Formation and development of strategic partnership

The idea of strategic partnership among countries was initiated right in the “Cold War” time. However, it was just mentioned in studies on special cooperation among countries, not a systematic theory. Until the end of the 1980s, in a world of changes, scholars used the notion of strategic partnership more to analyze relationships among countries in the aspects of geopolitics, national interests; forms, contents, aims and consequences of those relationships. By the end of the 1990s, the notion became more popular when several countries used it as a type of “shield” to protect their national security.

Today, strategic partnership is applied quite popularly in international cooperations. It has appeared in various documents on international cooperation, studies as well as in the media. Moreover, it is used in business when companies establish a long-term cooperation to solve the most important task in their restructuring and reform in the context of globalization and international integration.

Criteria, characteristics and conditions required to establish a strategic partnership

Any countríes trying to build a strategic partnership with another country should set up criteria for this special relationship. According to experts, that relationship must satisfy the following basic criteria. First, countries trying to establish a strategic partnership share mutual and strategically important targets, or even vital interests. In this regard, there should be collaboration between parties with a long-term plan and roadmap. One of the vital targets is to maintain security, prosperity and status of each other in the international arena, of which maintaining security and prosperity of each other is the core. Second, countries should share common perceptions on targets and principles to develop strategic partnership. Third, it is necessary to set up legal foundations for shaping strategic partnership between the two countries, clarifying the contents of cooperation and legal mechanisms to implement the identified contents in strategic partnership. Fourth, it is important to attach great importance to the demand for cooperation in the fields of strategic importance on the basis of mutual interests. Fifth, one country, which has advantages in some fields, should consider the interests of the other, being ready to have concession and support its partner, even in case of no certain benefits for its own. Sixth, parties should not have discriminatory acts or issue an ultimatum towards each other. Seventh, it is necessary to proactively build mutual conceptions on values based on the political system of the partner. Eighth, the effectiveness of a strategic partnership must be supported by political elites and social community, meeting the vital demands of the people.

From the above-mentioned criteria, it is possible to identify several basic features of a strategic partnership as follows. First, a strategic partnership bears clarity, transparency, and consistency especially in defining purposes, targets, tasks and mutual benefits of countries. Second, that relationship stays durable and stable. Third, a strategic partnership is diverse; it could be applied into various fields of each country, such as economics, politics, military, culture, science - technology, and education. Fourth, motives and aims of each party in a strategic partnership are different from those in other relationships among countries. Fifth, strategic partnership exists not only in bilateral relations but also in global scope.

Several typical types of strategic partnership worldwide

According to experts in international studies, due to the multilateralization and diversification in international relations, together with types of common strategic partnerships, such as strategic partnership, comprehensive strategic partnership, selective strategic partnership, there appear a number of specific strategic partnerships which should be exactly analyzed and indentified in reality.

1. Impacted by increasingly deepened and broadened globalization and international integration, one country could establish strategic partnership with several other countries to form “special strategic partners” so as to pursue special national interests. For instance, Russia - India relationship and Vietnam - Russia relationship are all identified as special strategic partnerships or strategic partnerships of special nature.

2. Strategic partnership does not exclude the alliance or the relationship among allies. Typically when the two-pillar world order collapsed, the former socialist countries seemed to hesitate to mention the matter of “military alliance” or “ally”, only the U.S. and European countries continued to maintain such relationships, i.e. the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the military alliances between the U.S. and Japan, the U.S. and South Korea. Therefore, countries could include “military alliance” in “strategic partnership”. Which means they do not need to sign a military alliance treaty to avoid confrontation but possibly highlight special nature of the relationship.

3. In the modern world, the forming conditions and the interdependence among states in international relations are increasing. Thus, a country, no matter how great its potential, strength,  natural resources, and development level are, is influenced by its interdependent and complex relations with other countries. Similarly, no countries (no matter how great their economic, military strength is) are able to independently resolve global pressing issues but to rely on a close international cooperation. Under that condition, every country should adapt itself quickly to the new international environment by combining the former approaches with the new ones to key matters in international relations. Hence, the signing of various strategic partnerships, including extensive, connective strategic partnerships among countries, contributes to forming a new world order which might be called “multi-partner world order” or “network world order”.

However, people also believe that in addition to strategic partnerships that encourage the development of each country, region and the world, there remain a number of strategic partnerships being used by several countries to make their partners dependent to compete for geopolitical and geostrategic benefits. Therefore, the identification of strategic partnership among countries is a matter of paramount importance drawing a lot of interest from many countries in the world.

Snr Colonel Le The Mau