Hanoi, Vietnam (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron called on Monday for a closer collaboration between Vietnam and France in an increasingly unstable worldwide landscape when he visited Hanoi as part of a tour in Southeast Asia, aimed at strengthening regional ties.
Macron emphasized the need for “an order based on the law” in a time of “both great imbalance and a return to power -driven rhetoric and intimidation.” He then goes to Indonesia and Singapore.
The visit comes in the midst of trade tensions, with the US threatening steep rates On goods from Europe. Vietnamese import in the United States was hit by 46% rates – one of the highest rates that applied to every country – in April.
Macron signed more than a dozen agreements on defense, nuclear energy and trade, including one with the Vietnamese budget aviation company Vietjet and Airbus to buy 20 A330-900 aircraft.
He paid tribute to a Hanoi War Memorial to those who fought against the French colonial rulers and met his counterpart Luong Cuong, as well as the secretary of the Communist Party of Lam.
Macron also visited the 11th -century temple of literature in the heart of the Vietnamese capital.
The 'sovereignty partner' of France and Vietnam could be the central axis of the approach of France in the Indo-Pacific, Macron said.
France has demonstrated his “desire to defend the international maritime law” when it used the French carrier Strike Group in the South Chinese Sea at the beginning of 2025, Macron said.
China and Vietnam have long had a maritime agreement for the Gulf of Tonkin, but are locked up in competing claims in the South Chinese Sea over the Spratly and Paracel Islands and Maritime Areas.
Macron said that France would also support Vietnam in important sectors, including critical minerals, high-speed rail, civilian nuclear energy and space travel, and focuses on cooperation with the Asian nation to help get away from dirty coal power while adding new capacity in renewable energy and civilian nuclear power.
This is the first trip from Macron to Vietnam since he took office in 2017.
France and Vietnam share an extensive strategic partnership, the highest diplomatic status of Vietnam, also held with Russia, China and the US
