 2003 Vietnamese observers at
COBRA GOLD
™ May 2007 Vietnamese
observers at Western Pacific
Naval Symposium
™ 2007-08 Vietnamese
observers at annual mid-year
US-Southeast Asia bilateral
joint exercises
United States-Vietnam
™ 1997 Proposed: tactical
discussions and joint training
exchanges in Jungle warfare
™ 2002: counter drug trafficking
™ 2007: send US officers and
cadets to train in Vietnamese
universities
™ 2009 participation in SAR
exercise?
 Arms Sales & NDI
China-Vietnam
• 2005 NORINCO ammunition
for small arms and artillery,
military vehicles, and co-
production ammunition and
heavy machine guns
• 2005 Defence Ministers discuss
NDI cooperation
• 2005 China’s Commission for
Science, Technology and
Industry visits Vietnam
United States-Vietnam
• 1994 CINCPAC proposes
equipment exchanges/sales
• 2003 David Lamb, LAT: ‘an
attractive arms market’
• 2005 US Ambassador: repair
and maintenance mooted, USN
to purchase supplies
• 2006 Secretary Rumsfield
Vietnam to buy military spare
parts
LAT = Los Angeles Times
 Arms Sales & NDI

China-Vietnam United States-Vietnam

Z 2008 Vietnamese Deputy Z 2006 Sec State sale, lease,
Defence Minister holds export or transfer non-lethal
discusisons with China’s defence articles and defence
Commission for Science, services authorized
Technology and Industry in
Beijing; suggests Z 2006 Presidential
cooperation in personnel Memorandum Vietnam
training, frontier and eligible under Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961; but
coastal defence and ‘other
excluded from lethal end
fields’ items or their components,
 Arms Sales & NDI
United States-Vietnam
non-lethal crowd control devices
and night vision devices.
• 2007 International
Trafficking in Arms
Regulations amended to
allow trade with Vietnam on
case by case basis
• 2007 U.S.-ASEAN Business
Council opens office in
Hanoi
United States-Vietnam
• 2007: U.S.-ASEAN
Business Council hosts visit
to Hanoi by U.S. Defense
and Security Corporate
Executive Delegation (ITT,
Aerospace, Lockheed
Martin, Northrop
Grumman, Oracle)
 Former US DepSec Defense

• ‘Perhaps the greatest opportunity over the next

15 years lies in Vietnam, where political reforms
need to complement the economic reforms
already well underway if the nation is to reach its
potential and contribute more to the overall
effectiveness of ASEAN. ASEAN has been
central to the fostering of a regional consciousness
and is a driver of proliferating pan-Asian
groupings.’
– Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye, February 2007
Former U.S. Defense Secretary

‘[regarding rise of Chinese military]

Washington must also maintain and
expand U.S. alliances in Asia, including
with Japan, South Korea and Australia,
pursuing deeper military partnerships
with the Philippines, Singapore, India
and possibly Vietnam.’
Z William Perry, April 2007.
 U.S.-Vietnam Strategic
Cooperation

Z Attended meeting of Proliferation Security Initiative

held in New Zealand

Z 2004 Attended CHOD meeting (Asia-Pacific CHiefs

Of Defence) for first time, Tokyo

Z U.S. Global Threat Reduction Initiative

Z Shangri-La Dialogue (2008)

Z US Chairman JCS met with Vietnam representative
 Non-Permanent Member
United Nations Security Council

• Since Vietnam has become non-permanent member of

UN Security Council it has become “central to US
PACOM [Pacific Command].”
• Voted for new round of sanctions against Iran (March
2008)
• Supported increased financial and logistics assistance
for peacekeeping forces in Darfur (April 2008)
• Expressed readiness to contribute to UN peace keeping
operations (PKO)
Vietnam’s National Maritime
Strategy to 2020
10th VCP Congress policy on
maritime economy (April 2006)
4th VCP plenum ‘Maritime
Strategy Towards the Year 2020’
(January 2007)
 Sino-Vietnamese Friction 2007

• BP oil and gas plans shelved temporarily (March-June)

• Chinese naval vessels detain 4 Vietnamese fishing craft
(April)
• Chinese sink one Vietnamese boat and kill one fisherman
(9th July)
• People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) naval exercise in
Paracels (November)
• National People’s Council creates Shansa county level
administrative district
 Anti-China Student Demonstrations

Anti-China student demonstrations

in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on
9th and 16th December 2007
Sino-Vietnamese Friction 2008

• Vietnamese students stage anti-China protests (9 and

16 December), China protests

• China-Vietnam Steering Committee convenes (23

January)

• China accused Vietnamese fishermen of attacking

Chinese trawlers in Gulf of Tonkin (January)

• Beijing ‘Summit’ of party chiefs (30 May-2 June)

 Sanya
Naval Base
5 Aug 05 to
28 Feb 08
Sanya Base, Hainan
 Tentative Conclusions

Z Vietnam faces an emerging contradiction between

its foreign and defence policies.
Z Vietnam seeks to leverage its external relations
with China in order to boost economic
development,
Z Yet Vietnamese plans to develop its maritime
zone in the East Sea has provoked a Chinese
counter-reaction designed to scuttle this initiative.
 Tentative Explanations
for Vietnamese Behaviour
Z Band-wagoning

Z Accommodating

Z Aligning

Z Balancing

Z Hedging

Z Engagement

Z Omni-enmeshment