Thayer Consultancy Background Brief

ABN # 65 648 097 123

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Visits
New Zealand and Australia
March 13, 2018

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is currently visiting Australia and New
Zealand from March 12th to March 18th. These countries are important partners for
Vietnam. Vietnam and Australia will celebrate 45th anniversary of establishing
diplomat links during the Prime Minister’s visit. Also, Australia and Vietnam will enter
a new chapter when bilateral relations are raised to a Strategic Partnership. Moreover,
in 2017 Vietnam and New Zealand also made progress in discussions on a strategic
partnership.
We request your views on the following issues:
Q1. What is your assessment of the Prime Minister’s trip to New Zealand and
Australia? What are the expectations for Vietnam’s relations with New Zealand and
Australia?
ANSWER: In January 2016, Vietnam’s Cabinet reviewed Vietnam’s relations with
foreign countries with a view to making these relations more effective. The Cabinet
resolved to upgrade relations with key countries to the strategic partner level. Prime
Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to New Zealand and Australia is aimed at meeting
this objective.
Prime Minister Phuc noted on arrival in Wellington that bilateral relations were still
“in the early stages and there is a vast potential for more bilateral cooperation.” PM
Phuc focused on green agriculture, infrastructure, education and training and tourism.
Vietnam and Australia agreed to raise their bilateral relationship from a
comprehensive partnership to a strategic partnership and announced this decision on
the sidelines of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Da Nang in November last year.
It should be noted that Vietnam, New Zealand and Australia are all parties to the
ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. The recent signing of the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for a Trans Pacific Partnership makes
Prime Minister Phuc’s visit timely. He will be able to discuss future economic
cooperation with both countries.
Q2. How will Vietnam-Australia defence cooperation develop after Prime Minister
Phuc’s visit?
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ANSWER: Australia’s 2017 Defence White Paper stressed the importance of raising
defence cooperation with regional states. Vietnam has been singled out as an
important strategic partner because of its contributions to regional peace and security
especially within the ASEAN framework.
Defence and security cooperation will come second to economic cooperation in the
forthcoming strategic partnership. Australia will assist Vietnam in capacity building
especially in the area of maritime security. It is likely that defence ministers from the
two sides will meet more frequently. Australia will continue to send its naval ships to
Vietnam on friendly visits. More significantly, Australia will work more closely with
Vietnam to achieve practical results at multilateral regional defence forums such as
the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus and the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Once the strategic partnership agreement is signed, the two sides will draw up a Plan
of Action most likely for the next three years. This is where Australia and Vietnam will
identify their priorities for future defence cooperation. The present three-year Plan of
Action under the enlarged comprehensive partnership ends in 2019.
Q3. What is your assessment about the impact of PM Phuc’s trip in the context of
President Trump’s Indo-Pacific policy and the emergence of the Quadrilateral Security
Forum (U.S., India, Japan and Australia).
ANSWER: Under the Trump Administration, countries like Australia, Japan and India
have determined that they must play a more proactive role in shaping regional peace
and security. Vietnam’s relations with Australia are all the more valuable because
Australia is a treaty ally of the United States. Australia is well placed to inform Vietnam
about U.S. strategic policy and Australia is well placed to advise the U.S. about
Vietnam’s role as a positive contributor to regional security. Of course Vietnam has its
own lines of communication with the White House.
The Quadrilateral Security Forum is new and is a work in progress. Vietnam can use
this opportunity to suggest how the Quad can contribute to regional security.
President Trump has placed top priority on an open and free Indo-Pacific. This largely
focuses on the sea lines of communication and ensuring freedom of navigation.
Australia and Vietnam share similar views on this aspect of security.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has suggested that the Quad support the
development of infrastructure in the region as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road.
If this initiative is taken up it would mean that Trump’s free and open Indo-Pacific
would take on an economic dimension that has been missing in his policy.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Vietnam’s Prime Minister Visits New Zealand
and Australia,” Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, March 13, 2018. All background
briefs are posted on Scribd.com (search for Thayer). To remove yourself from the
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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.
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