Scott Morrison’s Vietnam trip timing is pertinent

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny arriving at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam. Picture: Supplied

Australia is looking for like-minded friends in the Indo-Pacific as US-China trade tensions escalate and Beijing asserts its strategic might across the region.

Vietnam might be a one-party Communist state with a questionable human rights record, but with its burgeoning economy, rising middle class and geographic location at the centre of Southeast Asia, it has Australia’s attention and is firmly in the “friend” category.

Malcolm Turnbull was set to travel to Vietnam last year but the Coalition’s leadership switch placed plans on hold until this week, enabling Scott Morrison to take credit for becoming the first Australian leader in 25 years to make a bilateral visit to the country.

The timing of the two-day trip, which began last night with red carpet treatment, is pertinent.

A Chinese oil exploration vessel and its escorts encroaching on Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone in the contested South China Sea has infuriated Hanoi and been condemned by the US, throwing into sharp focus the elevated tensions in the region.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said there were many countries with an interest in regional security who wanted their voices heard to ensure “it is not going to go all China’s way”.

“There will be other countries that get together. The more assertive China becomes, the more this type of diplomacy will grow in the region as almost literally everyone else looks to create more options for their security,” he said.

“Australia has been too passive on dealing with South China Sea issues and we need to be more vocal.”

The Lowy Institute’s Ben Bland, who heads the think tank’s Southeast Asia project, said Vietnam and Australia were engaged in a “tricky balance” of simultaneously working with, and pushing back against, China.

“Vietnam and China are close as communist comrades — there aren’t many communist regimes operating in the world — which puts Vietnam in a very strange position,” he said.

Morrison’s veiled message to China delivered at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi last night to respect other countries’ sovereignty will be applauded by Vietnam.

While it does not represent an escalation of Australia’s language against China, saying it in Vietnam adds weight.

“In Southeast Asia it’s often about the imagery rather than what’s said explicitly,” Bland said.

“Showing up is a really important part of the diplomatic game … This is a part of a deeper engagement we’re going to see with Southeast Asia in the coming year or so.”

Morrison is reaching out to a relatively new friend whose success in the region is in both countries’ interest.