Veeramalla Anjaiah (R), a senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Southeast Asia Studies (CSEAS), grants an interview to the VNA's correspondent. (Photo: VNA) Talkingto the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s resident correspondent in Indonesia, Veeramalla Anjaiah, a senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Southeast Asia Studies (CSEAS), highly evaluated Party General Secretary NguyenPhu Trong’s contributions to Vietnam’s diplomacy through the introduction of theterm “bamboo diplomacy” in 2016.
Bamboo is important to the history, culture, and daily lifeof the Vietnamese people, and it symbolises strength, durability, and resilience. GeneralSecretary Trong introduced the term of “bamboo diplomacy” based on thosecharacteristics of the plant to imply that independence, self-reliance,diversification and multilateralisation form the lodestar of the country’sforeign policy.
The formersenior editor at The Jakarta Post held that the “bamboo diplomacy” aims torespond to the shift of power of major countries in the region; promote tradeand the culture and identity of Vietnam; and emphasise the foreign policy ofindependence, self-reliance, activeness, and non-intervention.
Thecountry’s “bamboo diplomacy” has succeeded in maintaining relations with bigcountries while ensuring that national interests are protected, he said, addingVietnam is currently one of the countries with considerable diplomaticinfluence in Southeast Asia.
With thisspecial foreign policy, Vietnam has obtained major successes in theinternational arena. It now has diplomatic relations with more than 190 countries,and comprehensive strategic partnerships (CSP) with the US, China, Russia,India, and the Republic of Korea. It has also laid the foundation for settingup the CSPs with Japan, Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Veeramalla noted that the country has become an active and responsible member of over 70 importantinternational organisations and forums such as the United Nations, the Associationof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum,the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It hasbecome a country friendly to all.
In 2019,the S-shaped nation made strong impression when it was elected as a non-permanentmember of the UN Security Council for the 2020 - 2021 term with 192 approval votes out of the total 193. It has also gained considerable economic and trade achievements, theresearcher went on.
Hesaid through the “bamboo diplomacy” policy, Vietnam has helped promote a rules-basedregional security architecture, peacefully resolve international disputes, andmaintain the strategic balance in its relations with major countries.
It has committed to stepping up the building and consolidation of the strategictrust in the region and expressed its wish that all disputes, including those in theEast Sea, must be settled peacefully on the basis of international law suchas the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The country has alsocalled for an effective code of conduct in the East Sea to be achieved to sustainpeace, stability, security, and freedom of navigation and overflight in theregion, according to the researcher./.
VNA
