Closer Ties to Beijing Comes With Risks for Vietnam, Analyst Warns

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) and Vietnamese leader To Lam pass by an honor guard at a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Aug. 19, 2024. Andres Martinez Casares-Pool/Getty ImagesNews AnalysisThe meeting between Vietnamese Communist Party leader To Lam and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping shows Hanoi still views Beijing as a primary partner, but an analyst said that the Chinese regime’s growing economic ties and maritime “salami-slicing” tactics give it leverage to gradually erode Vietnam’s sovereignty.