Vietnam’s Evolving Strategy in a Challenging Indo-Pacific

Tô Lâm in Australia and the limits of strategic autonomy

By: Khanh Vu Duc

Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Tô Lâm’s visit to Australia and New Zealand may look like routine diplomacy. It is better understood as a marker of Hanoi’s evolving strategy in a more contested Indo-Pacific.

Vietnam is not abandoning its “Four No’s” defense policy, nor is it preparing to align formally against China. Instead,…