Overview
- Vietnam’s leader Tô Lâm completed a state visit to Australia this week that culminated in a Joint Statement formally deepening the two countries’ Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
- The agreement includes new memoranda between the Vietnam Coast Guard and the Australian Border Force and updated defence guidance to expand joint training, maritime security cooperation and search‑and‑rescue work.
- Canberra and Hanoi also signed pacts to boost supply‑chain resilience, targeting critical minerals, semiconductors and clean energy while announcing trade and education measures such as an RMIT campus plan and a VietJet route.
- Two‑way trade has surged in recent years to about A$30 billion in 2025, a growth that underpins Canberra’s move to lock in reliable energy and mineral supplies from Vietnam.
- Human‑rights groups warn Australia must press Vietnam on crackdowns linked to Tô Lâm’s time as public security minister, and officials say the visit tests Hanoi’s push to mobilise its overseas Vietnamese diaspora as an economic resource.