While visits by the warships of the US, Russia and India to Vietnam's strategic ports typically raise eyebrows across the region, the arrival off Da Nang last week of two Myanmese frigates went largely unnoticed.
Yet the historic port call - just days after Myanmar acquired the ships from China - symbolises one of the most intriguing evolving relationships on China's doorstep.
The relationship between a rapidly reforming Myanmar and Vietnam will further deepen today when President Thein Sein arrives in Hanoi for a two-day visit - his first - hosted by Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang. Thein Sein's visit follows a mission to Myanmar last week by Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh - a trip that highlighted ties are strengthening on a number of fronts.
A joint statement issued by Hanoi at the end of that trip, for example, referred to the two sides underscoring the importance of 'securing peace and stability in the South China Sea'. It also quoted Vietnam welcoming Myanmar's moves to possibly join the Mekong River Commission.
The statement will not go unnoticed in Beijing, which is watching Hanoi's strategic diplomacy closely.
'There has always been the suggestion that Myanmar, at least in part, has long done Beijing's bidding within [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations],' said Dr Ian Storey, a security scholar at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. 'That picture is now much more complex, as the Myanmar-Vietnam relationship shows. Both countries need good relations with China given their long borders, but they also want to expand other regional and international relationships.'
Regional analysts have been struck by the strength of Myanmar's tilt away from China, the former ruling junta's key military patron, in recent months towards a more broadly focused foreign policy, including its recent courtship with Washington. The US maintains sanctions against Myanmar, despite recent political and social reforms.