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History and Government
History: For many years, Vietnam formed part of the French colony of Indochina, along with Cambodia and Laos. With Vichy French agreement, in 1941, the Japanese occupied Vietnam during their World War II sweep through South East Asia. The resistance to the Japanese was led by the Indochinese Communist Party, formed by Ho Chi Minh in 1930, and its armed wing, the Viet Minh. Following the Japanese defeat in 1945, the Communists proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1946, France sent a large expeditionary force to re-establish their control. After eight years of fierce fighting, the struggle ended in the defeat of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu (1954).
The Geneva Agreement of the same year provided for the temporary partition of North and South to be re-unified in 1956, following general elections. The Western powers, well aware that the Communists would comfortably win any legitimate poll, manoeuvred to prevent it from taking place, while a Western-backed government under Ngo Dinh Diem was installed in the south and bolstered as far as possible. The Communists began an insurgency in the south to overthrow what they perceived as a puppet regime. The Americans, who had taken over from the French as the lead Western power in Vietnam, responded by sending increasing numbers of military ‘advisers’. By 1962, their numbers had reached 12,000 and the stage was set for a full-scale war between the southern Communist guerrillas (known as the Viet Cong), the North Vietnam Army and their backers in China and the Soviet Union on one side, and, on the other side, the Americans and the ARVN (the South Vietnamese army). In 1973, with their political will to continue the war at an end, the Americans withdrew. Vietnam was reunified three years later, with the victory of the Communist forces and the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Vietnamese army, the strongest in South-East Asia, has since clashed with Chinese troops and undertaken a full-scale invasion and occupation of Cambodia to drive out the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.
Vietnamese troops finally withdrew from Cambodia in September 1989. Freed of this burden, Vietnam was able to concentrate on rebuilding its own economy, having introduced a home-grown version of perestroika, known as doi moi. Nonetheless, the Vietnamese economy suffered from the withdrawal of aid and subsidised goods from the former USSR and from Eastern Europe as well as the continuing US-organised trade boycott instituted after the US withdrawal. In 1991, changes among the Communist Party top leadership indicated that the party was determined to pursue a reformist economic programme while keeping many senior military men in key positions.
An essential precursor to this was an improvement in political relations with Vietnam’s near neighbours. A closer relationship, culminating in full membership, was forged with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The economic dividends were clear in as much as six of the top seven foreign investors in Vietnam were ASEAN members. As a result, outstanding territorial disputes, including the Spratly and Paracel Islands and exploration rights in the Tu Chinh basin, have become manageable, even where no formal settlements have been negotiated. Relations with Vietnam’s two historic enemies, China and Cambodia, have also undergone substantial improvement. Relations with a more recent foe, the USA, also eased during the 1990s, after President Clinton disposed of the American trade embargo on Vietnam in February 1994. Full diplomatic relations were restored the following year and in 2000, Clinton paid an official visit to Vietnam.
The pace of economic reform in Vietnam – growth averaged eight per cent in the 1990s – threatened to overheat the economy. However, this threat evaporated after the middle of 1997, when the Asian currency crisis took hold. The economy has recovered moderately well since then, in line with the rest of the region. By contrast with the economic reform process, there are no signs that the Communist Party intends to relax its hold on political power for the time being. In April 2001, the party chose a new leader in Nong Duc Manh, who consequently began a crackdown on dissident and ‘unauthorised’ literature. On two different fronts, the party is also worried by corruption among senior officials as well as the growth of religious fervour among the wider population.
Government: The present constitution, promulgated in 1992, asserts the political supremacy of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The 496-member National Assembly is responsible for legislation. The Assembly is elected every five years from candidates proposed by the CPV. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers. The Assembly elects a president, who acts as head of state and also appoints a prime minister from among the members of the Assembly. The prime minister leads the Council of Ministers, the members of which hold executive power.
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