What’s behind Vietnam leader To Lam’s flurry of diplomatic trips

HANOI – Top Vietnamese leader To Lam has proven to be a leader of a very different style since becoming general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam following the death of his predecessor in August 2024.In the less than two years at the helm, Mr Lam has made more than 20 official foreign trips, roughly a rate of one every month. In comparison, Mr Nguyen Phu Trong in the same role made 30 trips during his tenure of about 13 years from 2011 until his death in 2024.Mr Lam’s travels continued after he was appointed state president on April 7, making his first state visit to China in mid-April, followed by a state visit to India in early May.He will mark another first in late May: As a keynote speaker at the regional security forum, the Shangri-La Dialogue, to be held in Singapore from May 29 to 31, he will be the first Vietnamese head of state, and leader of the Communist Party, to speak at an international geopolitical event.What motivation lies behind Mr Lam’s flurry of diplomatic activity?“To Lam’s highest priority is to make Vietnam strong and resilient, and active and pragmatic diplomacy helps to achieve that goal,” said Dr Huong Le Thu, deputy director of Asia-Pacific at the International Crisis Group based in Australia.“He is trying to balance (Vietnam’s relationships with) major powers and showcase equidistance with them,” she added. “He engages with every major power: China, India, Japan, the US... and other willing powers in and outside the region.”Since the beginning of 2026, Mr Lam has visited three of Vietnam’s comprehensive strategic partners, including the US in February, and subsequently China and India.He has repeatedly spoken of his ambitions for a new era in which Vietnam would become a high-income developed country by 2045.“Mr Lam will continue Vietnam’s current diplomatic trajectory, which is multilateralisation and diversification,” said Dr Khang Vu, a visiting scholar at Boston College in the US. “This entails maintaining amicable relations with both the United States and China, as well as other regional partners.”“Via better relations with its partners, Vietnam wants to continue having access to foreign markets as well as advanced technologies and energy supplies,” he told ST.The Vietnamese government has set a target of double-digit GDP growth for the next five years, and Mr Lam seems to be spearheading economic diplomacy to support such ambitions.“Mr To Lam’s recent travels to China and India have resulted in experience gained in technocratic leadership, investments in artificial intelligence businesses, and the cultivation of high-quality human resources,” noted Mr Huynh Tam Sang, a Vietnamese analyst and Young Leaders Programme member at the Pacific Forum, a non-governmental international research institute based in Hawaii.During Mr Lam’s visit to China from April 14 to 17, the two sides signed a staggering 32 cooperation agreements, including on railway connectivity, with China agreeing to support Vietnam’s several railway projects through training, technical assistance and possibly investment.For the first time, a “3+3” mechanism was officially established to boost bilateral security cooperation involving three key ministries – defence, foreign affairs and public security – marking an unprecedented step up in strategic ties between Hanoi and Beijing.China is the first country with which Vietnam has established a comprehensive strategic partnership despite the chequered history of their past relations. The latest move prompted some analysts to assume that Hanoi is now willing to get closer to Beijing for the sake of economic development, sacrificing its strategic autonomy from China that it has been building up.“Mr To Lam might have taken some inspiration from how the Chinese Communist Party is run and how Xi Jinping is consolidating power,” said Dr Le Thu from the International Crisis Group. “The two countries are among the very rare ones that share similar political systems and successfully engage in international trade and global institutions, unlike other communist regimes that remain closed.”Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre, left) and Vietnamese President To Lam inspecting the guards of honour at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on April 15.PHOTO: AFP“But it is not possible for Mr Lam, or any other Vietnamese leader, to entirely embrace China,” she argued, pointing to the tumultuous past and longstanding unresolved territorial disputes between the two countries.The State of Southeast Asia 2026 survey conducted by the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore reveals that nearly 90 per cent of Vietnamese respondents are worried about China’s growing regional political and strategic influence over their country.“But Mr Lam will seek closer relations for the sake of maintaining stability and economic prosperity, especially at a time when the US is comparatively less engaged and less giving under President Trump,” she added.“Mr Lam has undoubtedly learnt a lot from China in recent years,” said Mr Sang from the Pacific Forum. “In order to make the goal of bolstering Vietnam’s international standing a reality, he has worked to strengthen domestic governance and political authority, similar to China’s leadership style.”As “Mr Lam would be astute enough to understand China’s attempts to entice Hanoi into Beijing’s orbit and its aspirations for regional hegemony,” the analyst said, “recent attempts to strengthen relations with Beijing show the Vietnamese leader’s pragmatic style rather than a drive to fully rely on China.”The trip to India from May 5 to 7 took place just two weeks after the China trip, and 10 years since Hanoi and Delhi established their comprehensive strategic partnership.Mr Lam and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to elevate bilateral relations one notch to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the first of its kind, showing their willingness for a deeper commitment to cooperation.The two leaders also witnessed the exchange of 13 cooperation documents, with a new trade goal of US$25 billion (S$31.8 billion) by 2030, up from US$16 billion in 2025.According to Indian Ambassador to Vietnam Tshering W. Sherpa, the two countries share “many similarities in our technology push and on incorporating technology trends into our respective national economic plans”.The focus of Vietnam and India’s newly elevated partnership will be “on initiating cooperation in new domains, particularly, in innovation, critical and emerging technologies, renewable energy, health care, space technology, digital public infrastructure, fintech and pharmaceuticals, among others”, the ambassador wrote in an article on Vietnam’s government web portal.“The mutual trust and cordial ties that exist between the two countries have served as a springboard for a deeper bond,” said Pacific Forum’s Mr Sang.“It should be noted, however, that Vietnam has made ongoing efforts to strengthen its relations with the United States, Japan, ASEAN nations, and other countries. This diplomatic multi-vector approach has boded well for a country that aspires to be a middle power like Vietnam,” he said.Dr Khang Vu from Boston College echoed Mr Sang’s assessment.The common theme in all Mr Lam’s visits is “that Vietnam’s priority is to maintain a stable external environment for continued economic growth”, he said.