<p>US-China competition has emerged as the central driver shaping regional and global order, a dynamic that has intensified following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House under the “America First” policy agenda. This article examines how Vietnam has employed a hedging strategy to preserve strategic autonomy amid intensifying great power rivalry. Adopting a qualitative approach that combines document analysis with a case study method, the study analyzes Vietnam’s hedging strategy across three domains: economic, diplomatic, and security, conceptualizing Vietnam as a representative middle power. The findings indicate that hedging has enabled Vietnam to maintain strategic maneuvering space and derive benefits from engagement with both the United States and China in the short to medium term. However, the sustainability of this strategy is conditional: it can be sustained only so long as strategic polarization does not cross the threshold that compels states to align explicitly, and its inherent limitations are likely to become increasingly pronounced as great power competition escalates.</p>