Communist Review - As a common state in international relations today, interwoven interests contribute to maintaining the current world order, consolidating the environment of peace, cooperation, development, and interdependence among countries. However, this also creates new contradictions and easily pushes small and medium countries to a dilemma, suffering from infringed interests in relations with big countries. Those complex dualities have exerted multidimensional impacts, placing the cause of building and defending the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to new opportunities and challenges.

Nature and connotation of interwoven interests in international relations

Interweaving of interests in international relations is the situation in which a country’s interest is also the other country’s one and vice versa. This is a mixture of bilateral interests. In fact, the interweaving of interests takes place very diversely, not only between two countries but also between countries with centers of power and poles of the multipolar world; countries with organizations, regional and international forums. This is a common situation in contemporary international relations because all countries, the key players in international relations, are by all means trying to protect their inherent interests while seeking new ones. This state is the inevitable result of a single or a combination of the influencing factors as follows: (1) the sharing of economic, commercial, geographical, historical, cultural, and political values ​​among countries and territories for mutual development;  (2) the impacts caused by the process of movement and objective development of the trend of globalization and international integration; (3) the adjustment of countries' strategies and policies to be in line with the general trend of the world and the regions in which there appear interference and similarities with each other.

Interweaving of interests takes shape when countries expand their cooperation and it is manifested at different levels in all aspects of international life, of which interweaving of economic interests always serves as the core and also the basis for the intertwining of interests in other fields. Economically interwoven interests appear first when the countries promote trade, investment, joint ventures, and linkages through common market expansion. Under the impact of globalization and international integration, the countries actively promote economic cooperation with each other and with international and regional economic organizations, forums, etc. This tightens the binding of economic interests and interdependence, resulting in more stable degree of interweaving of interests in terms of economy.

Intertwining of political interests is based on interweaving of economic interests. It initially takes shape among countries with the same socio-political regimes or as strategic allies. However, up to now, interwoven political interests only require countries with the same views and vision on international and regional issues, or those sharing ambitions and pursuing a number of same goals and policies. They have mutual trust and mechanisms to cooperate with each other from information sharing to coordination of actions as well as handling existing disagreements and disputes.

Interweaving of socio-cultural interests appears and expands through people-to-people relations in many different fields. Similarities in history, culture, language, religion, etc. among countries create favorable conditions for socio- cultural interests interwoven. At the same time, the fact that the countries adopt a system of mechanisms and policies to create favorable conditions for people and businesses to exchange, study, travel, seek opportunities, work, and settle down, etc. increases the level of socio-cultural cohesion.

Intertwining of interests in terms of national defense and security comes into being when countries share a common perception of security challenges, threats to traditional and non-traditional security. On the basis of that common perception, countries implement cooperation activities in the areas of defense and security. The activities at an ordinary level include the purchase and sale of weapons and military equipment, exchange of experience in training and management of armed forces. The ones at a higher level are intelligence sharing, drills, joint exercises, coordinated operational actions towards the formation of joint defense treaties, military alliances, and collective security arrangements; the coming into being of a friendly military assistance treaty can be seen as the ultimate goal.  

However, the connotation of interweaving of interests in the new situation always remains complex and sensitive; not only is the cooperation in the fields in which benefits can be sought but also compromise and competition among countries, especially big countries emerge. The rise of a number of emerging powers not only shifted the focus of power from West to East, but also contributed to pushing other countries to containment so as to establish positions and compete for influence in the world. The duality of interwoven interests is directly adjusting attitudes and relations between countries, affecting the world panorama and regional situation, exerting profound and multidimensional impacts on the cause of building and defending the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in both positive and negative ways.

      Multidimensional, complex and sensitive effects of interleaved interests

Firstly, on the positive side, interwoven interests contribute to maintaining the current world and regional order, creating an environment of peace, cooperation and development. Intertwining of interests has always been the basis and the core of international relations since mutual understanding; mutual trust and especially common interests have always functioned as the foundation and purpose of the cooperation between countries. The deeper the degree of interweaving of interests is, the more sustainable, long-term cooperation, more coordination mechanisms for action, more channels of dialogue and cooperation will appear to maintain the stability of the relationship. At the highest level, interwoven interests can lead to a harmonization of interests between countries. Therefore, the interwoven interests directly compel the participants to change their views and their actions when solving international and regional issues. Once there are interwoven interests, countries will have to respect each other's interests; refraining from extreme acts, especially those of aggression against each other, for no matter what side is threatened or whose interests are violated, the relationship will turn out to be worse. When the relationship loosens, it will negatively affect the interests of all parties involved. This compels them to find the most supple and smoothest behavior on the principle of mutual benefit. Accordingly, interwoven interests contribute to creating an environment of peace, cooperation and development; maintaining the relative stability of the world order and regional situations through the formation of conventions, institutions and laws to contain and regulate each other. This means that interweaving of interests can create an "open corridor", a favorable mechanism for parties involved to resolve existing problems and conflicts. This can serve as a basic advantage for Viet Nam to actively participate in many different mechanisms, initiatives, linkage and cooperation; raise its role and voice in matters related to national interests; take advantage of and expand cooperation and consensus while narrowing the differences; quickly resolve conflicts over interests with other countries in the spirit of "more friends, fewer enemies". At the same time, this is also the key to maintain national security, resolve disputes over sovereignty rights and jurisdiction in the South China Sea with the parties involved for the current cause of national defense.

Secondly, interwoven interests reduce the likelihood of a direct military conflict, limiting the risk of war, especially war with destructive weapons. The reason lies in the fact that interleaved interest forces countries to adjust themselves in the direction of reducing aggressive and infringing actions - the root cause of military conflict and war. In addition, in the new trend of international relations, all countries attach importance to their own interests. This induces those once considering each other as rivals, or enemies still seek to cooperate and interweave their interests in many fields. On the contrary, there still remain contradictions and differences in interests among the countries which are allies and strategic partners of each other. Therefore, any country must carefully evaluate all interrelations of interest; comprehensively consider the criteria of friend - foe; fully consider between "gain" and "loss", which is complicated, overlapping, and multilayered before deciding to take action. In that sense, intertwined interests not only promote peace, cooperation and development in the relation of interdependence between nations and peoples, but also directly limit the risk of extremism, military conflicts, or wars, especially those with destructive weapons. In that context, Viet Nam has surely enjoyed many favorable opportunities to implement the policy of open foreign relations, international and multilateral integration, and take advantage of external resources for its cause of national construction and defense.

Thirdly, interleaved interests have triggered new conflicts between countries, thereby breaking the current situation of international relations. As can be seen from reality, countries’ interests include not only similarities but contradictions and differences as well, and intertwining of interest does not destroy conflicts over interests. Although there are interwoven interests in the areas of economy, politics, culture, national defense and security, it is difficult to resolve fundamental contradictions, especially when countries have basic differences in ideology and socio-political regime, or they are not "on the same trajectory", or hold the views of solving international problems in the direction of non-acceptance, or even exclusion, or they have no political trust in each other, etc. This inevitably leads to competition or disputes over territorial sovereignty and natural resources. The struggle to establish a new world order and a national position on the international arena and in the region is increasingly dominant. At that time, in order to absorb benefits and gain advantages, the powerful countries will adjust their strategies and policies, make breakthroughs, mark position swap, step by step disrupt the current order and begin the formation of a new order of the world and the region. Under that circumstance, the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN, in general, and Viet Nam in particular suffers drastic buying off by the big countries. Fierce competition to seek benefits has triggered many new and very sensitive conflicts. These are fresh and very difficult challenges facing Viet Nam in maintaining balanced relations, harmonizing interests with other countries and actively integrating into the world in the current time.

Fourthly, interwoven interests easily push small and medium countries into the situation where their interests are violated and get stuck in relations with big ones. The reason is that in the context of interwoven interests, big countries often compete with each other and scramble with small countries to gain more beneficial shares, pushing disadvantages towards small and medium countries. When a big country accepts to ignore some of its unimportant interests, it may violate the basic interests of small countries, pushing them into crisis which may lead to the collapse of the socio-political regime. Also, the big countries’ interwoven interests are likely to result in the following consequences: (1) Competing and confronting with each other to a certain extent at which confrontation is not considered beneficial, the big countries may implicitly turn into "shaking hands", "haggling", or "exchanging" with each other "on the back" of small countries, pushing small countries into a situation of being stuck in the relations  with big countries, suffering infringed interests, and failing to determine their ultimate goal, the destiny of the nation. Also, there is possibility that some big countries will come to terms with each other to divide the area of influence. (2) In order to realize their political ambitions, making full use of intertwined interests, the big countries are willing to drag other countries into their orbit of influence to oppose those that are "not on the same trajectory". Their aim is to borrow another country’s hand to wage proxy war, a situation that is both complex and sensitive to national defense and security due to the impact of a new relationship of interwoven interests. In essence, this is nothing else than the fact that the big countries move their internal conflicts out of their territories. Moreover, it is also an act of pushing the financial burden, damage, and destruction caused by the war toward other countries to gain profit.

Suggestions on strategies and policies for Viet Nam to apply

Located in a region with an increasingly important strategic geo-economic-political position, being the center of economic and trade cooperation, and holding a key position in defense and security in the region, Viet Nam is an element that big countries cannot ignore in the process of searching and intermingling new interests in the twenty-first century. However, Viet Nam is at the intersection of strategic interests of many forces and suffers fierce competition triggered by powerful countries, especially in terms of sovereignty, right to sovereignty, jurisdiction and interests in South China Sea. This not only increases the degree of interwoven interests between Viet Nam and other countries, but also makes it difficult for us to maintain a strategic direction in a "playing field" where the big country is often the "law writer". Maintaining an equilibrium relation with other countries is fragile, and it is difficult to correctly handle international relations. Therefore, in expanding external relations and international integration, the survival principles are to make sure the national interests in parallel with respect for the interests of other countries, and always maintain independence and autonomy, refraining from dependence on other countries. In some cases, Viet Nam must make concessions, wisely adopting sensible policies to preserve and protect the core interests of the country while remaining sharp and flexible with appropriate strategies and policies.

Firstly, promoting research and forecast; accurately evaluating the shifting trend of international relations and new moves of the world and regional situation.  The prevalence and duality of intertwined interests in international relations require us to take matter of interest into account whenever considering any relationships and world order so as to accurately forecast and evaluate the trend of its movement and development, for any international relationship that emerges, becomes the center, "hot spot", conflict, or confrontation, etc. is also derived from the cause of interest. It is necessary to be fully aware of the two sides coexisting between cooperation and struggle for the interest, of which the cooperation between countries is more and more flexible and the competition fiercer and fiercer. On the basis of the forecast, it is necessary to be sensible in planning policies and directions so as to place our country in the most beneficial position in the main stream of interwoven interests on the "strategic chessboard" which is taking shape in order to successfully protect the national interests while refraining from falling into dependence on another country. It is important to skillfully adjust directions to balance the positive and negative effects and take advantage of the pull - push of the intertwined interests to enhance the value and strength of the country.

Secondly, making coincidence of interest reverberate and actively intertwining with other countries, organizations, international and regional forums without depending on any country. On the basis of ensuring the foreign policy of independence and autonomy, it is necessary to determine the country's fundamental interests in the complex coincidence and difference of multilayered interests. To successfully protect our national interests, it is suggested that they should be proactively intertwined with those of other countries, international and regional organizations and forums, refraining from being stuck and dependent on major countries. It is also important to attach importance to exploiting and making the coincidence of strategic interests resonate with many countries and territories, creating higher values ​​than in the framework of bilateral relationship. On the basis of interwoven interests in different fields, it is possible to expand the country’s space of development, take full advantage of external resources, make the most of opportunities and turn them into reality, solve challenges, turn danger into security, peacefully build and defend the Fatherland from early and far away dangers. It is also necessary to promote the interweaving of interests in national defense and security, actively participate in multilateral defense and security mechanisms including participation in cooperation activities at a higher level such as United Nations’ peacekeeping activities, non-traditional security drills, and other activities.

Thirdly, consistently pursuing an open foreign policy; diversifying international relations; taking national interests seriously; establishing balanced relations that benefit the country. On that basis, proactively integrate into the world; promote and deepen relations with partners, especially strategic partners and powerful countries that play an important role in the development and security of our country; bring the established relationship framework into practice. Actively open a mechanism for close and unified cooperation with other countries and international organizations; limit and repel the risk of terrorism, conflict and separatism; solve global problems that have directly threatened the country’s peace, stability, and sustainable development. Prevent plots and tricks whose aim is to infringe upon our independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Fully grasp the spirit of "comprehensive diplomacy". Political diplomacy must be combined with economic, cultural, defense and security ones. In expanding external relations, always be aware of common interests to promote and expand cooperation with other countries and territories. However, it is important to understand the contradictions and disagreements so as to narrow the differences and tactfully handle the relationship between cooperation and competition to establish beneficial relationships for the country.

Fourthly, properly handling relationships; refraining from harming the interests of other countries in the new situation. As a member state of the United Nations, Viet Nam complies with the general "rules of the game", not acting unilaterally; resolving conflicts and disagreements peacefully on the basis of international law and practice; being alert with careful consideration in dealing with relationships,  avoiding harming legitimate interests of other countries; building international trust, not following one country against another. Also, it refrains from relying or depending on any country in the course of national construction and development; strengthening and establishing foreign relations with interwoven interests in the spirit of being a friend, a reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community; fully implementing international commitments and responsibilities in accordance with the motto "four no" ⁽¹⁾

In short, the strategic directions and policies of the Party and State of Viet Nam must always ensure the inheritance and selectivity, which means the evolution based on the tradition of building and defending the country. With precious experience "unity inside, peacefulness outside" and on the principle "acting in accordance with each circumstance", constantly strengthen the block of great national solidarity and social consensus; eliminating the possibility of foreign intervention; maintaining the environment of peace, cooperation, and development; strengthening national position and power to firmly build and defend the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in the new situation./.

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(1) “Four nos”: no military alliance, no affiliation with one country to counteract the other, no foreign military bases, and no force or threatening to use force in international relations

This article was published in the Communist Review, No. 950 (September 2020)