Question of Vietnam’s Strategic Alliances - A historical view

Abstract

Alliance is a type of gathering international forces to enhance national power, as well as prevent or stand up against external threats for national security. From time immemorial, states never stopped seeking and building up their alliances to share common interests. In the Cold war, Vietnam has established strategic alliances with communist states, especially with the Soviet Union and China in order to get international supports for national liberation struggle and unification. It was the international alliance based on Marxist ideology; however, the differences of national interests among them made the Vietnam international alliances face to so many difficulties. Since the Cold war ended, the international system has basically changed considerably. Communism broke up. New international centers of power have appeared. Vietnam’s former strategic alliances based on Marxist ideology hardly existed. Facing this situation, Vietnam began enforcing the foreign policy “diversifying and multilateralizing”, under the motto “making friends with all nations around the world”. This does not mean Vietnam neglects looking for her necessary alliances. International alliances after the Cold war are no longer set up upon ideological background, but based on national interests among the states. In the international nowadays conditions and furthermore , Vietnam will have to seek , sooner or later, some main strategic alliances to consolidate her international position and maintain her independence , sovereignty ; carry out modernizing and industrializing the country. In the current and future international setting, Vietnam, sooner or later, must find herself some wide strategic alliances to strengthen her position in international arena and to consolidate her independence and sovereignty on the way to industrialization and modernization. Choosing strategic alliances, for Vietnam, is all the more important as it ensures security not only for Vietnam but also for Indochina and Southeast Asia.