Hanoi, Vietnam – French president Emmanuel Macron Called Monday for a narrower cooperation between Vietnam and France in an increasingly unstable global landscape while visiting Hanoi as part of a Southeast Asian tour focused on strengthening regional ties.
Macron emphasized the need for “an order based on the law” at a time of “great imbalance and a return to rhetoric and intimidation based on power.” Then he goes to Indonesia and Singapore.
The visit comes in the midst of commercial tensions, with the US. threatening steep tariffs On Europe’s assets. Vietnamese imports to the United States were affected with 46%tariffs, among the highest rates applied to any country, in April.
Macron signed more than a dozen defense, nuclear and trade energy agreements, including one with the Vietnamese Vietjet and Airbus budget airline company to buy 20 A330-900 airplanes.
He restarted tribute in a monument to the Hanoi War to those who fought against the French colonial rulers and met their counterpart Luong Cuong, as well as the general secretary of the Communist Party for Lam.
Macron also visited the eleventh -century literature temple in the heart of the capital of Vietnamese.
The “Sovereignty Association” of France and Vietnam could be the central axis of France’s approach in the Indo-Pacific, Macron said.
France has demonstrated its “desire to defend the International Maritime Law” when it deployed the French carrier strike group at the Southern China Sea in early 2025, Macron said.
China and Vietnam have had a maritime agreement that governs the Gulf of Tonkin, but they have been locked in competitive claims in the South China Sea About the Spratly and Paracel islands and maritime areas.
Macron said that France would also support Vietnam in key sectors, including critical minerals, high speed rail, civil and aerospace nuclear energy, and would focus on associating with the Asian nation to help the transition from dirty energy of coal while adding new capacity in renewable energy and civil nuclear energy.
This is Macron’s first trip to Vietnam since he assumed office in 2017.
France and Vietnam share a comprehensive strategic association, the highest diplomatic status in Vietnam, which is also celebrated with Russia, China and the United States.
