Limited capability and political will have caused the great powers to fail to demonstrate their global leadership in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created greater room to manoeuvre for other countries to influence international affairs. Preliminary achievements in the fight against the COVID-19 crisis have buttressed the rising global status of small and medium-sized states, including Vietnam. Although Vietnam has recently been recognised as an emerging middle power, scepticism looms regarding whether this higher international status is beyond its capacity. We argue that the pandemic may act as a catalyst for Vietnam to further elevate its strategic role as a middle power on the international stage in the medium and long term.

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Since Vietnam assumed ASEAN Rotational Chairmanship in 2020, for the first time, the Mekong issue has been put on the associations agenda. This can be considered a crucial milestone, not only for the Mekong riparian countries but for ASEAN as a ten-member regional community as well. The necessity of re-positioning the Mekong issue on ASEANs agenda is not entirely new in both academic and policy-making communities, but perhaps has never been as pressing as it is today due to objective and subjective reasons. Vietnams rotational chairmanship of ASEAN has increasingly spurred advocates of discussing the Mekong issue in ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms. Espousing to a comprehensive approach rather than adopting a single International Relations (IR) theory, this paper attempts to shed light on ASEANs strategic motivations to raise the Mekong issue on its agenda and concurrently, disentangle the puzzle why Vietnams ASEAN Chairmanship Year is the turning point for the Mekongs fate from the perspectives that Hanoi is a key driver. Vietnam is particularly vulnerable to negative impacts of natural and artificial activities on the Mekong River, the countrys furthest downstream. Both the association and Vietnam have legitimate interests to push for the inclusion of the Mekong issue on ASEANs agenda. The article implies that Vietnams middle-power proactivism is one of the most motivational catalysts for ASEANs choice.