Three Structures of Vietnam-China Relations: a View from the Structural Constructivist Theory

Abstract

In this essay, an attempt is made to use Alexander Wendt’s structural hypothesis to test the structures of Vietnam–China relations from the beginning up to the present. The results show that Vietnam–China relations have undergone three cultures: Hobbesian culture, Lockean culture, and Kantian culture. In 113 B.C, without any restraint, the expansionist identity of China formed Vietnam–China Hobbesian culture and then nourished it up to the late twelfth century. Then, the external restraints changed Vietnam–China Hobbesian culture into the Lockean culture in 1164. There was an alternation of Hobbesian and Lockean culture in the period of 1164–1885. The transitions of these two cultures were created by external restraint and self-restraint. In the period of 1885–1949, the foundations for the Kantian culture was laid. From 1950 to July 1978, Communist ideology helped the Kantian culture to dominate Vietnam–China relations. Though, from 1968 self-interests created a shift from Kantian culture to Lockean culture. Without self-restraint, the identities of Vietnam and China changed the Kantian culture into the Lockean culture in late 1978, and this culture has been dominating Vietnam–China relations up to the present.