Vietnam's President To Lam met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday, marking Lam's first foreign trip since being elected to the presidency last week. The meeting, held at the Great Hall of the People, resulted in the signing of multiple cooperation agreements, according to China's state broadcaster CCTV, though specific details were not immediately disclosed. Lam has described relations with China as a "strategic priority" and reiterated this stance in a published article in China's People's Daily on Tuesday and during a speech at Tsinghua University. He emphasized shifting bilateral cooperation from mere scale expansion to deeper integration of economic corridors, supply chains, and development strategies. Despite ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea, both nations are strengthening economic ties amid global trade uncertainties linked to US trade policies. Chinese exports to Vietnam rose 22.4 percent last year, reaching $198 billion, making Vietnam the largest buyer of Chinese goods in Southeast Asia. However, Chinese imports from Vietnam declined by 0.7 percent, contributing to Hanoi's nearly $100 billion trade deficit with Beijing. The visit coincided with other diplomatic trips to China by global figures affected by Middle East tensions, including Russia's Sergei Lavrov and Abu Dhabi's Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Energy security is a shared concern, as both Vietnam and China rely heavily on oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, where conflict-related disruptions have stalled shipping.
To Lam's swift elevation of China ties as a "strategic priority" immediately after assuming the presidency reveals more than foreign policy intent—it signals a calculated political alignment at a time of global realignment. By framing deeper integration with Beijing as essential to Vietnam's economic future, Lam is not just managing trade but navigating internal party dynamics where loyalty to socialist solidarity often shapes leadership legitimacy. His emphasis on upgrading cooperation to include production and supply chains suggests a bid to lock Vietnam into China's economic orbit while attempting to extract tangible gains from an already lopsided trade relationship.
The nearly $100 billion trade deficit with China exposes the fragility of Vietnam's position—engagement is necessary, but it risks deepening dependency rather than fostering balanced growth. Lam's ambition to shift from volume to quality in trade rings hollow without concrete mechanisms to boost Vietnamese exports to China, which actually declined last year. His focus on strategic infrastructure and economic corridors hints at a desire to leverage Chinese investment, yet past projects have often favored Chinese contractors and financing terms. The silence on resolving the trade imbalance or addressing territorial friction in the South China Sea underscores that symbolism is outweighing substance.
For ordinary Vietnamese workers and manufacturers, deeper ties may mean more assembly jobs tied to Chinese inputs but limited value addition or technological transfer. The real beneficiaries are likely to be state-linked enterprises and trading firms with access to cross-border capital. If growth remains import-driven from China while domestic industries struggle to export, the burden of adjustment will fall on households through inflation and job insecurity.
This mirrors a broader trend across developing economies: strategic declarations with major powers often serve political consolidation more than economic transformation.
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