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Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Country Report
Country Report
General
Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam in short) is a Southeast Asia state, with Laos, Thailand
and Cambodia to the west, China to the north, South China Sea to the east and south. Vietnam’s
area is 331,210 square kilometer (slightly larger than New Mexico).1 The capital city is Hanoi,
other big cities include Ho Chi Minh, Haiphong, Danang, and Can Tho. The population of
Vietnam is 86,928,000, with a GDP of $106,426,845,15. 2 The majority of people are
Vietnamese, with minority like Tay, Thai, Muong, Khmer, Chinese, Nung and Hmong. The
official language is Vietnamese. Socialist Republic of Vietnam is communist state ruled by the
single and only legal party-Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Vietnam suffered from a lot of
wars before 1980s, and its economy moved slowly before economic reform in 1986. Vietnam is
one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Like other countries in a transition from
command economy to market economy, the economic transformation and political
democrazation are still a long way to go.
1
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html
2
http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam
History
Originally Vietnamese ancestors are from southern part of China. In 111 BC, Han dynasty
conquered southern part of China and northern part of Vietnam as territory of imperial China. In
938 AD, Vietnam won its independence from imperial China. During this 1,000-year of Chinese
rule, Vietnam was deeply influenced by Chinese language, Confucian culture and political
system. Since its independence, Vietnam was still under Chinese protection until French
invasion. French conquest began in 1858, and completed in 1884, with the defeat of Chinese
Qing dynasty. In 1887, Vietnam became part of French Indochina. During World War II, Japan
occupied Vietnam until the end of the war, when Vietnam declared its independence. However,
French army came back again and supported the old empire to fight with the northern communist
forces, which was called the first Indochina war (1946-1954). With the help from former Soviet
Union and People’s Republic of China, the Vietnamese communist defeated the French forces,
and reached a cease fire in 1954 at Geneva. A scheduled election didn’t happen while both North
and South Vietnam established their own republic government. French retreated from Vietnam
but American forces stepped in to support the southern anti-communist government. Soon the
north intended to reunify Vietnam, with other powers joining the civil war and making it the
second Indochina war (1959-1973). During the time of cold war, the communist side, including
the Soviet Union, P. R. China, North. Korea backed N. Vietnam, while the United States, South.
Korea, Philippines, Australia and R. O. China supported South Vietnam. More than a million
North Vietnamese died, with more than 50,000 American soldiers. In 1973, the United States
withdraw its forces and Vietnam was reunified by the communist forces in 1975. In July 2 nd,
1976, Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established under the communist party of Vietnam.
Politics
Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a communist state, ruled by the single and only legal partyCommunist Party of Vietnam (CPV). After establishment, Vietnam founded the strict communist
rule like the Soviet Union. Vietnamese constitution in 1992 confirmed the central role of CPV in
politics and society. After the economic reform, CPV puts more emphasis on development other
than ideology. The head of Vietnam is president, who can appoint Prime Minister as the head of
the cabinet, together with several vice Prime Ministers, after confirmation of National Assembly.
Important government choices will be decided by the Politburo and the central committee. The
National Assembly is the nominally highest department, which will approve new laws and
oversee every activity of the government. However, most of the 140 number in the National
Assembly belong to the communist party. It is hard to make sure that they put the rule of law
before the rule the party. For the same reason, the judicial department which is supposed to
enforce the laws is very weak, comparing to the strong leadership of the communist party. Both
the government and the National Assembly will hold elections every five years. The nearest one
is in 25 July 2011, in which Truong Tan SANG was elected president and Nguyen Tan DUNG
was appointed as Prime Minister. Vietnam has 58 provinces and 5 municipalities (Can Tho, Da
Nang, Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City). Vietnam joined many regional and international
organizations, such as ASEAN, ADB, IMF, UN and WTO.
Economy
Vietnam was reunified by the communist north and Socialist Republic of Vietnam was
established in 1976. During the next ten years (1976-1986), Vietnam witnessed little economic
growth. Vietnam was one of the poorest countries at that time. On the one hand, Vietnam copied
the state-run system totally from the former the Soviet Union. In the city, residents work in staterun factory, in the rural place, farmers were organized in big production union. At that time,
there were no private company, selling or staff, everything is included in public and state-run
organization. The problem is that people do not have much incentive to produce, so the
productivity is quite low during that time. People were living in poor condition, mostly the same
with each other. On the other hand, during the cold war, the international and regional situations
were not good for Vietnam to develop its economy. Vietnam even involved wars between
Cambodia and China. In 1986, Communist Party of View held the sixth party congress and
approved the Broad Economic Reforms, which introduced market systems and foreign
investments. The economy is getting better and better after 1986. “Vietnam became one of the
fastest-growing economies in the world, averaging around 8% annual gross domestic product
(GDP) growth from 1990 to 1997 and 6.5% from 1998-2003. GDP grew more than 8% annually
from 2004 to 2007, slowed to 5.3% growth in 2009, recovered to 6.8% in 2010, and reached
5.8% over the first 9 months of 2011. In 2010, Vietnam’s agriculture contributes about 21% of
GDP, industry 41% of GDP, and services 28% of GDP.3” The principal products for agriculture
are rice, coffee, cashews, maize and pepper. Basic products for industry and construction are
mining, quarrying, manufacturing, gas, coal and steel. Major services are tourism, wholesale,
retail and vehicles. The major problems for Vietnam’s economy are high percentage of StateOwn-Enterprises (about 40% of GDP), uncompleted banking systems or market system. Vietnam
is planning to reach a middle level of a developing country by 2020.
Acknowledgements:
Research and Data Development Provided by: Zhou Tianqiu, Research Assistant, under the Supervision
and Coordination of: Dr. Gerard J. Janco, President, Eurasia Center/Eurasian Business Coalition.
3
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm