New Zealand has become the latest country to sign a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam, with the two nations pledging to boost engagement across a range of sectors.
The diplomatic upgrade was announced in Hanoi late yesterday by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon, who is currently on a four-day state visit to Vietnam.
During the trip, Luxon delivered a keynote address at the ASEAN Future Forum and met with other high-ranking Vietnamese officials, including State President Luong Cuong and To Lam, the head of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
“Strengthening our relationship with Vietnam is incredibly important to New Zealand’s economic future, with more opportunities for businesses at home to access this crucial market,” Luxon said today, according to Reuters. “Vietnam is the rising star of Asia, and the opportunities to work together on common goals are enormous.”
Speaking yesterday, President Luong Cuong “affirmed New Zealand as a reliable partner of Vietnam and highlighted New Zealand’s active cooperation and support for his country over the past half-century,” according to a paraphrase in Vietnamese state media. Chinh said that the upgraded partnership “will further strengthen political trust and deepen cooperation” between the two nations, and was built on “the principles of respect for international law, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and mutual political systems.”
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Wellington and Hanoi in 1975, the two countries “have shared a vision for a stable, prosperous region,” the two sides said in a joint statement. “Building on this foundation, and driven by shared interest and mutual trust, the two Prime Ministers agreed to formally elevate the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, marking the 50th year of diplomatic relations.”
The joint statement identified five areas for deepened cooperation: political engagement; “defense, security and oceans;” economics, trade, and investment; climate change, science and technology; and education and “people to people links.”
Most notably, the joint statement highlighted trade as a “key component” of the relationship, pledging a target of $3 billion in two-way trade by 2026. Vietnam is currently New Zealand’s 14th largest trading partner, with total two-way trade reaching $1.3 billion in the year to March 2024.
The statement also referred to the tense situation in the South China Sea, where the China Coast Guard continues to encroach into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of rival claimant states, particularly the Philippines.
According to the statement, the two sides also “expressed deep concern over developments” in the South China Sea. They then “called on all parties to exercise self-restraint, avoid actions which escalate tensions or erode trust, and to resolve disputes through peaceful means, including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes without resorting to threat or use of force, in accordance with international law.”
With yesterday’s upgrade, which comes after the establishment of Strategic Partnership in 2020, New Zealand became the tenth nation to be promoted to the top tier of Vietnam’s diplomatic hierarchy, after China (2008), Russia (2012), India (2016), South Korea (2022), the United States (2023), and Japan (2023). Australia and France then joined the club last March and October, respectively, while Malaysia joined in November. Further CSPs with Indonesia and Singapore are also reportedly under discussion.
This recent rash of upgrades represents a concerted effort by Hanoi to broaden and deepen its international partnerships as a hedge against the growing turbulence and competition in global affairs. The upgrade with New Zealand makes sound sense for both nations: two middle powers with shared interests centered around peaceful economic intercourse and the respect for international law.
