Japanese expert lauds Vietnam’s “bamboo diplomacy”

Professor Go Ito from Japan’s Meiji University (right) (Photo: VNA)

Tokyo (VNA) – Professor Go Ito from Japan’s Meiji University has emphasised flexibility in Vietnam’s foreign policy in maintaining relations with countries, referring to its “bamboo diplomacy.”

The term “bamboo diplomacy” was coined by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong during a diplomatic conference in 2016 and reiterated at the first national conference on foreign affairs in 2021. During these meetings, the leader likened Vietnam’s foreign policy to bamboo, with strong roots, solid stems, and flexible branches.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s correspondents in Japan, the professor held that the main concepts of “bamboo diplomacy” lie with resilience, flexibility and modesty.

Vietnam is standing in an environment that enables the country to gain an important position in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and boost political and economic ties with Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK), he said.

Regarding the Vietnam-Japan relationship, the professor noted that geopolitical and geoeconomic factors would be impulses for the bilateral ties./

VNA