Prospects for Vietnam-China relations in light of Digital Silk Road project in Southeast Asia

The article reveals the specificity of Vietnam’s approach to cooperation with China from the perspective of Digital Silk Road (DSR) as one of the directions of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The actuality of the topic stems from the need to analyze both the SRV response accounting for increased attention to its cyber security and digital competitiveness and interim results of the DSR implementation in Southeast Asia amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Although some elements of the topic, mostly, the DSR specificity and its implications for Southeast Asia, are covered by K. Hernandez, S. Hong, A. Schwartz, C. Diamond, A. Dutta, R. Green, P. Triolo, B. Ly, B. Harding as well as Khanh Lan, Trần Quang Phú, Pedanov V., Mitrokhin M. and other researchers, their works lack a specific Vietnamese focus. From the theoretical and methodological perspective, the research is premised on the synergy of system-historical approach and political neorealism. It is founded on various informational and statistical sources, including those in Vietnamese. This allowed analyzing both long-term trends of global and regional development, and the specificity of Vietnamese policy towards the problem discussed. The academic significance of the paper stems from its analytical focus, as the authors, apart from analyzing the DSR as a BRI direction and assessing its aftereffects for Southeast Asia from the potential risk perspective, specify Vietnam’s approach to cooperation with China on the DSR. In the authors’ opinion, the Digital Silk Road can significantly contribute to the BRI from the perspective of increasing the efficiency of China’s industrial and technological policy and its external economic policy support. The implementation of the DSR in Southeast Asia narrows the possibilities of those countries to pursue an independent policy in the ICT-sphere. Realizing this, the SRV leadership follows a selective course regarding joint Vietnam-China efforts towards the DSR. Simultaneously, Hanoi strives to increase its digital competitiveness. This gives reasons for pessimistic assessments of prospects for realizing the DSR by joint Vietnam-China efforts. The DSR is unlikely to markedly intensify cooperation between Vietnam and China.

Digital Silk Road, Belt and Road Initiative, China, Vietnam, ASEAN, industrial and technological cooperation, on-line trade platforms, digital sovereignty