Vietnam leader to visit Philippines next week for trade, security talks

Vietnam’s top leader To Lam will visit the Philippines next week, Manila said on Wednesday, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr seeks to further strengthen his country's regional alliances and security partnerships.

Marcos will host Lam, Vietnam's president and Communist Party chief, for a two-day state visit from May 31 to June 1 in an effort to advance trade, security and maritime cooperation, the office of Marcos said in a statement.

Under Marcos, U.S. ally the Philippines has sought to build on and widen its network of security partnerships to counter an increasingly assertive China, last month holding its largest-ever multilateral defence exercises.

Though the Philippines and Vietnam have overlapping claims to some islands and features in the South China Sea, disputes between them are rare, with their navies even playing sports together in the Spratly islands to demonstrate warm ties.

Both countries are locked in long-running disputes with Beijing, which claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, and have in recent years engaged in standoffs with Chinese vessels. The coast guards of Vietnam and the Philippines held their first joint exercises in 2024.

Lam is due to arrive in Thailand later Wednesday for an official visit before heading to Singapore on Friday to deliver the keynote address at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security gathering.

Lam met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April in what was his first overseas trip since being elected state president, with a double mandate that made him the country's most powerful leader in decades.

-Nestor Corrales/Reuters