¡°Last month, dozens of young Vietnamese women ran in line for hours to just watch the ¡®stunning¡¯ troops at the grand parade in Hanoi. But what they were concerned about was not their own soldiers, but the Chinese military. This scene reflects a shift in Vietnam¡¯s attitude toward China in the context of tensions with U.S. trade relations.¡± Reuters that a poll this year showed that in Vietnam, the proportion of people who favor China has risen faster than other Southeast Asian countries.

A survey released earlier this year by the ISSA Southeast Asian Research Institute in Singapore showed that while the proportion of Vietnamese respondents who view the United States as a preferred cooperation target is higher, the proportion that favors China is also rising rapidly, with the largest increase among citizens of South East Asian countries surveyed.

Reuters said that the improvement of Vietnamese people's attitude towards China has enabled the country's decision-makers to promote some projects to promote bilateral relations with China, such as high-speed rail and special economic zones near China.

Just a few years ago, many Vietnamese were also wary of such a powerful neighbor, and some controversy surrounded the above projects, but posts on social media, online searches and language learning data show that this view is weakening.¡±

The report quoted Nguyen Khh Giang, a scholar at the Yusuf Issa Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, as saying that young people in Vietnam are less critical of China online. He believes that this is more due to the government's control of some nationalist speech.

Nguyen Hung, a scholar at the Royal Melbourne University of Technology at Vietnam, said that the Vietnam government adopts a pragmatic attitude towards China, especially as trade tensions with Washington escalate. Official Vietnam data shows that China companies are currently among the largest investors in Vietnam, and leaders of the two countries also meet frequently.

At the same time, social media has also played an important role. Reuters said, especially TikTok, it was popular among young people in Vietnam. According to the government, last year in Vietnam, TikTok had 67 million users, making it the most popular application after Facebook. Some popular videos include clips of Chinese dance performances and videos of Chinese city sightseeing, giving many audiences an admiration for China¡¯s rapid development.

In addition, Reuters also noted that China and Vietnam are culturally closer.In the first quarter of 2025, Vietnam's Chinese Level Examination (HSK) ranked first in the world.