As a result, as soon as Marcos Jr. returned to China, Vietnam immediately approached the Chinese side, not only discussing a series of cooperation and consensus between China and Vietnam, but also giving the Chinese side a clear answer on Marcos Jr.'s visit to Vietnam.
Marcos Jr. walked on the front foot, and China and Vietnam met on the back foot
According to various reports, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Nong Rong and Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister held consultations in Vietnam. Marcos Jr. has just left, and it can be said that the timing of this Sino-Vietnamese consultation is very delicate. You must know that during Marcos Jr.'s visit to Vietnam, he discussed a lot of China-related issues.
【Sino-Vietnamese Consultations】
It is reported that during his visit to Vietnam, Marcos Jr. publicly declared that the purpose was to strengthen the ability of the Philippines and Vietnam to cooperate at sea, especially on the South China Sea, and also to seek the expansion of bilateral trade relations. As for Marcos Jr.'s actions, the outside world generally believes that Marcos Jr.'s hasty visit to Vietnam, deepening economic and trade ties between the Philippines and Vietnam, and promoting mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in a wider range of fields is only a very small part of it, and the main purpose is to target China, trying to pull Vietnam together and jointly deal with China in the South China Sea.
Marcos Jr. has also repeatedly said in public that he wants to reverse the South China Sea policy of his predecessor Duterte, advocate abandoning engagement with China, and instead carry out negotiations on a new "Code of Conduct in the South China Sea" within ASEAN. And it turns out that Marcos Jr. has made Vietnam his first stop.
[Marcos Jr. wants to win over Vietnam]
Once Vietnam succeeds, the next stop will be Malaysia. In addition, Marcos Jr. also signed two documents with the Vietnamese side, which are related to emergencies in the South China Sea and cooperation with the coast guard. Before leaving Vietnam, Marcos Jr. repeated the same old rhetoric, claiming that the so-called new "code of conduct in the South China Sea" was almost complete. It is precisely on the basis of these news that the United States and the West have frantically hyped up, and all kinds of news about the so-called "Vietnam is going to the Philippines" are flying all over the sky.
Vietnam is sober
But despite the Philippines' attempts to rally Vietnam together to deal with China, Vietnam's attitude has been cautious and sober. On the one hand, there are already differences between Vietnam and the Philippines, and on the other hand, Sino-Vietnamese relations are not so easy to provoke. In recent years, the relationship between China and Vietnam has been continuously improved, showing close cooperation in various fields such as economy and infrastructure construction. In particular, last year, China-Vietnam relations reached a new level, and China and Vietnam announced the building of a community with a shared future of strategic significance, reflecting the great importance that Vietnam attaches to cooperation with China. The reason why Vietnam attaches so much importance to its relationship with China is also due to a number of practical considerations.
【Marcos Jr.'s visit to Vietnam】
Economically, Vietnam is highly dependent on China's industrial chain, and in terms of infrastructure, Vietnam has an urgent need for Chinese power, technology, infrastructure construction and capital investment. For these reasons, in the face of Marcos Jr.'s flickering move to "try to deal with China", Vietnam has been trying to avoid relevant issues, so that although the Philippines has tried its best to win over Vietnam in the South China Sea, Vietnam has not responded as positively as expected.
According to various reports, during Marcos Jr.'s visit to Vietnam, although he tried many times to lead the dialogue to focus on the South China Sea dispute and the maritime dispute between China and the Philippines, in an attempt to provoke a reaction from Vietnam, the Vietnamese side did not directly respond to this, and only brushed aside the issue of maritime cooperation between the Philippines and Vietnam, showing its caution and restraint on this issue. Moreover, after Marcos Jr. left, the Vietnamese top level immediately held consultations with Chinese officials. Some analysts believe that based on these complex situational backgrounds, Vietnam's attitude in this move is very clear, that is, it is okay to cooperate with the Philippines, but it will not jointly disrupt the situation with the Philippines on the South China Sea issue.
[The Philippines stirs up trouble in the South China Sea]
From this point of view, Marcos Jr.'s visit to Vietnam has not made any obvious progress, and the fundamental reason is that Marcos Jr. has misunderstood the essence of international cooperation. China-Vietnam cooperation can bring significant benefits to Vietnam, and the Philippines' repeated attempts to disrupt the situation will not do Vietnam any good, but will affect China-Vietnam relations and indirectly cause losses to Vietnam, which can be said to be more than worth the loss for Vietnam. Moreover, it is also necessary to consider the policy direction of the Philippines, although the style of the Marcos Jr. government has been very clear, but now there is a "political chaos" in the Philippines, once Marcos Jr. is defeated and resigned, the Philippine policy is likely to have to be adjusted. Under such circumstances, Vietnam is of course more inclined to cooperate with China than to "take the heat out of the fire" with the Philippines.