Pressures and Exploitation to Come
December 25, 2007
The second of two parts on the 100-year relationship between Vietnam and the United States
The post-war relations between Vietnam and the United States continued with misunderstanding and belligerence — this time, in tandem with China.
The United States, still smarting from the 1975 defeat and pressured by the missing-in-action lobby, reneged on post-war reconstruction aid and imposed an economic embargo that would last for another generation. The People’s Republic of China could not accept that a former colony would become a regional influence, and actively supported the odious Khmer Rouge in Cambodia as a counterweight to Vietnam.
In December 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge, precipitating a punitive invasion by China in early 1979. Vietnam beat back the Chinese and held on to Cambodia.
It was another decade and a half before the American government, urged by the business sector, lifted the trade embargo in 1994 and established diplomatic relations with Vietnam the following year.
The renewed relations grew quickly: San Francisco and Ho Chi Minh City became sister cities in 1994; a former prisoner of war, Pete Peterson, became the first post-war U.S. ambassador to Vietnam in 1997; a bilateral trade agreement was ratified by both countries in 2001; Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai visited the United States in 2005; President Bush attended the APEC Conference in Hanoi, and Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2006. Trade between the two nations grew from $1.5 billion in 2001 to $9.7 billion in 2006.
What’s there to worry about? Economics and politics.
Economically, Vietnam is a grasshopper compared to the American elephant. Per capita income in 2006 was about $800 in Vietnam and $42,000 in the United States. American corporations are truly global, with experienced staff, tested products and effective marketing; Vietnamese products and services are still struggling to get to the global standard. Now a member of the WTO, Vietnam is an open market for American products and marketers, from Kentucky Fried Chicken to MetLife, while its inroad to the United States is still uphill, at best.
On the political side, Vietnam is being pressured to adopt some form of American democracy. The one-party system will have to accept challenging parties; the political machine and policy-making apparatus must become more transparent; and the press will need more breathing room. Elections will have to be more open, with the Communist Party facing real opposition as early as the next elections for the National Assembly.
Ironically, this is also the century that Americans are experiencing a steady erosion of democracy at home. Never before have corporations, through lobbying and contributions, managed to run elected officials as their minions. And if the oligarchic class can have the government do its bidding, what will stop it from enriching itself even more on the backs of the poor Vietnamese?
Consul General Fairfax is correct in his assessment: It’s a snowball, all right. It’s just too bad Vietnam is still at the bottom of this slope.
Vu-Duc Vuong is a teacher and writer in the Bay Area. (vuduc.vuong@gmail.com)
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r u a Vienamese?