Since 2010, the South China Sea disputes have emerged as the most acute issue in the Sino-Vietnamese relationship. Bilateral relations have suffered greatly as China expands its land reclamation and maritime control in the region, challenging what Vietnam perceives to be its sovereign territory and exclusive economic zones. While most attention has been focused on the contentious maritime disputes and how the two sides will resolve their differences and mitigate tensions, observers seem to have neglected a more fundamental aspect in the bilateral relations, that is, the relations between the two communist parties. Vietnam has been pursuing economic reforms since 1986 and political reforms since the 9th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 2001. The future direction of the political reforms by the CPV and the potential effect on the liberalization of the country could have more significant impact on Sino-Vietnamese relations than any existing territorial disputes between the two. Although China remains convinced that the CPV is unlikely to abandon its one-party rule in the near future, it is detecting worrying signs, which form the undercurrent of Sino-Vietnamese relations.

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