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Flexible Yet Resilient: Vietnam's Bamboo Diplomacy and Maritime Security in the South China Sea Era
Abstract
This chapter examines Vietnam's maritime security strategy in Southeast Asia, analyzing how a middle power navigates complex regional dynamics amid intensifying great-power competition. The study reveals Vietnam's sophisticated “bamboo diplomacy”—a hedging strategy balancing accommodation of China's interests, defense modernization, and strategic partnerships with the US, India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea. Despite lacking an official maritime security definition, Vietnam pursues a three-pronged approach: adherence to UNCLOS and international law, sustained military modernization with significantly increased defense expenditure, and comprehensive strategic partnerships supporting capacity-building and technology transfer. However, structural constraints including power asymmetry with China, substantial economic interdependence, and ASEAN's consensus-based limitations challenge Vietnam's maritime security ambitions while shaping its pragmatic, autonomy-preserving engagement in the contested South China Sea maritime domain.
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