France's Emmanuel Macron calls for world order 'based on law' in Vietnam

President Macron advocates for a rules-based world order during his Southeast Asia tour, offering Vietnam an alternative to US-China tensions.

France's President Emmanuel Macron called in Vietnam on Monday (May 26, 2025) for the preservation of a world order "based on law", as he started a tour of Southeast Asia, a region caught up in the confrontation between the United States and China.

During a press statement alongside his Vietnamese counterpart, Luong Cuong, in Hanoi, Mr. Macron said a rules-based order was necessary at "a time of both great imbalance and a return to power-driven rhetoric and intimidation."

The President presented France as a reliable alternative for Vietnam, caught between Washington, which is threatening to impose enormous levies on its exports to the United States, and Beijing, an important trade partner with which it is also embroiled in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

After his arrival in Hanoi on Sunday (May 25, 2025), the first stop of a six-day trip that will take in Indonesia and Singapore, Mr. Macron emphasised a shared vision with Vietnam, a country of 100 million people experiencing stellar growth.

On Monday (May 26, 2025), around a dozen agreements were signed between the two countries, including in the field of nuclear power, which Hanoi is keen to develop as it seeks to meet soaring energy demands. Budget airline Vietjet also announced an order for 20 widebody Airbus A330-900 planes, doubling its purchases of the model from the aviation giant in a deal worth an estimated $8 billion.

"It is truly a new page being written between our two countries... a desire to write an even more ambitious page of the relationship between Vietnam and France, between ASEAN and the European Union," President Macron said.

After paying tribute at a Hanoi war memorial to those who fought against French colonial occupation, President Macron met his counterpart, Vietnam President Luong Cuong.