HANOI — The first Singaporean delegation to set foot in Vietnam since the pandemic began did not shake a single hand. Every meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan held here this week was conducted over Zoom. The four-day trip, which started Monday, was itself a negotiation about how two countries negotiate when travel is broken.
On Wednesday, Balakrishnan said Singapore and Vietnam are looking at steadily loosening movement controls for business and travel. The plan covers a few selected vacation locations to be declared in the next few months. But it all depends on strict health protocols. That is the hinge everything swings on.
The two countries have agreed to accelerate talks on pacts meant to boost their digital economies. That consensus was reached during Balakrishnan’s meeting with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son on Monday. According to the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both sides acknowledged the importance of moving forward with protected resumption of movement while maintaining strict health protocols. The phrasing matters. “Protected resumption” is not the same as reopening. It is a controlled, conditional unfreezing.
Balakrishnan also met with recently designated President Nguyen Xuan Phuc. He held discussions with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh. All via video link. The pandemic has turned high-level diplomacy into a screen-based affair. But the substance is real. The agreement sets the stage for future discussions on loosening travel controls and expanding economic ties as the global pandemic situation evolves.
What is striking about this is the pace. Singapore and Vietnam are not waiting for the pandemic to end. They are building the architecture for a post-pandemic relationship while the virus is still circulating. The digital economy pacts are the centerpiece. They are meant to create reciprocal arrangements for business and travel. That means standards, data flows, and recognition of digital credentials. The details are not public yet. But the direction is clear.
Vietnam is a manufacturing hub. Singapore is a financial and logistics node. The two economies complement each other. The digital economy agreements are designed to make that complementarity work better. Faster customs clearance. Digital payments that work across borders. Trusted travel lanes. The pandemic has exposed how fragile physical supply chains are. Digital ones are the insurance policy.
The travel loosening, when it comes, will be narrow. Selected vacation locations. Not mass tourism. Not business travel for everyone. A few places, declared in the next few months. The health protocols will remain strict. That is the trade-off. You get movement, but you do not get freedom. You get predictability, but you do not get spontaneity.
Balakrishnan’s visit was the first run of a Singaporean delegation since the onset of Covid-19. That is a fact worth sitting with. For over a year, the two countries have communicated through cables, calls, and video conferences. Now a minister is physically present in Hanoi, even if his meetings are virtual. The symbolism is not lost. The message is that Singapore is ready to re-engage in person, even if the format is still remote.
The digital economy pacts are not just about technology. They are about trust. Two countries agreeing to recognize each other’s digital standards are also agreeing to trust each other’s enforcement. That takes time. The pandemic has compressed that timeline. Crisis forces decisions that would otherwise take years of study.
What happens next depends on the virus. If cases spike, the loosening stalls. If vaccines work and variants are contained, the selected locations open. The agreements get signed. The digital economy gets a boost. But none of it is guaranteed. The only certainty is that both sides want it to happen. The rest is a negotiation with a virus that does not negotiate.
