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    Thayer Vietnam's Bamboo Diplomacy

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    Carlyle Alan Thayer
    This Background Brief addresses three questions: (1) What is your assessment of Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy? Does this kind of diplomacy really originate from Vietnam as the government officially boasts or from Thailand? (2) Do you think Vietnam really benefits from bamboo diplomacy in the long term? and (3) Is there any risk that bamboo diplomacy can bring to Vietnam?

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    Thayer Vietnam's Bamboo Diplomacy

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    Carlyle Alan Thayer
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    This Background Brief addresses three questions: (1) What is your assessment of Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy? Does this kind of diplomacy really originate from Vietnam as the government officially boasts or from Thailand? (2) Do you think Vietnam really benefits from bamboo diplomacy in the long term? and (3) Is there any risk that bamboo diplomacy can bring to Vietnam?

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    This Background Brief addresses three questions: (1) What is your assessment of Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy? Does this kind of diplomacy really originate from Vietnam as the government officially boasts or from Thailand? (2) Do you think Vietnam really benefits from bamboo diplomacy in the long term? and (3) Is there any risk that bamboo diplomacy can bring to Vietnam?

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    87 views2 pages

    Thayer Vietnam's Bamboo Diplomacy

    Uploaded by

    Carlyle Alan Thayer
    This Background Brief addresses three questions: (1) What is your assessment of Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy? Does this kind of diplomacy really originate from Vietnam as the government officially boasts or from Thailand? (2) Do you think Vietnam really benefits from bamboo diplomacy in the long term? and (3) Is there any risk that bamboo diplomacy can bring to Vietnam?

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Thayer Consultancy Background Brief

    ABN # 65 648 097 123


    Vietnam’s Bamboo Diplomacy
    August 2, 2024

    Q1. What is your assessment of Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy? Does this kind of
    diplomacy really originate from Vietnam as the government officially boasts or from
    Thailand?
    ANSWER: According to Thai scholar Jittipat Poonkha, the author of the definitive study
    A Genealogy of Bamboo Diplomacy: The Politics of Détente with Russia and China
    (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2022) “the term ‘bamboo’ diplomacy
    was not used before the 1970s.” Thai scholars compared Siam’s diplomacy in the
    colonial era to bamboo that would bend with the wind. In the pre-1968 period ,other
    Thai scholars used the term bamboo diplomacy to describe Thailand’s readjustment
    of relations with the Soviet Union and China during the Sino-Soviet dispute.
    Poonkha argues that “bamboo diplomacy” was developed as description of Thai
    foreign policy in the final years of the Vietnam War as the United States began to
    withdraw from the region.
    Ho Chi Minh popularised the term bamboo in the cultural sense to describe the
    resilience, flexibility, and strength of the Vietnamese people and their struggle for
    national independence.
    General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong first used the term bamboo diplomacy
    (ngoại giao cây tre) at the 29th diplomatic conference in August 2016. And again at
    the first-ever National Conference on Foreign Affairs, in Hanoi December 2021.
    Q2. Do you think Vietnam really benefits from bamboo diplomacy in the long term?
    ANSWER: “Bamboo diplomacy” is not a diplomatic strategy. Strategy is composed of
    ends, ways and means. The “ends” refer to a country’s objectives. The “ways” are
    elements of national power (economic, military, diplomatic etc.) to achieve these
    ends. The “means” are the application specific kinds of economic and military power.
    When viewed with this paradigm, “bamboo diplomacy” represents the “ways” – firm
    on principles and flexible on how to practice diplomacy.
    Vietnam’s foreign policy has largely been very successful because the objectives are
    clearly set out – “independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development.”
    And Vietnam’s foreign policy has been successful because of the “ways” it is
    conducted – diversification and multilateralization, four no’s defence policy,
    2

    cooperation and struggle, proactive and active international integration, and being a
    friend and reliable partner.
    Finally, Vietnam’s foreign policy has been successful because it has created a highly
    trained and professional diplomatic service. All three of these elements – ends, ways
    and means– will ensure that Vietnam is successful in the future.
    Q3. Is there any risk that bamboo diplomacy can bring to Vietnam?
    ANSWER: The greatest risks to Vietnam are that it may not take advantage of
    opportunities to advance its national interests by trying to please everyone. In other
    words, Vietnam may not fully develop relations with one major power so as not to
    offend another. In other words, the risk is what economists call an “opportunity cost.”

    Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Vietnam’s Bamboo Diplomacy,” Thayer


    Consultancy Background Brief, August 2, 2024. All background briefs are posted on
    Scribd.com (search for Thayer). To remove yourself from the mailing list type,
    UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject heading and hit the Reply key.

    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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