TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Vietnam is conducting “bamboo diplomacy” to strengthen friendships with major powers, reports said Thursday (Dec. 28).

Neighboring Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) visited Hanoi earlier this month and signed a raft of agreements on trade, security, transportation, and digital economy between the two countries, Reuters reported. The accords emerged despite the disputes between the two over islands in the South China Sea.

In September, relations warmed with its old enemy, the United States, as President Joe Biden visited Hanoi. Biden was interested in strengthening global supply chains as Vietnam’s main export market.

Japan and South Korea also featured as new friends, with companies from the two countries making significant investments in Vietnam’s manufacturing sectors. Vietnam is a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and it has signed free trade deals with the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Israel, and Chile.

Vietnam has not limited its diplomatic efforts to trade topics, as it agreed with the Vatican that the Holy See could post its first representative in the country since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. According to the Reuters report, Australia and France were on the agenda for Vietnam’s “bamboo diplomacy” for 2024.