Vietnam Ties Deepen France’s Indo-Pacific Engagement

This article was written by Dr. Joydeep Sen for Oxford Analytica. BENS has been generously granted permission to share with our members. All rights reserved.

France and Vietnam have elevated their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership

On Monday, October 9, France became the first European country to upgrade its ties with Vietnam to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the highest level within Hanoi’s categorisation of its diplomatic relations. The two sides pledged to deepen bilateral engagement across several key areas including trade and investment, cultural exchanges, climate change, and security and defence. The security and defence components are especially important for France, with the joint statement mentioning commitment to enhancing “the exchange of delegations, cooperation, consultations and training activities” as well as maintaining “peace, security and stability” in the South China Sea. France’s primary Indo-Pacific objective is to defend the sovereignty of its overseas territories in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Our Judgement

France will hope to use the upgrade to enhance Western efforts to reduce Vietnam’s economic dependence on China. Moreover, the agreement reflects growing French concern over the security environment in the Indo-Pacific, heightened by ongoing unrest in New Caledonia and efforts by foreign powers to encourage anti-French sentiment. Paris will hope that it can encourage more EU powers to invest militarily in the region to support French defence endeavours, but issues closer to home mean that acquiring sufficient support from these partners will be difficult.