Vietnam is well-known as a country of war for decades but in the 21st century, war is long gone, Vietnam nowadays is a developing country which have so many significant achievements in all aspects. In my essay, I will introduce the political system, the economy, the military, the geography of Vietnam as well as the relationship of Vietnam and UN.
I. Political System
The political system of Vietnam was formed in the process of revolution and it was officially born in the August 1945 revolution, after the communist successfully overthrew the French colonial domination as well as the feudal figurehead, established the new country named The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the first state of the Southeast Asia region which has the people’s democracy. The democratic people political system of Vietnam turned to the task of the socialist nature in northern Vietnam in 1954 and then the whole country in 1975. Vietnam political system includes the implementation constituted political power: the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam government, the political – social organizations and mass organizations.
1. The Communist Party of Vietnam
Communist Party of Vietnam is an integral part of the political system as well as the force leading of political system. The leadership of the party to the political system is necessary and indispensable to ensure the political system is stable and no dispute. Lessons learned from the reform of Soviet Union shows that if the Communist Party is failed to maintain its leadership in the political system, it will cause the disorder of the political system and the entire society, then, the change in social regime is unavoidable.
2. The government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
The government of Vietnam is a central institution that implements the political power, manages the economy, culture, society as well as performs the function of internal and external.
3. The political – social organizations and mass organizations.
These organizations represent the benefit of different social communities participating in the political system based on different purposes, ideology, etc.
In my opinion, Vietnamese people is just the subject to the government. The role of Vietnamese people in the society is merely to obey the government. Although the ideology of the Vietnamese political system is that the power is of the people, however, Vietnamese people are not allowed to participate in most of the political process, they are not staying informed as well as letting the government know what they want or voting. The government of Vietnam has formed a wall to separate its people with the rest of the world by preventing information, blinding people with the illusion about a peaceful and free country. The fact is that Vietnamese people only know the result of the election through television or newspaper, they were suppressed during the demonstration against the aggressive moves of China in South China Sea conflict.
Vietnam needs to change, not only in the political system but also in the people’s idea.
II. The economy
The economy of Vietnam is a planned economy and market economy. It depends on crude exports and foreign investment. The process of political and social reform, known as “Doi Moi” was launched in 1986 has turned Vietnam from one of the world's poorest countries with a per capita income of about $100 to become a low average country with per capita income was about $2,100 in 2015. Per capita GDP of Vietnam belongs to the world’s fastest growing group since the 1990s to present, reaching 5.5% in the 1990s and 6.4% in 2000. The economy of Vietnam has grown in 2015 with a growth rate estimated at 6.7%. Social performance also improves significantly in all aspects. Based on the fixed $1.9 standard PPP in 2011, the poverty has fallen from over 50% in early 1990s to 3% at this moment. Concerns focus on the poorer 15% of the population belonging to the minority ethic groups, but they represent more than 50% of the poor in Vietnam. Not only incomes but also education and the average life expectancy of Vietnam are higher than most countries with similar levels of per capita income. Maternal mortality rate has dropped to below the average middle-income countries, and the mortality rate of children under 5 years old fell by half. Infrastructure has also improved significantly. So far, most of the households had access to electricity, while in 1993 less than half of the households have access to electricity. Number of households supplied with clean water and sanitation services has increased from under 50% to over 75%. Since the “Doi Moi”, export turnover of Vietnam each year increased by 20%, thereby bringing the total export value of Vietnam from about half a billion dollars / year in the previous year to 48.4 billion in 2007 and 62.7 billion dollars in 2008. The import turnover of Vietnam in 2008 was 80.4 billion dollars. The total export turnover of FDI in 2015 reached 207.85 billion US dollars, up 16.7% compared to 2014. The structure of export has shifted. In the 1991-1995 period, major exports of Vietnam including crude oil, seafood, rice, textiles, coffee, forestry products, rubber, peanuts, cashews. By now, the main export items are crude oil, textiles, footwear, seafood, wood products, electronic, computer and rice. Agriculture still accounts for nearly half of the workforce, but labor productivity is much lower than in industry and services. Vietnam has strengthened international economic integration joining the free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, South Korea, and the Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. At the same time, ASEAN Economic Community was established on 12.31.2015 and will open up many opportunities to help Vietnam integrate into the world economy. But, while global integration is going well, linking Vietnam into the global value chain, the benefits brought by is limited by the absence of links with local businesses.
III. The military
Vietnam has three types of military structure which are: army, navy and air force. The military budget of Vietnam is currently 3,365 billion dollar, total standing at 412,000 troops along with more than 5 million people per bench. Vietnam Army owns 1,470 main battle tanks and light tanks, 3,150 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, 524 self-propelled guns, 2,200 guns and 1,100 trailers rocket artillery system zoom range. Vietnam Air Force is equipped with 217 fighter / ground attack, 147 transport aircraft, 26 trainer aircraft, 140 helicopters (25 helicopters). Vietnam Navy in payroll 7 frigates, corvettes 9 small, 3 submarines, 23 ships patrol the coast and 8 minesweepers. At the time that the conflict between Vietnam and China over islands in South China Sea is escalating, Vietnam’s military in specific and Vietnam’s government in general are trying to negotiate with China although China has so many aggressive moves. Vietnam as well as most countries in the world believe that war is never a good choice, especially Vietnam is the country that had experienced the concequences of war for centuries. Vietnam is asking for the help of UN as well as other neighboring countries to solve this conflict instead of using military against China.
IV. The geography
Vietnam is a country located on the Indochina Peninsula, Southeast Asia, the Pacific coast, an area of 331 212 km2. Vietnam border is 4,550 km long land, bordering China in the north, with Laos and Cambodia in the West, the East Sea on the east. On the map, Vietnam strip of land an S-shaped, extending from latitude 23o23 'North to 8o27' north, 1650 km long from north to south, the widest part on land around 500 km, the narrowest around 50 km. Vietnam has varied terrain: mountains, plains, coast and continental shelf, reflecting the historical development of geology, topography in the environment long monsoon, hot and humid, strongly weathered. The topography is lower from the Northwest – Southeast, which is clearly shown in the flows of major rivers. Vietnam is located in the tropical belt internal, year-round high temperatures and high humidity. Vietnam has a dense network of rivers (2360 over 10 km long river), flowing in two main directions of northwest – southeast and arcs. Land in Vietnam is very diverse, there are many places with high fertility and favorable for the development of agriculture and forestry.
Vietnam is located at the edge of the South China Sea, the Sea of geo-economic position, especially politically important. It has long been considered as an indispensable element in the development strategy of not only neighboring countries but also of the other countries in the world. Among the marine resources, we must first mention of oil and gas, a key resource, a predominance of Vietnam's sea. On the open sea more than 1 million km2 of Vietnam, with up to 500,000 km2 located in the area of oil and gas prospects. Besides oil and gas, Vietnam’s sea still has many precious minerals such as tin, titanium, go-ri-con, quartz, aluminum, iron, manganese, copper, nickel and rare earths. Vietnam’s marine resources are evaluated on the abundant type within the region. In addition to the main marine fish resources, there are other types of specialty high economic valuable resources such as shrimp, crab, squid, sea cucumber, seaweed …
With its strategic geographic location, Vietnam has become the target of aggression by the world powers in the 20th century and in the present. Typically, the dispute with China over islands is increasingly escalating.
V. The relationship between Vietnam and the United Nations
September 20, 1977 marked that Vietnam officially joined the United Nations (UN), to become a 149th member of the largest multilateral organization in the world. This event has opened up a new era for Vietnam’s multilateral diplomacy with important contributions to the success of the renovation, building and protecting the country, contributing to improving the position of Vietnam in the field international. Experiencing 39 years, Vietnam – the UN relation has made great progress on all aspects of culture, education and social, economic and trade for security-political and on many levels from coordinating the implementation of national programs, regional participation to share responsibility, to cooperate in solving global problems. During join the United Nations, Vietnam has always conducted its foreign policy of independence, peace, openness, multilateralisation and diversification of international relations; friends find in Vietnam a friend, a reliable partner, is responsible for the international community. In the 80s of last century, when Vietnam was difficult after the war, the relation with the United Nations has helped to blunt the siege and embargo, environmental reinforce, enlist the resources, promote economic development. Entering international integration period from the 1990s to the present, Vietnam has actively participated in the work at the UN, contributing to raising the international position, fight to protect its vital interests especially on security issues, sovereignty, territorial integrity and actively cooperate with friendly countries mobilization, struggle for peace, national independence and development, uphold the basic principles of international law and the UN Charter which has principles of respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes. At the critical mechanisms of the UN such as the General Assembly, the Council of Economic and Social Affairs (ECOSOC), Vietnam contributed positively to the development of international relations fair, healthy, guaranteed benefit legitimate of all the members, especially the developing countries. Vietnam has promoted bilateral cooperation and relations with partners, other mechanisms such as ASEAN, APEC, ASEM, the Francophone Community, the Non-Aligned Movement (KLK).