Vietnam's Foreign Strategy Adjustment And Reconstruction Since 1986

Entering the new century, the Vietnamese economy has maintained rapid growth momentum, and it plays a growing position in the politics and economy in the region of Southeast Asia and ASEAN, moreover, it plays an increasingly important role in China's peaceful development strategy and the Asia-Pacific region geopolitical strategy. A depth study of the internal logic and the basic laws of Vietnam's foreign policy and strategy development is a need to develop a friendly bilateral relations between Vietnam and China so as to build a stable surrounding environment, and it's also a practical need to achieve China's peaceful rise.Today Vietnam is a multinational socialist country set up after World War II in the background of the Cold War. After the completion of national reunification, due to its geostrategic position and ideology, Vietnam has encountered a lot of twists and turns and difficulties both in domestic economic construction and external relations. Based on this, after CPV Six in 1986, Vietnam began to adjust its foreign strategies, aimed at creating a favorable international environment for its domestic economic and social development and socialist construction. This adjustment has gone through a gradual process of development and improvement. In December 1986, the diplomatic strategy, "make more friends and fewer enemies," was first proposed in CPV Six, opening a new era of reform and opening up of Vietnam. However, due to the international and domestic reasons, the actual effect of this adjustment is not obvious. In June 1991, in CPV Seven its foreign strategy and foreign policy got further adjustments, and "diversified, all-round" diplomatic strategy were initially formed. In June 1996, the "diversified, all-round" diplomatic strategy was written into the resolution of the General Assembly explicitly for the first time in CPV Eight, marking that the strategy was formally established in Vietnam. "Diversified, all-round," the new diplomatic strategy includes two meanings. First, its open content, namely Vietnam will strengthen external relations in the political, economic, cultural, technological, and military aspects; Second, the object of diversification, it is necessary to not only strengthen its relations with socialist countries and neighboring countries in the region, but also improve great power diplomacy and relations with developing countries and international organizations. The purpose of the strategy is to establish a normal but intimate relationship with all the major powers in the world, influential international organizations, countries and neighboring countries in the region, so as to create a favorable external environment for its economic and social development.The new "diversified, all-round" diplomatic strategy of Vietnam is based on the new understanding and reconstruction of its own national identity, national interests. Every country has multiple identities in the international community, such as group identity, generic identity, role identity and collective identity, etc. Each country's understanding of their national identity in different historical periods and different international social context is not the same, defining the corresponding national interests differently. So there will be differences and changes in its foreign strategies. Vietnam has basically reached its strategic objective from the sixth and eighth country's foreign CPV strategy adjustment and reconstruction to nearly 20 years of diplomatic efforts. And now it has established normal state relations with major countries in the region and the world. The reform and opening up is progressing well with economic and social development going by leaps and bounds. However, since the new century, with the change of power in the Asia-Pacific major countries and external strategic environment, Vietnam has a new understanding of its own national identity and national interests. The "diversified, all-round" diplomatic strategy is facing unprecedented challenges. In this paper, the author mainly analyzes Vietnam's foreign strategy since 1986 by using the "Relations between Identity and Interests" theory in Constructivism. It aims to explore and reveal the internal logic and historical trajectory in Vietnam's adjustment and changes of its foreign strategy.