Overview

• About 40,000 military personnel and civilians marched at dawn alongside tanks, drones, radar systems, missiles, artillery, helicopters and aircraft.
• Communist Party chief To Lam opened the event, praised national resilience, and avoided any mention of former adversaries including France and the United States.
• Senior guests included China’s Zhao Leji, former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen and Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel.
• Foreign contingents took part, with companies from China, Laos and Cambodia and roughly thirty Russian soldiers joining the march.
• Despite high-level outreach in 2024, France remains a secondary partner for Vietnam, with €8.5 billion in trade last year and a 24th-place ranking among its partners.