The communist-run country has emerged as a key partner, and as tensions with China heat up it will be more important than ever.
Just before Christmas, the week-long summit of the Communist Party of Vietnam — Asia’s other major communist-run country — was held to determine its top leadership for the next five years, to be unveiled at the bumper national congress later this month.
Vietnam has emerged as a major economic and strategic player in Asia in recent decades so its politics — which get little attention in the West — are important beyond its borders.
Australia’s relationship with the country has blossomed in the past decade. Two-way trade is booming and was $15.5 billion in 2019. It has almost tripled in 10 years, making Vietnam Australia’s 14th largest trading partner. And in March 2018 Malcolm Turnbull signed a strategic partnership. Its 100 million-strong population and swelling middle class is seen as a major export prospect as China tightens the screw on Australian goods and services.
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