Just as the Chinese navy uses warships returning from anti-piracy patrols in the Indian Ocean to fly the flag in Southeast Asian ports, the Russian Pacific Fleet returns to Vietnam early next month to highlight one of the region's most intriguing - and enduring - strategic relationships.
Three ships, including the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Vinogradov, will visit the central Vietnamese port of Da Nang from May 7, according to the Russian news agency Interfax, on the way home to Russia's Pacific port, Vladivostok, after running anti-piracy convoys around the Horn of Africa.
It will be the latest in a string of events that make the Russian-Vietnamese relationship one of the most closely watched in an East Asia that is fast adjusting to China's rise.
While Hanoi considers its evolving relationship with Beijing its most important and complex, its military co-operation with Moscow shows its determination to hedge its regional and international bets amid continuing territorial disputes.
A key part of that strategy is the redevelopment of its sought-after naval facilities in the deep-water port of Cam Ranh Bay, long prized as the greatest natural harbour in East Asia and a site as historic as it is strategic.
As deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin met Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and other senior officials in Hanoi this week to map out a visit by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in July, representatives of the Russian company Zvezdochka finalised plans for setting up a ship repair facility in Cam Ranh as well as contracts to supply spare parts to warships.