Vietnam's Policy Toward China Since 1986, The U.s. Factor

Since Vietnam began implementing its reform and open door policy in 1986, it's foreign policy has changed profoundly. Vietnam achieved normalization of relations with China and established diplomatic relations with the United States. Generally speaking, Vietnam has kept herself at roughly equal distance from China and the United States in diplomatic and strategic relations. In domestic politics, Vietnam leans towards China while rejecting the U.S strategy of"peaceful evolution"and U.S infiltration, subversion and sabotage of Vietnam. In the sphere of security, on the one hand Vietnam has settled her territorial disputes with China on land borders and the Ton King Gulf. On the other hand, Vietnam sustains her claim on the islands in the South China Sea. Vietnam does not intend to make any concessions to China on that issue, and makes use of American presence in the region to balance China's growing power. My dissertation tries to briefly describe this phrase of Vietnam foreign policy and make an overall assessment of American factor in the different periods and issue areas of Vietnam's policy towards China. My dissertation is divided into the following 4 parts:Part 1:A General Introduction of Vietnam's foreign policy since 1986. From 1986 to the present , the development of Vietnam's foreign policy can be divided into 3 phrases. The first phare,from 1986-1991,marked the establishment of the Open Door policy. From middle of 1991 to the year 2001, the open door foreign policy was thoroughly implemented. From 2001 until now, the all round and diversified foreign policy has been carried out. In the remaining paragraphs of this part, I briefly describe Vietnam's policy towards China in the post Cold War era.Part 2: How the American Factor facilitates Vietnam-China Relations. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the U.S's isolation and blockade policy towards Vietnam hastened the normalization of Vietnam- China relations. Since the middle 1990s, the American policy of"peaceful evolution"towards Vietnam brought Vietnam and China to stand on the same front. Since the late 1990s, the U.S's massive military build-up in southeast Asia has been propelling Vietnam to lean towards China. In the mean time, the subversion and sabotage towards Vietnam by the United States causes Vietnam to cooperate more closely with China.Part 3: The nagative influence of the American Factor on Sino-Vietnamese relations. For decades, Vietnam has been having territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. American policy towards these disputes and her promotion of the"China Threat"theory cast a dark shadow on Vietnam-China relations.Finally, the author recommends some principles that Vietnam should respect in the context of her relations with China and the States.