China and Vietnam: cooperation and competition in the era of digitalization

This article analyzes China–Vietnam relations in the field of digitalization through the conceptual lens of asymmetric coopetition. The central research problem lies in identifying the mechanisms through which asymmetries in the digital capacities of the two states, as well as differences in their national digital development strategies, shape a configuration of simultaneous cooperation and competition. Interaction between the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam unfolds across 4 analytical levels – infrastructural, normative, investment, educational. The analysis demonstrates that the Chinese model, oriented toward technological expansion, normative leadership, and the establishment of de facto standards within the framework of the Digital Silk Road initiative, and the Vietnamese model, based on an innovation-adaptive approach, the development of a startup ecosystem, and a strategy of diversified partnerships, generate a structurally asymmetric competition between models of digital development. This asymmetry manifests itself in the fact that China competes for technological dominance and normative influence across Southeast Asia as a whole, whereas Vietnam competes for investment attractiveness, entrepreneurial talent, and the status of a regional platform for digital innovation. The author concludes that this configuration exerts a long-term influence on the formation of the digital space of Southeast Asia, gradually shifting the regional balance toward Chinese technological standards while preserving Vietnam’s strategic autonomy through regulatory mechanisms of digital governance.