Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Vietnam for the start of a tour of Southeast Asia.

Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore. French President Emmanuel Macron begins a tour of Southeast Asia this Sunday. He arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday evening.

The French president, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron, will be received on Monday by his Vietnamese counterpart Luong Cuong and Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, for this first of three state visits in just under a week. On Tuesday, he will meet with stakeholders in the energy sector, a key theme of his visit, and will interact with Vietnamese students.

After having visited India and China several times, but also countries in the Pacific Ocean such as Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, and recently in the Indian Ocean, he intends to use this new trip to defend his "Indo-Pacific strategy".

Announced in 2018, it consists of proposing a third way to the countries of the region, caught in the pincers of the confrontation between the United States and China, and according to Paris has found its relevance since the return of Donald Trump to the White House with his threats of trade war.

In Vietnam, where Emmanuel Macron is visiting for the first time, this posture of "balancing power" may find an echo: the country itself is careful to find a certain balance in its relations with China and the United States , in order to maximize its commercial interests, in line with its "bamboo diplomacy".

The Élysée Palace hopes to "strengthen cooperation in strategic sectors such as energy, transport, and defense." Several French business leaders are accompanying the president for all or part of his tour, including those from EDF, Dassault Aviation, Airbus Aviation, Naval Group, Eramet, and CMA GCM.

Former colonial ties complicate the Franco-Vietnamese relationship. The head of state will pay tribute Monday morning to the memory of the Indochina War veterans who fought for independence.

He will also be received on Monday by the Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, considered the country's most powerful leader, whom he himself hosted in Paris in October. The two men will have lunch at the Temple of Literature, an emblematic site of Vietnamese culture.

On Tuesday evening, the French president will fly to Indonesia, and he will end his tour on Friday in Singapore , where he will deliver the opening speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, the largest security and defense forum in Asia.