The Strategy Behind Vietnam’s Decision to Back China’s “Common Destiny” Agenda

China's Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyễn Phú Trọng pose at the Central Office of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Hanoi on December 12, 2023. MINH HOANG / POOL / AFP

Xi Jinping’s “Community of Common Destiny” is little more than a slogan for a lot of international observers but that thinking may be out of date now that China is using it as a core organizing principle of its foreign policy.

Vietnam’s decision on Tuesday to join the “Common Destiny” agenda highlights how a doctrine that was once largely symbolic is now a tangible reality.

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by Eric Olander

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