Vietnamese President To Lam, who also serves as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), has just concluded a three-nation Southeast Asian tour covering Thailand (May 27–28), Singapore (May 29–30), and the Philippines (May 31–June 1).
If neighboring Laos and Cambodia – Vietnam’s two traditional and special partners – are added to Lam’s recent tour, along with visits to Malaysia and Indonesia, this trip brings to seven the number of Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) member states that Lam has visited since he was elected the CPV general secretary in August 2024. In Singapore last week, Lam also delivered a keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s largest annual security forum, making him the highest-ranking Vietnamese leader to speak at the event since former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung did so in 2013.
This was Lam’s second foreign trip since being elected president in April. The number of Lam’s Southeast Asian stops indicate that under his leadership, Vietnam’s “bamboo diplomacy” is extending its reach and leaning more heavily toward ASEAN member states. This reflects not only the importance that Vietnam places on these countries’ roles and the need to strengthen bilateral ties of strategic significance to Vietnam, but also signals a new shift in Vietnam’s “neighborhood diplomacy” thinking.
