Vietnam: Thirty Years After The War 

 Tapas Sinha

I GOT an opportunity to attend the eighth congress of the Vietnam Youth Federation, held earlier this year at Hanoi, on behalf of the central executive committee of the DYFI. Around the same time, the Vietnam Youth Federation also hosted the second international preparatory committee meeting (IPM) of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) in connection with the 16th World Festival of the Youth and Students, to be held in Venezuela. I also got an opportunity to meet the general secretary, Nong Duc Nmanh, and to visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and other important places. Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Vietnamese victory over the US imperialists, this visit provided me an opportunity to know about the struggle of the people of Vietnam. The article below is based on these experiences.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Located in the centre of Southeast Asia and bordering China, Laos, Cambodia and the South China Sea, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has a population of 80.9 million. Of these, 74.2 per cent reside in rural and 25.8 per cent in urban areas. Women accounted for 50.86 per cent and men 49.14 per cent of the population in 2003. It is a multiethnic nation with 54 different groups. The Kinh are in a majority, making up 85 per cent of the population.

Vietnam is spread over an area of 3,29,297 square km, three-fourths of which are mountains and hills. Besides, the country has a coastline over 3,000 km long. The climate is close to tropical, with a variety of rich fauna and flora. Vietnam is endowed with a number of natural beauty spots and sites of cultural and historical value. Some of these have been recognised by the UNESCO as world natural and cultural heritages, such as Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha-Ke Bang natural conservation area, ancient capital Hue, ancient town Hoi An, holy land My Son, royal refined music Hue. The Vietnamese people love their nation and are keen on defending their independence and freedom. They are peace loving, justice loving and help one another at the time of natural disasters. They lay great importance on moral philosophy, loyalty and compassion.

Vietnam has a thousand years old history of national construction and defence,  overcoming the over 1,000 years of domination and invasion of various Chinese feudal monarchies. The struggle against foreign invaders during the 10th to 19th centuries --- against the South Han and the Yuan, against the Ming and Quing dynasties --- produced a number of national heroes.

INSPIRING HISTORY

In 1858, the French invaded Vietnam and step colonised it. During the second world war, the Japanese fascists occupied a large part of the country and ruled it mercilessly. In 1945 alone, about two million Vietnamese, accounting for one tenth of the population at that time, died of hunger under the colonial rule of the Japanese and the French.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh, however, the Vietnamese people launched a struggle against the Japanese and the French occupiers, chased the Japanese out and successfully carried out the August Revolution in Autumn 1945. On August 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Declaration of Independence and founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The new government declared hunger and illiteracy as its enemies and called for a war against them. While confronting the foreign invaders, it organised the first election in the nation’s history. In 1946, the new republic had to deal with the second invasion of the French colonialists. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, resistance against the French colonialists culminated in success in the form of the Dien Bien Phu victory. Later, under the Geneva agreement of 1954, peace was restored in the North and an independent Vietnam was formally recognised by the world.

After the French forces had left the North, the country got divided into two parts. The United States rejected the Geneva agreement, replaced the French in the South, and put up the Sai Gon puppet government there under the protection of the US army. The US’s aim was to impose vivisection on the country, suppress the people in the South and carry out devastating war operations against the North. Once again, therefore, the people of Vietnam had to struggle for another 20 years to liberate the South and reunify the fatherland. According to the Paris agreement of 1973, finally, the US army was forced to withdraw from Vietnam. With the spring 1975 victory, as epitomised by the historic campaign against the South Vietnamese capital Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), the South was totally liberated and Vietnam reunified.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR

During the US war in Vietnam, the US army used bombs and lethal weapons four times more than the total that was used in the second world war. More than three million Vietnamese, mainly civilians, were killed; nearly four millions were left disabled, and over 3,00,000 are still missing.

Moreover, during the war, the US army also used over 80 million litres of chemicals, of which 45.68 million litres were Agent Orange, containing nearly 400 kilograms of dioxin. This chemical was sprayed on the forests and rural areas in South Vietnam. Millions of people were affected with the symptoms of deadly illnesses and hundreds of thousands of children were born with deformities, the most common of which was cerebral palsy. Due to its effect on hereditary genes, dioxin has affected the third generation in Vietnam, and nobody knows when this would end. Over two million hectares of forest were heavily devastated.

Remnants of bombs and landmines are still scattered on a large scale, particularly in rural areas, and continue to afflict casualties on Vietnamese farmers and children.

RENEWAL AND ACHIEVEMENTS

After the country was reunified, the people of Vietnam had to face mighty challenges because of the severe war consequences, the embargo imposed by the US, the Cold War, regional conflicts, and a war ravaged economy. It was in such a situation that, in 1986, the sixth national congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPVN) put forward a comprehensive renewal plan. The implementation of these renewal policies has helped bring about significant achievements in all aspects of Vietnam’s social and economic life.

To illustrate, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average of 4.45 per cent per annum in the period 1986-90, 8.18 per cent during 1991-95, and 6.95 per cent during 1996-2000. Since then, it has been 6.7 per cent in 2000, 6.9 per cent in 2001, 7.1 per cent in 2002, 7.23 per cent in 2003 and 7.69 per cent in 2004.

From a country that had to import about one million tonnes of food every year, Vietnam has now become one of the world’s leading rice exporters, exporting 1.4 million tonnes in 1989, 4 million tonnes in 1999, and 4.2 million tonnes in 2003. Total annual food output increased from 17.5 million tonnes in 1987 to 34.5 million tonnes in 2003 and 39.3 million tonnes in 2004. Industrial output grew by 6 per cent in the 1980s, 12-13 per cent in the 1990s and 13-15 per cent since 2000. The service sector is growing by 6-9 per cent every year. The value of exports has increased fast every year, and recorded a 28.9 per cent growth in 2004. Vietnam is now among the world’s top exporters of rice, coffee, cashew nuts, rubber, seafood products, shoes, textile and garments. The number of tourists visiting Vietnam is also increasing continuously, and stood at 20.5 per cent in 2004.

The structure of the country’s economy has also changed step by step, in the direction of industrialisation and modernisation. In the years between 1986 and 2003, the share of agriculture in GDP got reduced from 43 per cent to 21.7 per cent, while that of industry increased from 29.3 to 40.5 per cent and that of the and service sector from 27.7 to 37.8 per cent. By 2000, the share of the state sector in GDP stood at 39 per cent, of the collective sector at 8.5 per cent, of the private sector at 3.3per cent, households 32 per cent, foreign investment 13.3 per cent and the integrated sector 3.9 per cent.

The overall poverty rate (by international standards) came down from above 70 per cent in the mid-1980s to 58 per cent in 1993, 37 per cent in 1998, 28.9 per cent in 2002 and 25 per cent in 2004. On an average, more than 3,10,000 households came out of the clutches of poverty each year. According to the UNDP, Vietnam accomplished the millennium goals set forth for 2015 by the United Nations (i e to reduce the number of poor people by 50 per cent) during 1991-2000 itself.

The government spends 24-25 per cent of its annual budget on social programmes. The enrolment rate in primary school children has increased from 87 to 91 per cent among girls and 86 to 92 per cent among boys. The number of children receiving basic education nearly doubled during the 1993-98 period. Vietnam accomplished the task of universalisation of primary education by 2000. At present, 19 provinces have accomplished the universalisation of junior secondary education. The number of school children in the country increased from 1,49,30,600 in the academic year 1994-95 to 2,08,28,400 in the 2002-03, while the number of tertiary and university students increased from 2,03,300 to 10,20,100 in the same period.

Annually, on an average, 1.4 million new jobs are being created at present. Urban unemployment came down from 8-9 per cent in the 1990s to 5.78 per cent in 2003.

The SARS and other diseases have been brought under control and prevented effectively. The incidence of malnutrition among children under five has been reduced from 50 per cent to 28 per cent. Mortality rate among children under five came down from 81 per thousand in 1990 to 38 in 2003. Average life expectancy increased from 65 years in 1993 to 69 in 2004. Vietnam’s rating on the Human Development Index (HDI) went up from 0.498 in 1991 to 0.688 in 2000 and 0.691 in 2002.

The average rate of economic growth in the ethnic minority areas has been 8-10 per cent. As many as 97.42 per cent of the rural communes in the country have access to roads to the commune centres. 100per cent of towns and provincial capitals, 98 per cent of districts and 64 per cent of all communes have access to electricity.

Along with these socio-economic achievements, the administrative reform programme, especially the priority programme for the most backward regions, had increased the people’s participation and produced visible results.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Vietnam follows a transparent foreign policy of independence and self-reliance. It is at present maintaining economic, trade and diplomatic relations with over 180 nations and territories, and is an active member of ASEAN, ASEM, APEC and various other regional and international organisations. It gives importance to the role of the United Nations and actively participates in the activities of different UN agencies. Vietnam has entered trade and investment agreements with a number of countries and is now negotiating for entry into the WTO. A number of international and foreign non-governmental organisations supported the government of Vietnam in its poverty reduction programme, with thousands of projects implemented in all localities. The organisations of the Vietnamese people, professional and social organisations also developed partnership with thousands of organisations from different countries and continents.

Despite of the visible achievements in economic development and poverty reduction, Vietnam still faces a number of challenges.

First of all, Vietnam still remains a low-income developing country, with low competitive capacity in the international market. There is unequal development across regions, high malnutrition rate among children, and limited availability of healthcare and education. The horrendous US war has left a severe impact on the people and environment in some areas; there still remain a large number of poor households, and achievements in poverty reduction still leave much to be desired. These problems require continuous efforts on part of the Vietnamese people and government as well as assistance and cooperation from the international community, multilateral or bilateral organisations and also from non-governmental organisations. Such factors as natural disasters, complicated world security scenario, unfair trade and intervention of external forces aimed at destabilising Vietnam, etc, also pose serious challenges to Vietnam’s development.

With the policy of promoting internal strength, combined with the expansion of international cooperation, Vietnam has formulated a strategy of socio-economic development for the first ten years of the new century (2001-10) and a comprehensive poverty reduction and growth strategy. The aim is to bring the country out of underdevelopment, improve the people’s material, cultural and spiritual life, and develop the foundation for becoming a modern industrialised country by 2020. Vietnam’s target for 2001-10 is to maintain the rate of economic growth at 7 per cent per annum at least, double the GDP per capita by 2010, continue promoting economic potentials, improve infrastructure, enhance economic efficiency and competitiveness, speed up export capacity and restructure the economic sectors. It also aims to reduce the population growth rate to 1.23 per cent and increase mean life expectancy to 70. The country is today striving to reach the goal of poverty alleviation by 2010 and reduce the malnutrition rate to 20-25 per cent. The country is also planning to increase investments in the living standards and infrastructure improvement, foster socio-economic development for poor communes and vulnerable groups, create favourable conditions for people to become rich legitimately. It also plans to support the poor, subsidise consumption items for the people facing difficult circumstances (people without working capacity and those without alternative means of support), and carry out poverty reduction programmes nationwide.

ONWARD TO SOCIALISM

Vietnam is now on its way to reach the goal of a prosperous nation and a just and democratic society with a socialist rule of law and a state of the people, by the people and for the people. The National Assembly is the highest authority, directly elected by ballot every five years. Every citizen of 18 years and over can vote and nominate oneself to the authorities at all levels. Though Vietnam does not have a compulsory voting policy, voting figures normally reach above 90 per cent.

The Communist Party of Vietnam is a political force with the prestige and capability to lead the country, and enjoys the trust of the people. At present, there are over 300 mass and people’s organisations at the national level and tens of thousands of people’s organisations at local level. The press law ensures freedom to press. There are now more than 600 national newspapers and thousand of local newspapers. Religious activities can be undertaken freely, and the state ensures the right to religion or non-religion for all citizens. All administrative units in the country have adopted the Grassroots Democracy Decree in order to realise the policy of “people know, people discuss, people implement and people supervise.”

The role of women continues to get prominence. Among the members of the present (11th) National Assembly, women account for 31per cent, and deputies from ethnic minority groups account for more than 17 per cent. The state has an important role in economic and social management, and the state sector maintains its leading role in the national economy. The state takes responsibility and formulates policies to support the poor and the people of ethnic minority groups, promote women’s role, take care of children, and assist the people with disabilities and those living in difficult circumstances.

From their own experience, the Vietnamese people have chosen the path of national independence and socialism. Preserving peace, respecting the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of others, promoting the relations of friendship and cooperation with others in mutual interest, common, equal and sustainable development, democracy and social progress --- these are the aspirations of the Vietnamese people. It is in this spirit that Vietnam is seeking to gain a place of prestige in the international community, contributing to the cause of peace, independence and development.

(Tapas Sinha is general secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India.)