Vietnam organizes its foreign relations into a three-tier hierarchy: Comprehensive Partnerships (CPs) sit at the base, Strategic Partnerships (SPs) in the middle, and Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships (CSPs) at the top. This sits alongside a category of special relationships with Cold War-era allies Laos, Cambodia, and Cuba.
Hanoi’s “bamboo diplomacy,” flexible in form but firm at its roots, has expanded all three categories at a remarkable pace. As of early 2026, Vietnam has 15 CSPs, following the upgrade of relations with the European Union in January 2026, alongside 15 SPs and 17 CPs. This network now touches every continent and every major power center, from Washington and Beijing to Moscow, Brussels, London, and Canberra.
The question that naturally follows is: who is next? Vietnam has not filled every available slot on its diplomatic hierarchy, and Hanoi has made clear – through the CPTPP chairmanship it holds in 2026 and the APEC hosting role it takes on in 2027 – that it intends to keep climbing. There are three reasons why Canada may be the next nation in line for a diplomatic upgrade.
The first is structural. Vietnam’s diplomatic strategy increasingly resembles that of other “middle powers” – states too large to be ignored but not seeking hegemony, which instead build resilience through diversified, non-aligned partnerships. Analysts have already grouped Vietnam alongside Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Switzerland as countries capable of maintaining deep ties with rival great powers simultaneously. If Vietnam is consciously cultivating this identity, it has an incentive to deepen ties specifically with other middle powers that share its instinct for strategic autonomy rather than bloc alignment — and Canada is one of the clearest examples of that category on the world stage today.
