Vietnam’s Regional Security Perceptions and Priorities: Role of India

Abstract

Over the past several decades, India and Vietnam have consolidated their relationship through bilateral engagements, which have been complemented by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led multilateral mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus, and the India-led Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC). Building up on their traditionally strong relations, India and Vietnam have widened and deepened their defence and strategic links in recent years, which is manifested in joint trainings, military exercises and defence Lines of Credit offered by India. Since the 1990s, especially over the last decade, both India and Vietnam have made strategic readjustments to elevate their respective bilateral ties with like-minded countries bringing about new commonalities in their politico-strategic visions and policies. Like India, Vietnam too is trying to bring the multilateral and multi-dimensional Indo-Pacific agenda to the mainstream of its foreign policy calculations, facilitated by greater warmth in ties with Japan and the US. Vietnam’s embracing of the Indo-Pacific is also in sync with ASEAN’s Outlook on Indo-Pacific. It also aligns well with Vietnam’s longstanding policy of ‘Three Nos’, expanded to four in its 2019 Defence White Paper. While recent developments in the South China Sea have exacerbated Vietnam’s growing anxieties vis-à-vis China, considering its trade interlinkages and dependence on China (and Russia), it is apparent that Vietnam is not yet ready to uproot its multi-layered linkages with China and get on board the ‘Quad plus’ initiative that is perceived as an overtly anti-China coalition of democracies. India–Vietnam ties, therefore, must rely on the bilateral plank along with ASEAN-linked mechanisms, MGC, and the Indo-Pacific construct, while trying to develop concerted actions through deeper cooperation with Japan and the US. In short, any initiative to include Vietnam in a Quad Plus mechanism without sufficiently developing synergies with individual countries would not yield desired outcomes. This article argues that India–Vietnam ties would benefit most by attaching their bilateral pillar of relationship with the ASEAN- and Indo-Pacific-centred inclusive multilateral mechanisms while gradually engaging the US, Japan and other potential partners in suitable frameworks.

Vietnam’s Perception and Response to the Emerging Indo-Pacific Regional Security Architecture

“…That will also help to further strengthen the partnership with India (Naidu, 2021). Furthermore, according to many scholars (Long & Yen, 2021;Mishra, 2021;Sarma, 2020) it is really difficult for countries to want to bring Vietnam to join the coalition of democratic countries like QUAD because of Vietnam's political institutions, so India with a policy of multialignment, high strategic autonomy, as well as the warm and deep strategic and defense relationship with Vietnam, and similar views and interests in terms of a multipolar Indo-Pacific regional security architecture, which will be a suitable answer for the current position of Vietnam.…”

“…In addition, India and Vietnam have expanded and deepened the defense and strategic ties between the two countries on the basis of traditionally strong relations, in which maritime cooperation between India and Vietnam has been the most significant factor, and the two sides have found mutual convergences on cooperation in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region (Solanki, 2021). This is reflected in the joint training, military exercises, and defense credit lines provided by India (Mishra, 2021). In the regional and multilateral cooperation strategy, Vietnam has always been a key pillar of India's Act East Policy and an important partner in the Indo-Pacific Vision (Pranay Verma, 2020).…”

Vietnam-China and the Indo-Pacific

“…Along with these strategies, Vietnam has stated a preference for unofficial agreements and help from the US, Japan, and India. (Mishra, 2021) (…”