Altercasting China as a Partner: Vietnam and Cambodia's Divergent Foreign Policy Responses

How do small states interpret and respond to China's rise? This article employs altercasting in role theory to compare Vietnam's and Cambodia's foreign policy responses towards China. It argues that despite both maintaining comprehensive strategic cooperative partnerships with China, the two smaller states have developed different China policies due to divergent expectations of China's roles. Rather than reflecting material asymmetry alone, this divergence stems from contrasting altercastings of China's behaviour under the same institutional framework. While both view China as an important cooperative partner, Vietnam frequently perceives China as failing to enact the role of a trusted partner, particularly in security and trade, where Chinese actions are seen as contradicting stated commitments. By contrast, Cambodia views China's behaviour as consistent with its expectations. The argument is developed through a paired comparison across two case studies: South China Sea disputes and the Belt and Road Initiative.