Russia and Vietnam agreed today to boost cooperation on nuclear energy in the Southeast Asian country during a visit to Hanoi by Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin. Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom said it would help Vietnam build nuclear power plants as well as share Russian civil nuclear technology. (AP)
On its own, this agreement is a relatively quiet development. But in context, it underscores a number of significant trends in global affairs. The first and most obvious is the nuclear energy revival, which has rapidly picked up steam in recent years as states look to the non-carbon-based energy source as a way to meet their climate goals and expedite the green transition. For many countries, including Vietnam, nuclear power is also seen as a way to become less dependent on other states for energy.
The U.S. had hoped to play a central role in the nuclear energy revival, but its nuclear manufacturing capacity is no longer as competitive as it once was, especially in comparison to powerhouses like Russia and South Korea. As a result, the U.S. hardly has the capacity to build new domestic plants, especially as the rise of power-guzzling AI data centers increases demand for them, let alone reactors for overseas partnerships.
That opens the door for Russia. On that score, this agreement is a clear reminder that Russia still has a range of goods that the world wants, including any weapons systems it can spare from the war in Ukraine, but also nuclear technology. To be sure, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions that followed it have taken some toll on the Russian economy. Rosatom, for instance, was the dominant nuclear exporter before the war but lost important contracts in Europe as a result of EU sanctions. But the deal with Vietnam underscores that Moscow is not nearly as economically or diplomatically isolated as the West had hoped to make it.
Finally, this agreement highlights how countries like Vietnam are navigating an increasingly multipolar world by choosing global partners to meet their needs on a case-by-case basis. Vietnam has been a key focus of U.S. efforts to compete with China in Southeast Asia, and as part of those efforts Washington has long tried to get Hanoi to reduce its purchases of Russian arms. The pressure from Washington, Beijing and Moscow to pick a side is unlikely to abate, but as this deal makes clear, neither is Hanoi’s commitment to non-alignment. And we can expect the same to be the case for other countries faced with similar choices.
For more: Read all our coverage of nuclear energy here.
Military prosecutors in Uganda added treachery to the list of charges against Kizza Besigye, a prominent opposition figure who is being tried in a military court after having been kidnapped in Kenya and forcibly taken to a military jail in Uganda in November. Treachery carries the death penalty for those convicted.
