Vietnam has long had to carefully calibrate its relationship with, China, its giant neighbor to the north. The two sides have a history of cultural and economic exchange as well as invasion and occupation going back to antiquity. Today, the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have similar political systems and successful economies. Hanoi nonetheless seeks to break out of a dependency relationship with Beijing, maintain its territorial claims, and assert its autonomy even as it looks to deepen economic cooperation. 

Joining Carnegie China non-resident scholar Ian Chong to discuss these issues are Huong Le Thu, deputy director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group and Chair of Australia-Vietnam Policy Institute Advisory Board, and Nguyễn Khác Giang is visiting scholar with the Vietnam Studies Programme at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies - Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and previously head of the Political Research Unit at the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research in Hanoi.