French President Emmanuel Macron begins a tour of Southeast Asia on Sunday, starting with Vietnam – the first visit by a French leader in a decade. The trip is part of France’s push to deepen economic ties in the region, counter China’s influence and navigate tensions over human rights – all while managing the legacy of its colonial past.
France is seeking to expand its €5.3 billion trade relationship with Vietnam, focusing on energy, infrastructure and technology.
More than 30 agreements are expected to be signed during the visit, including collaborations in nuclear energy and satellite development.
According to the latest EU figures, Vietnam is France's 17th biggest trade partner outside the EU, while French exports to Vietnam value €1.6 billion against €3.7 billion of imports from Vietnam. More than 2,000 French companies currently export to Vietnam.
Vietnam’s efforts to diversify foreign investment – particularly in transport and renewable energy – align with France’s ambitions to counterbalance China’s growing influence in the region.
Although France ranks only 16th among Vietnam’s foreign investors, Macron’s delegation aims to position French firms as credible alternatives to Chinese infrastructure financing.
'Bamboo Diplomacy'
Meanwhile, Vietnam is actively strengthening its own multilateral partnerships to hedge against Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea and economic coercion.
China asserts control over vast areas beyond internationally recognised maritime boundaries, militarising the region by establishing bases on shoals and atolls, sometimes claimed by other countries such as the Philippines, and frequently encroaching on waters claimed by Vietnam.
France’s Indo-Pacific strategy sees Vietnam as critical for securing maritime routes and ensuring supply chain resilience.
In October 2024, France became the first EU country to upgrade ties with Vietnam to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” after more than 50 years of diplomatic relations.
This approach aligns closely with Hanoi’s so-called “bamboo diplomacy”, which has recently seen Vietnam upgrade its relations with the US, Japan, and now France.
Macron’s subsequent visits to Indonesia and Singapore underscore broader European efforts to re-engage with ASEAN amid ongoing US-China tensions.
Macron outlines France's vision for Asia-Pacific relations, rejects confrontation
The show goes on
Following his stop in Vietnam, Macron will travel to Indonesia from 27 to 29 May, where he is set to meet President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
On the program: defence cooperation, nuclear energy and economic ties. Macron will then proceed to Singapore, where he will participate in a series of official meetings and investor roundtables before delivering a keynote address at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defence summit.
His message will highlight France and Europe as trustworthy partners offering cooperation “with no strings attached”, as Southeast Asia navigates intensifying US-China rivalry and seeks to diversify its economic and security partnerships
Macron urges trade cooperation with China ahead of South East Asia tour
Shadows of the past
The legacy of France’s colonial past looms over the Vietnam visit. Between 1858 and 1885, France conquered Vietnam through a series of military campaigns, establishing Indochina as a colony.
The 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, where Viet Minh forces defeated French troops after a 56-day siege, brought an end to colonial rule but left enduring cultural ties.
The French withdrawal was followed by an increasing US presence, culminating in the Vietnam War, which claimed the lives of around two million people.
France played a significant diplomatic role in ending the Vietnam War in 1973 by hosting the peace negotiations that led to the Paris Peace Accords, signed at the Majestic Hotel on Paris’ Champs-Elysées.
Macron is unlikely to address France’s colonial history and its aftermath directly, but Vietnam’s enduring French architectural influences and the presence of some 30,000 francophone residents reflect the complex postcolonial relationship.
Human rights
Macron also faces pressure to address Vietnam’s deteriorating human rights record.
“Vietnam is waging an unprecedented and really brutal crackdown on civil society,” said Penelope Faulkner, president of the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR).
In a press release signed by four human rights organisations – including the FIDH, the VCHR and Global Witness – activists called on Macron to press for the release of human rights defenders during his visit to Vietnam.
The organisations addressed an open letter to Macron, attaching a list of 40 individuals currently serving prison sentences of up to 20 years.
“Most of them are bloggers, independent journalists, environmental activists, people who are really not calling for the regime change, but wanting a better life for the people of Vietnam,” Faulkner told RFI.
The list includes independent journalist Pham Doan Trang, serving nine years for writing critical articles on environmental issues, environmental lawyer Dang Dinh Bach, who is serving a five-year sentence on charges of tax evasion, and Pham Thi Nhung, who received a 15-year sentence after calling on the European Parliament to postpone ratification of an EU-Vietnam trade agreement pending “concrete human rights progress” in Vietnam.
Vietnam is waging an unprecedented and really brutal crackdown on civil society.
REMARKS by Penelope Faulkner, president of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights
Faulkner said the current US–China trade dispute and tensions between China and the EU have shifted Western focus to Vietnam, with governments now less inclined to criticise Hanoi’s rights record.
“Vietnam is one of the countries which is receiving most of foreign direct investment” in Asia, said Faulkner, pointing out that Western companies are keen to move operations to the country because of its low wages, which are “at least one third lower than other countries in Southeast Asia”.
She added: “Vietnam is becoming known as a cheap labour destination. And that’s very detrimental to the people’s lives.”
Meanwhile, UN experts have condemned Vietnam’s use of torture and arbitrary detention ahead of its 2025 bid for re-election to the Human Rights Council.
