Friday, July 5, 2024

For 31 years, our Vietnam is still poor. Why? (31 Năm rồi Việt Nam vẫn nghèo hèn. Tại sao?

 

wednesday, september 27, 2006

For 31 years, our Vietnam is still poor. Why?

Long Dien 2006

As Vietnamese people who are always concerned about our Homeland, whether you are a Vietnamese living in the country or overseas, whether you are a Communist or a lover of Freedom and Democracy, sometimes we have thoughts and compare the current situation of our Country with neighboring countries in the same situation to learn in the same historical context, Asian countries ending the war, and calling on all citizens to contribute to the restoration of our country, how we have carried out and what the consequences have been after 20, 30 years of reconstruction.

The following are the similarities and differences between Japan and Vietnam after the war:

1) Summary of post-war damage:
-Japan: Considered a country that suffered heavy damage in World War II, after many intensive bombings by the Allies and ended with two atomic bombs on the two cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945 [1] . The damage can be said to be very heavy, many cities were almost destroyed by bombs, war-serving enterprises were the target of destructive bombings, in terms of human lives, there were from 2,200,000 to 3,000,000 deaths. Hundreds of thousands of wounded soldiers from all over the battlefields of Indochina, the Philippines and inland, most notably the consequences for hundreds of thousands of people affected by atomic radiation. As a defeated country, in addition to the work of rebuilding the country, it also had to pay war reparations to the Allies, the most serious was the people's sadness and humiliation, many people committed suicide because of the defeat.
Vietnam: Considered the victorious country, defeated the most powerful country in the world! But the consequences were severe after the Communist Party mobilized the entire population to wage a long-term resistance war, scorched earth resistance, burned down houses, properties, factories, etc., called the "Empty Gardens and Empty Houses" campaign. The Vietnam War lasted too long: 30 years (1945-1975). The North suffered heavy casualties in World War II in 1945, followed by the Communist Party calling for a nationwide resistance war (1945-1954) after Ho Chi Minh agreed to let France return to Vietnam without firing a shot. Next, after a few years of temporary truce, the Communists mobilized people and property to attack the South, starting in 1960 after the National Liberation Front was established in the North, starting the North-South war in which each side received gunfire support from the US and Allies, while the other side received aid. massive aid of guns, ammunition, and money from the Soviet Union and China. Recently declassified documents show the massive presence of the Chinese Red Army at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and during the 1954-1975 war. [2] .
2) Methods of implementing post-war reconstruction:

-Japan: The Emperor and all Japanese people admitted their mistakes in waging a war of aggression, and their mistakes in joining the Axis bloc against the Allies, causing loss of lives and devastating damage to Japan. The efforts and iron determination of a defeated country were arduous, but the will of all the people was very strong, united, lived frugally, and worked hard to overcome poverty caused by war. [3]
-Vietnamese: The Government and cadres were elated with victory, not worrying about restoring the country but also wanting to annex neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia. The phenomenon of meritorious people, exaggerating victory, boasting in the military and economic fields, left the group of cadres who had no professional ability to prepare economic plans, cadres from large to small. They boasted and demanded that the people pay back, openly robbed the people's property through the Party's policy: calling it fighting the Comprador Bourgeoisie but mainly just freely looting, putting it into bottomless pockets of greed. Taking revenge on the people of the South, trying to level the poverty like the North. Many convoys of vehicles, ships, trains carrying machinery, assets, materials from the South to the North, most of them were transported to the homes of high-ranking cadres, the red capitalist class with assets from hundreds of millions of USD to billions of USD. The Red Capitalist class or the Internal Colonialists formed from the period This... [4] . The call for "Unity, Great Unity" on the outside is really good, but on the inside, revenge is sent tens of thousands of officers and civil servants from the South to do forced labor under the beautiful name of "Re-education" [5] , forcing families with relatives who participated in the old government and army to go to the "New Economic Zone" in reality to seize houses, properties and take revenge on the people of the South. [6]


3) Measures to reform society after the war :
- Japan: Enterprises that were almost in ruins after the war were restored and transferred to serve the lives of the Japanese people. Strict discipline was applied, engineers and skilled workers were highly valued. In terms of industry, important fields such as: Iron and steel, automobiles, aviation were transferred from serving the military to serving the lives of the people. [7] The reconstruction work became urgent. The life of the Japanese people during this period was very miserable, but they endured without complaint. Economic policies were carefully studied, and society recovered quickly after 10 years [8] .

-Vietnamese: After the war, although the South suffered damage from the war, when President Duong Van Minh called for surrender, 90% of the factories, machinery, resources, and equipment were intact. In the early stages of taking over, the Communist government did not really want to reform and rebuild the country. The government only cared about repaying the gratitude to groups of meritorious people. The economic plan was backward, discipline was not strict, corruption was rampant, Party members were above the law, so when they broke the law, they could not be brought to trial like ordinary citizens! The embezzlement of public funds became more and more serious, the factories continuously suffered losses, but the directors became very rich! Many directors became rich after the factories went bankrupt because they bought unusable machinery and raw materials! Over 80% of state-owned enterprises declared losses for 20, 30 years but continued to do business, using the national budget to cover the losses! [9] The efforts of the people in Socialist labor are not small, but they have been exploited to bring profits to the pockets of powerful Communist cadres. It can be said that all fields in the economy, education, health, agriculture, fisheries, forestry are all decades behind other countries in the region.

4) Methods of calling for investment and borrowing foreign capital:
- Japan: In 1945, foreign investment in Japan was almost non-existent. Borrowing capital from the World Bank at its peak was not more than 5%. [10]
- Vietnam: Foreign loans of 7.8 billion USD (12% of total investment capital) and foreign direct investment of 10.8 billion USD (accounting for 17%). However, when this loan was put into infrastructure construction projects, it was not tightly controlled, leading to serious embezzlement, embezzlement of public funds, and embezzlement of projects. In 2005, out of 1,000 new projects, 2 projects were inspected and found to have embezzled 67 billion VND! On average, projects implementing the transportation system were embezzled and embezzled by 30% according to the assessment of the Vietnamese National Assembly!!!

5) Diplomatic policy:
- Japan: After losing the war in diplomacy, Japan had to be placed under the control of
the United Nations General Command and was advised to amend the Constitution.
In January 1946, Japan proposed a draft in which national sovereignty belonged to
the Emperor. But due to international pressure, Japan had to change and promulgate a
new constitution on May 13, 1947. The Emperor only held a symbolic title and Japan
followed the Congress system. On September 8, 1951, after the San Francisco Conference, Japan
completely restored its political sovereignty [11]
- Vietnam: In addition to corruption and backwardness, the Communist government also applied a one-party
, dictatorial regime, stubbornly holding on to Marxism-Leninism, going against the trend of the whole
world. In 1990, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the birthplace of International Communism, collapsed
, dragging all Eastern European countries to abolish the Communist regime. Particularly, Communism
Instead of reforming in the direction of Liberal Democracy like the countries mentioned above, Vietnam colluded
with China to continue to rule Vietnam with a harsh regime
, rampant corruption, making Vietnam one of the
poorest countries in the world 20 years after the war. After 1995, after forced reforms due to international pressure
, the GDP temporarily grew to 612 USD/year/per capita (
2006 statistics), but was still far behind developing countries in the
Southeast Asian region.

In the past decade, the World Bank has supported 40 development projects in Vietnam. Since reengaging in Vietnam in 1993, the Bank has helped the government fight poverty by providing financing for agriculture, infrastructure, health programs, schools, and other essential needs.

Many of the World Bank's grants aimed at eliminating hunger and reducing poverty have gone into the pockets of officials in power! Over the past decade, over 40 projects funded by international donors have failed to bring any results to the Vietnamese people.

Since November 1993, the Bank has committed US$ 5 billion to Vietnam to help promote equitable growth and alleviate poverty. [12]
The World Bank's debt from 1993 to present is over 5 billion USD, not including other debts. Where will the funds come from to pay off the debt?

Analysis of Vietnam's Economy: shows us the country's outlook for the next 20 years as follows.
-If according to the growth rate of 7.8 to 8% per year, in 2004 Vietnam reached GDP of 566 USD/capita, in 2005 it reached GDP of 612 USD/capita, then by 2026, that is, 20 years from now, Vietnam will reach an estimated GDP growth of 1662 USD/capita, still far behind the Philippines at that time with GDP of 2759 USD/capita! (see the document on world economic growth in 2005, 2006) [13] .
Vietnam has many opportunities, receiving much larger international aid than Japan after the war, but with 3 million party members who specialize in embezzling public funds, corruption from top to bottom, the country's economy is always a Beggar country of countries around the world!!! (see the section on International aid for Vietnam and Vietnam's foreign debt).
- So, to be equal to Thailand with a current GDP of 2,577, it seems that Vietnam will need 30 years, not to mention that during that time, the countries in the region also grew every year, they did not stand there and wait for us!

6) Conclusion : Through the analysis of each issue, the conditions related to the two countries of Japan and Vietnam after the end of the war, we can draw the following outstanding characteristics:
- Vietnam received the financial support of over 3 million Vietnamese refugees, each year over 3 billion USD, much more than Japan at that time.
- Vietnam received international assistance such as the United Nations, the World Bank, non-governmental organizations, etc., each year nearly 3 billion USD (non-refundable aid), much more than Japan at that time.
-The investment of international capitalist corporations in Vietnam is very large, but in reality, Vietnamese people and workers are exploited, so in recent strikes, tens of thousands of workers go on strike every day. [14]
-Vietnam's resources and minerals (oil) are much richer than Japan, a country poor in resources and minerals.
-Vietnam has over 3 million people overseas, with hundreds of thousands of experts and technicians graduating from universities and graduate schools from the most advanced training schools in the world, but the number of people returning to Vietnam to modernize the country can be counted on the fingers! Why?

Cause and Effect:
The reason is that although there are the same circumstances and similar conditions, the results are opposite. A country after the war has unity, cooperation, effective democracy, a clean government that knows how to care for the people, it becomes the second most powerful economic power in the world. A country ruled by a dictatorial, one-party regime, all voices of the people are stifled, corruption is rampant, ranking first or second in the world, how can the country progress? The government calls for fighting corruption, but in reality, who is implementing it? It is impossible to use corruption bosses to eradicate corruption! [15] It must be done by the whole people, choosing clean, honest people, with high knowledge, respecting democracy, knowing how to listen to the wishes and suggestions of the people, then we can hope to eradicate the national corruption disaster. As long as there is a dictatorship, there will be suffering. Only by eliminating the tyrannical regime can we hope to build a rich and powerful country, build a civilized and progressive society so that we can hold our heads high with friends around the world!


September 2006

(see attached documents and website)


[1] Reference documents on damage in World War II: http://www.vnn.vn/thechien2/2005/04/410627/ and http://vietsciences.free.fr/timhieu/khoahoc/vatly/soluocvukhihatnhan.htm
[2] Geneva Agreement http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiếu»‡p_Æ°ức»›c_Genève,_1954
China's role in the Indochina war http://groups.google.com.vn/group/soc.culture.vietnamese/browse_thread/thread/4cf8d0c2aa84e240/390cbc9258952d0b#390cbc9258952d0b and http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiº¿n_tranh_Vi»‡t_Nam
[3] Japan after World War II http://www.vysa.jp/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=jpqa&sid=915

[4] Current situation in Vietnam http://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/chuyenmuc/thutin/2006/03/02/ListernerForum_TNga/
http://www.tialia.com/showthread.php?s=9a4fa82ff5d8d648d1b5a8d94676e053&threadid=68602 Vietnam Invades Cambodia 1978

[5] Re-education concentration policy http://www.lmvntd.org/vndc0499/bai06.htm
[6]The ruling policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam after 1975, article by Lam Le Trinh
http://www.tudongonluanvn.com/portal/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3755

http://www.viettan.org/article.php3?id_article=2028 http://www.ykien.net/tm_nhandien.html 1 reactionary government.
[7] Japanese Experience and Lessons from Vietnam http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/forum/story/2005/08/050803_japanforum.shtml
[8] Japanese Economy after the War: http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/History
of Japan and the Vietnam War by Historian Tran Gia Phung.
http://xuquang.com/links/lichsu/tgp-nhatban.html
[9] Domestic press documents about the painful years after 1975
http://www.vietnamnet.vn/psks/2005/12/522781/
http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=111252&ChannelID=89
[10] Japanese economy after 1945: http://www.vysa.jp/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=jpqa&sid=915
In August 1945, Japan was defeated and surrendered unconditionally. After 1945, under the supervision of the occupying army, Japan chose the path of building a democratic nation. And finally, through countless difficulties and conflicts, with diligence and excellent technical skills acquired through their intelligence, the Japanese have turned their country into the second largest economic power in the world.

[11] http://xuquang.com/links/lichsu/tgp-nhatban.html Document by Tran Gia Phung:

After World War II, Japan was defeated. Japan was exhausted, millions of people were killed. The Japanese economy seriously declined. In 1947, the new constitution of Japan was born, the Emperor only held a symbolic title, Japan followed the parliamentary system. On September 8, 1951, Japan signed the Peace and Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States in San Francisco. Since 1952, Japan has fully restored its political sovereignty, except for the Ryukyu Islands in the south.
From the 1980s onwards, Japan became the country with the second largest economy in the world after the United States, ahead of Western European countries.

[12] http://www.un.org.vn/#top United Nations statistical documents: The Millennium Development Goals and Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development Plan 2006-2010..
http://www.worldbank.org.vn/ World Bank documents for loans to Vietnam.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=18945.0 International Monetary Fund (Annual Progress Report)

[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Vietnam shows that Vietnam owes foreign countries 14.69 billion USD and receives international funding of 2.8 billion USD each year and over 3 billion USD/year from overseas Vietnamese

[14] http://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/in_depth/2006/02/18/vnpress_review_NNguyen/
An unprecedented wave of strikes began to occur in Vietnam at the beginning of the year, with some involving nearly 50,000 workers.
In response to the widespread strike wave, according to Tuoi Tre, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs on February 14 sent a dispatch to districts, warning that the situation of work stoppages and strikes would increase this February and the following months.

[15] http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/vietnam/story/2006/04/060418_odameeting.shtml corruption in Vietnam has countries concerned about funding.

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