Việt Nam’s Dangerous Partnership with ZTE and Binance

As Việt Nam attempts to reinvent itself as Southeast Asia’s next digital powerhouse, the ruling Communist Party has chosen to prioritize short-term economic growth over long-term stability and security through a series of questionable partnerships. Specifically, the country has solidified agreements with two of the global tech world’s most controversial players: Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE and the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

These deals appear to run counter to Hà Nội’s usual practices. In Hồ Chí Minh City, authorities signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Binance to help build the city’s digital asset framework, despite the exchange’s documented history of regulatory evasion. Simultaneously, Việt Nam has awarded ZTE lucrative contracts to supply 5G infrastructure, effectively breaking a long-standing policy of excluding Chinese hardware from critical networks due to security concerns.

On the surface, this appears to be another manifestation of Việt Nam’s “bamboo diplomacy”—Việt Nam’s strategy of balancing relationships with major powers to maximize national benefit. However, closer inspection reveals a troubling willingness to partner with entities plagued by allegations of bribery, money laundering, and systemic non-compliance.

By inviting ZTE into its telecommunications periphery and Binance into its financial architecture, Việt Nam is ignoring the red flags that have led its neighbors to ban or prosecute these same companies.

Contradictions and Miscalculated Risks

The specifics of these agreements reveal a government willing to overlook glaring contradictions to achieve short-term economic goals. In the telecommunications sector, Việt Nam has awarded approximately $43 million in contracts to a consortium including Huawei and ZTE, with ZTE specifically securing two contracts worth over $20 million to supply antenna systems for the country’s 5G rollout.

For years, Việt Nam shunned Chinese technology in favor of Western alternatives like Ericsson and Nokia due to maritime disputes and espionage fears. Officials who previously parroted U.S. warnings that Chinese equipment posed “unacceptable security risks” now appear to be undergoing a “pragmatic recalibration.” 

While the core 5G network continues to be provided by Western providers, allowing ZTE into the non-core radio equipment layer is a significant concession, likely driven by a need for cost efficiency and a desire to placate Beijing. However, relying on trusted vendors for the core while using high-risk vendors for the edge is a gamble; it relies on the dangerous assumption that security risks can be successfully contained at the network’s periphery.

The contradictions are even more glaring in the financial sector. Hồ Chí Minh City’s Department of Finance recently signed an MoU with Binance to help develop the city into an international financial center, advising on legal frameworks and creating a “sandbox” for new technologies. This partnership is baffling given Việt Nam’s tightening domestic policy, which includes mandatory transaction reporting and fines for unlicensed crypto activities.

It is paradoxical for the state to seek regulatory advice from Binance, a company US prosecutors explicitly described as “prioritizing growth over compliance.” By partnering with a firm known for willfully violating laws to profit from the U.S. market, Việt Nam sends a confusing message to its local fintech sector: compliance is mandatory for locals, but negotiable for powerful foreign partners.

These moves coincide with the rise of Tô Lâm to the leadership of the Communist Party. A career security official, Lâm is viewed as a pragmatist focused on regime security and economic growth. Yet, while his administration enforces draconian cybersecurity laws to control data and dissent, it simultaneously appears willing to expose that same national infrastructure to foreign entities with a track record of exploiting weak governance.

Global Distrust of ZTE and Binance

ZTE’s history is laden with accusations of state-sponsored espionage and corruption. Between 1998 and 2014, the company faced bribery investigations in 18 countries, often in connection with telecommunications contracts.

The most relevant cautionary tale lies just across the South China Sea. In 2007, the Philippines was rocked by the NBN-ZTE scandal, a $329 million national broadband deal that was reportedly overpriced by $130 million to cover kickbacks for local officials. Witnesses testified that ZTE officials offered massive bribes to secure the contract, sparking a political crisis that nearly toppled the presidency. Although that specific deal was scrapped, ZTE’s duplicity has persisted.

The company is currently facing a renewed U.S. Department of Justice probe into alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations in South America. This follows a 2017 guilty plea for illegally shipping U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea—and subsequently lying to investigators about disciplining the employees involved. ZTE’s behavior during that scandal was described as “duplicitous,” reflecting a corporate culture where the rule of law is subordinated to political connections.

By integrating ZTE, Việt Nam is partnering with a firm that views legal sanctions as the cost of doing business and which is legally compelled by China’s National Intelligence Law to assist state intelligence agencies. It does not make any logical sense for Việt Nam to partner with a firm obligated to spy for a rival claimant in the South China Sea.

The case against Binance is equally damning. In November 2023, the company and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws, paying a $4.3 billion penalty. Prosecutors revealed that Binance deliberately dismantled its own compliance controls to attract high-volume users, including criminals. Binance also admitted to allowing transactions linked to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations. 

Even more disturbing for Southeast Asia is the link to “pig-butchering” scams. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) recently revealed that Binance accounts received over $408 million from the Huione Group, a Cambodian conglomerate labeled a “primary money laundering concern” by the U.S. Treasury. 

Crucially, these funds flowed during Binance’s U.S. monitorship in 2024 and 2025. Huione is central to the human trafficking industry that enslaves victims in scam compounds across the Mekong region. By facilitating the financial flows of groups like Huione, Binance’s lax controls have indirectly supported the very industries that enslave Southeast Asian citizens.

Regional neighbors have responded with strict containment. Singapore banned Binance.com from offering payment services in 2021 due to violations of the Payment Services Act. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission filed a criminal complaint against Binance for operating without a license. Malaysia ordered the company to disable its website and apps within 14 days for engaging in illegal operations. 

Today, while the platform remains technically accessible in parts of the region, the experience is severely restricted. In Thailand, citizens are incentivized to use “Binance TH,” a sanitized local joint venture with limited liquidity and heavy surveillance. In Singapore and Malaysia, Binance remains on the Investor Alert List and accessing the global platform requires circumventing blocks, leaving users in a legal “grey zone” with little consumer protection.

While its neighbors erect barriers to protect their financial systems, Việt Nam appears ready to open the gates to the high risks others have deemed unacceptable.

A Dangerous Bet

Trusting ZTE or Binance to operate with the integrity a developing nation requires is a dangerous gamble. ZTE is burdened by state-linked espionage risks and a history of corrupting public officials to secure contracts. Despite promises of reform, Binance remains fundamentally rooted in regulatory evasion, having facilitated money laundering for terrorists, scammers, and human traffickers.

Should Việt Nam proceed with these partnerships, the decision cannot be left solely to party officials and technocrats behind closed doors. A robust, transparent discussion involving civil society and independent experts is essential. The public deserves to know what safeguards will prevent the corruption witnessed in the Philippines or the proliferation of slave-labor scam compounds now entrenched in Cambodia. Without such transparency, these deals will likely become national liabilities rather than economic assets.

It is particularly alarming that Việt Nam stands alone in its embrace of these entities. Singapore’s ban on Binance and the Philippines’ scandalous history with ZTE should serve as a warning. Việt Nam’s leadership is betting its digital future on partners that have repeatedly betrayed public trust.

As 5G towers rise and crypto trading desks open in Hồ Chí Minh City, citizens should remember that in international business, there is no such thing as a discount. Cheap hardware and fast finance carry a hidden cost—one paid in sovereignty, security, and public integrity. As one compliance expert noted regarding the region’s struggle with illicit finance, “bad things always have global spillover, but good things never do.” Hà Nội must ensure it does not open the floodgates to the former.