Vietnam
China’s nine-dash line proves stranger than fiction
Vietnam recently banned the film Uncharted from domestic distribution due to a scene depicting an “illegal image” of China’s infamous “nine-dash line”.
This is not the first time…
Stiffening the ASEAN spine in the South China Sea
“Coalition” is one of those politically loaded terms that the sovereignty-conscious member-states of ASEAN tend to avoid – especially in dealing with disputed claims in the South…
Reading Southeast Asia on Ukraine
Southeast Asia doesn’t much matter to the outcome of a war far away in Europe. Yet Southeast Asian countries responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine offer an insight into the…
Vietnam: “Let them eat steak”
There are plenty of ways to squander good will. Vietnam’s communist party has picked an oldie but goodie, with a twist (of salt).
Minister for Public Security Tô Lâm has…
Arms control is not just about arms
Relations between Russian and the United States have been rocky since the 2014 Crimean crisis. Washington imposed various sanctions on the Kremlin in the aftermath of the…
Vietnam had seemingly conquered Covid. Then Delta spread
Ho Chi Minh City and the wider south in Vietnam finished its 24-hour-a-day Covid-19 lockdown of three months last week, allowing people to venture out to buy food rather than wait…
Russia and Vietnam: An alliance of convenience
Russia is one of the biggest suppliers of weapons to Southeast Asia, with Vietnam alone a major customer for Russia’s arms. While it is estimated that throughout the 1980s Moscow…
Bad news for Vietnam’s Mekong Delta
The release of recent research from the Netherlands adds an additional insight into what is happening in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, the country’s all-important food producing region…
Obstacles and opportunities in Vietnam-Australia ties
Australia and Vietnam officially became strategic partners in 2018, promising to expand cooperation across multiple domains. Yet economic ties have grown slowly from a relatively…