For subscribers
News analysis
Wary Vietnam plays balancing act with Xi’s visit
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) meeting Vietnam communist party chief Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi on Dec 12.
PHOTO: AFP
BANGKOK – Vietnam has long maintained an arm’s length from China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), even as Chinese companies blazed a trail of new highways and railways in South-east Asia over the past decade.
Before this week, Hanoi had also been reluctant to get behind Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision of building a “community with a shared future”.
