Vietnam
End of the war
• On April 30 1975 the Vietnam war ended with the
surrender of South Vietnam to the communist north.
• The war claimed the lives of 1.3 million Vietnamese
Post war communist
utopia?
• In the aftermath of the war, the government
embarked on a mass campaign of collectivization
of farms and factories.
• This caused an economic collapse and resulted in
triple-digit inflation.
Cambodia
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In 1978, the Vietnamese military invaded Cambodia to remove from power
the Khmer Rouge, who had been attacking Vietnamese border villages and
massacring the inhabitants
In early 1979, Vietnam was conducting a two-front war: defending its northern
border against a Chinese invasion and supporting its army in Cambodia,
which was still fighting Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge guerrillas.
This conflict caused Vietnam to rely even more heavily on Soviet economic
and military aid.
Victory at a price
•
Hanoi's Marxist policies combined with the
destruction of the country's infrastructure during the
decades of fighting devastated Vietnam's
economy.
• persecution and mass exodus of individuals - many
of them successful South Vietnamese merchants
had caused the economy to become stagnant
• growing international isolation was also an issue
Opening up
• The economy started to pick up in 1986 under doi
moi (economic renovation), an effort at limited
privatization.
Investment and relations
• The U.S. lifted a Vietnamese trade embargo in
Feb. 1994 that had been in place since U.S.
involvement in the war.
• Full diplomatic relations were announced
between the two countries in July 1995.
• In 1998, the nation began a drive to eliminate
inefficient bureaucrats and streamline the
approval process for direct foreign investment.
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Not so fast
• Efforts of reform-minded officials toward political
and economic change have been partially
thwarted by Vietnam's ruling Communist Party.
• In April 2001, however, the progressive Nong Duc
Manh was appointed general secretary of the ruling
Communist Party
Joining the trade market
• In Nov. 2001, Vietnam's national assembly approved
a trade agreement that opened U.S. markets to
Vietnam's goods and services.
• Tariffs on Vietnam's products dropped to about 4%
from rates as high as 40%.
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The west welcomes
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Prime Minister Phan Van Khai visited the United States in June 2005,
becoming the first Vietnamese leader to do so since the Vietnam
War ended.
He met with President Bush and several business leaders, including
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
The U.S. is Vietnam's largest trading partner, buying about $7 billion in
Vietnamese goods each year.
Scandal
• A corruption scandal rocked Vietnam in April 2006
when Transport minister Dao Dinh Binh resigned
amid allegations that members of his staff
embezzled millions from the country and used the
funds to bet on soccer games.
• His deputy Nguyen Viet Tien was arrested for his role
in the scandal.
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Transition
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Prime Minister Phan Van Khai resigned in June 2006, making way for a younger leader,
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
Khai had led Vietnam since 1997 and was instrumental in Vietnam's two-decades-long
transition to a market economy
Gay Marriage
• In November 2013, Vietnam took a huge step toward
marriage equality by legalizing gay weddings.
• The government changed the law after two same-sex
couples were fined for having marriage ceremonies.
• The two couples were charged under the Law On
Marriage & Family of Vietnam, a law that bans marriage
between persons of the same sex. Prompted by this
incident, the law was changed to legally allow same-sex
weddings.
• Under the change, same-sex couples would now
officially have the right to live together. However, samesex marriages would still not be legally recognized.
Politically communist
Economically liberal
• The Communist leaders, however, maintain control on
political expression and have resisted outside calls to
improve human rights.
• No other party except those approved by the
communist party are allowed to participate in elections
• The country continues to experience small-scale protests
from various groups, the vast majority connected to
land-use issues.
• The human rights advocacy group Amnesty
International says in a 2011 report that ''more than a
dozen activists were convicted in faulty trials simply
because they had peacefully voiced criticism of
government policies''.
Gay Marriage
•
•
•
•
In November 2013, Vietnam took a huge step toward marriage equality by legalizing
gay weddings.
The government changed the law after two same-sex couples were fined for having
marriage ceremonies.
The two couples were charged under the Law On Marriage & Family of Vietnam, a
law that bans marriage between persons of the same sex. Prompted by this incident,
the law was changed to legally allow same-sex weddings.
Under the change, same-sex couples would now officially have the right to live
together. However, same-sex marriages would still not be legally recognized. Still,
gay rights activists believed it was a large step on the path to marriage equality for
Vietnam
Disputed Waters
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Regional tension over claims to islands and resources in the South China Sea
China has declared sovereignty over the sea and many of its islands, including the Paracel and
Spratly islands, which are rich in oil and gas reserves and fish. However, Vietnam has also laid
claim to island chains.
While the issue has been festering for decades, China took a tougher stance in 2012, warning
other nations to refrain from oil and gas exploration and placing naval vessels in the South China
Sea.
In 2014, tensions increased between China and Vietnam when Vietnamese officials reported
that their vessels had been hit by Chinese ships. "On May 4, Chinese ships intentionally rammed
two Vietnamese Sea Guard vessels,” said Foreign Ministry official Tran Duy Hai, during a news
conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. “Chinese ships, with air support, sought to intimidate Vietnamese
vessels.”
The situation intensified three days later when Vietnamese ships confronted Chinese ships.
The Chinese vessels were placing an oil rig off the coast of Vietnam when the confrontation
occurred. The placement of the rig also led to protests throughout Vietnam and some of those
protests turned violent.
On May 14, anti-China protesters set fire to at least 15 foreign-owned factories throughout
Vietnam, according to state media. Protesters also destroyed and looted offices of
manufacturing companies owned or managed by Chinese workers. At least one person died in
the protests.
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world/asia/vie
tnams-nuclear-dreams-blossom-despitedoubts.html?ref=vietnam
• http://the-diplomat.com/2012/04/12/why-u-sshould-embrace-vietnam/
• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/08/business/inter
national/mcdonalds-chooses-its-moment-invietnam.html
• http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/vie
tnam-shows-china-its-resolve-with-militaryposters/?_r=0