Vietnam’s top leader, Tô Lâm, is visiting Australia and New Zealand this week with a high-level delegation of ministers. He will be the first general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam – the highest political position in the country – to pay an official visit to both countries since 2009.

More than a dozen agreements are expected to be signed across both countries in education, agriculture, health care, technology, tourism, defence and security.

In addition, two other important issues will likely be discussed: the importance of the Vietnamese overseas communities (Việt kiều) in both Australia and New Zealand, and maritime security in the South China Sea.

Vietnam’s new global leader

Since becoming Vietnam’s top leader in August 2024, Tô Lâm has embarked on an unusually high number of foreign trips. Last year, he made visits to Russia, the United Kingdom and both Koreas, among other countries.

And this year, when he also assumed the title of president of Vietnam, he met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. He also spoke at the influential Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where he warned the world was moving towards a “big fish swallowing the small fish” global order.

All of this is part of a new strategy on the part of Vietnam to assert a more active........

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