Vietnam’s Regional Tensions & Growing Pains

By: Lucas Hakes-Rodriguez

Produced and Edited By: Sam Campbell

Workers at a site in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo via World Bank/Flickr.

The relationship between China and Vietnam is decidedly difficult. That’s putting it lightly.

In 2014, tensions between the two countries over a Chinese national oil company moving a platform into the South China Sea resulted in protests, and then riots, in Vietnam. This conflict in the hotly disputed waters has been ongoing, but it’s recently grown inflamed as China flexes superiority in the South China Sea, and thereby, in many countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones.

But Vietnam is also developing because of China, as much as it would like to think it’s doing so in spite of its hefty neighbor to the North, who consistently provides official development assistance (ODAs) to Vietnam. This assistance is multifaceted, be it in the form of building factories, setting up company branches in-country, or mining its natural resources.

“I do hate what China has done to Vietnam.”

China is investing money in Vietnam so that Vietnam can help grease the big Chinese machine, which has been losing momentum as of recent. 

But the ongoing rout in disputed waters is dampening China’s scarcely-perceived good will towards the people of Vietnam. Many laypersons in Vietnam take issue with the Chinese government’s behavior. 

Phuong Do, a junior majoring in English language teaching methodology in Ho Chi Minh City, said, “One of the most strictly illegal actions that China has carried out in Vietnam may be the violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelago."

“I personally think illegal actions of China are morally unacceptable as they cause [sic] bad impact on Vietnam and China as well.”

This conflict between the two governments is unfortunate, in that the Vietnamese people typically don’t have hang-ups over the Chinese people themselves. “I do hate what China has done to Vietnam,” read a comment from Maily Dao, a software engineer from Hanoi, on the answer crowdsourcing website Quora.

“To be exact, [I hate the actions of] the Chinese government. However, as a person, I don’t hate the Chinese people, [because] most of them seem [sic] to be oblivious to what their government has done to neighboring countries.”

Indeed, China’s campaign of swallowing up nearby resources has relationship statuses set to “complicated.”

The Chinese government’s move toward corralling auxiliary income streams in international waters wouldn’t be so difficult to abhor in the minds and hearts of the Vietnamese if relations with China weren’t so beneficial to their development. 

Vietnam News reported that Chinese investment increased dramatically as of recent, from “$312 million in 2012 . . . [to] $7.9 billion in 2014.” In other words, many Vietnamese people see these money showers as Beijing trying to rub salve on the wound as it tears the skin.

The leniency of the Vietnamese government toward foreign investment in the name of rapid growth is allowing exploitative practices to slip through the cracks.

The rush to modernize Vietnam through foreign investment isn’t just a violation of sovereignty, argued Lee, a 21 year-old from Ho Chi Minh City who requested to have his surname and occupation withheld. 

The Taiwanese materials production company Formosa Plastics caused an uproar in April of 2016, when it illegally released toxic waste into the ocean in central Vietnam. “[The Formosa Company] used [the] sea for discharge.... the sea [became] very [polluted] ... [many] fish ... died … and [the] air [and] land [were polluted as well].”

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Vietnam) called Formosa’s 2016 toxic waste dump “the most serious environmental incident Vietnam has faced.” The result of the Taiwanese company’s gross negligence was widespread protest of foreign investment. 

This outrage is a sliver of an ongoing trend across the globe: nationalist sentiments causing people to recoil at the destabilizing potential of globalization. Make no mistake. The Formosa Company’s ecological disaster was not a product of China. But the leniency of the Vietnamese government toward foreign investment in the name of rapid growth is allowing exploitative practices to slip through the cracks.

The tumultuous economic environment in Vietnam is not an easily mendable situation. While it’s unique in that it’s growing and developing, in the already globalized age (and at the heart of a region hotly debated over thanks to globalization), Vietnam has its limitations. 

Oil rig in the South China Sea. Photo via Chris/Flickr.

While the Government of Vietnam has a voice over what happens on land, its presence on sea has been riddled with issues as it emerges as a semi-developed state. In 2014, from May to August, Vietnam had conflicts with the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, which built oilplatforms in Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone proper.

While China played the role of earnest adventurer in its own economic region, many countries decried its actions. Vietnamese citizens were particularly livid while the Vietnamese government sent envoys to disrupt China’s unwelcome harvest. 

As China continues to apply pressure, the Vietnamese people’s sense of entrapment will only rise.

Lee claimed the situation caused his country much “stress,” and the talks with China in the aftermath were “meaningless,” as they did not convince China to do much of anything.

Ultimately, these growing pains are a sign that when relying on a regional power for support, expecting them to stop with the coddling when it’s time to “spread one’s wings” is fanciful thinking. 

In response, Vietnam is looking across the Pacific to Washington, which has been opening up to Hanoi thanks to President Obama’s “Pivot to Asia.” The Obama Administration’s increased challenges towards Chinese claims of regional control has manifested itself across Southeast Asia, as the President just concluded a tour of countries ranging from Laos to Thailand. According to NPR reporter Michael Sullivan, he skipped the Philippines, after Filipino president, Rodrigo Duterte, called Obama a “son of a whore."

The region in the South China Sea is volatile, as a myriad of nations claim ownership over islands and waters. Vietnam, though still developing, has barriers to break if it hopes to attain economic stability, independence, and congeniality comparable to real players in the global market. 

As China continues to apply pressure, the Vietnamese people’s sense of entrapment will only rise. And as the government continues to allow Chinese money to influence its decisions, it will continue to lose its grasp on an increasingly impatient population and a worldwide economic system that’s indifferent to leaving it behind.

Two generations of Vietnamese both choose to stay in Germany

By: Chu Wu
Produced and edited by: Molly Nocheck

Among all the Asian immigrants living in Germany, Vietnamese people form the largest community.

Minority Rights Group International shows that by 2004, there were 83,526 Vietnamese, among which 17,893 were born in Germany. The number has increased in the following years, reaching 90,000 to 10,000 in 2008, according to The Voice of Vietnam.

Human rights issues and poverty in Vietnam and relatively better living condition in Germany keep these people stay in this Europe country, away from their hometown.

The first generation of Vietnamese immigrants arrived between 1970s and 1990s.

The reasons for immigration varied between West and East Germany, Melanie Moltmann explains. She is the specialist in Vietnam-Germany political and economic relations at German Federal Foreign Office.

Just as in the case of many Vietnamese immigrants in the US, many of those in West Germany were refugees from the Vietnam War. Others in East Germany were participants in the Guest Worker Plan between German Democratic Republic (GDR) and North Vietnam.

The plan was signed in 1980 to provide training to Vietnamese by East Germany to show its support for the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The population of Vietnamese in GDR surged from 2,482 in 1980 to 59,053 in 1989.

“I moved to Germany in 1996 when I was 8 to live with my father in Dresden,” said Anni Do Thi, a Vietnamese living in Germany, who is now in his 20s.

Dresden used to be a part of GDR before the reunification in 1989. Anni’s father participated in the Guest Worker Plan in 1988.

“The situation in Vietnam (1980s) was bad. If you didn’t have money for school or good connections, it was hard to find work and get money,” Anni says.

Nguyen Hue Nhat wrote in his book – The commission of crimes of the Vietnamese Communists in Germany – “the Vietnamese communist media had brainwashed the people with propaganda depicting the West as a paradise for making money”.

“Vietnamese always think that Europe and America are better places to live and earn money,” Anni explains.

Ngo Xuan Nguyen had been living a poor life in Vietnam before he joined the working plan. He seized the opportunity of working in Germany as the greatest opportunity he could ever get, his daughter Diana Ngo says.

The Ngo Family. Photo Credit: Diana Ngo. Academic Fair Use.

Mr. Ngo fixed broken items in a factory and lived with four other Vietnamese in a room of 50 square meters. Back then in the early 1990s, these foreign workers could only live in several districts appointed by the government.

He believed there was no way for him to get out of poverty if he stayed in Vietnam. Therefore, he enjoyed the life in Germany without wanting to return back to his home country.

Most Vietnamese in Germany in 1990s held the same opinion. When the Berlin Wall fell and the new government tried to send back workers back to Vietnam, they tried their best to stay.

There would be no way for them to start a good life in Vietnam with the government suppressing political dissent, lack of freedom of expression, and injustice. Everything was about money and connection.

“You can bribe people,” Andi says.

Despite the problem neo-Nazis and their anti-foreigners attitude, the first generation of Vietnamese immigrants chose to stay in a western country where they believed they lived a better life.

Many of the Vietnamese immigrants managed to stay successfully, including Anni’s father and Diana’s parents.

“It is a big community. Every Vietnamese knows about each other. We are polite and hardworking people. We have our nice lovely communities, but we are trying to integrate into Germany as well,” Anni likes Germany.

Young people like Anni were sent to Germany in a very young age for family reunion and more importantly, for a better education.

“After school I had to learn because education is the reason I came to Germany,” Anni spent his spare time studying and helping in the household, like cooking, washing dishes and clothes.

The young generation of Vietnamese immigrants in Germany is more like Germans, not Vietnamese. They were born or grew up in this European country and seldom go back to Vietnam. They like the life in Germany.

Many young Vietnamese were born and grew up here in Germany, including Anni Do Thi, Thu Ha Tran Thi and Diana Ngo, Photo Credit: Diana Ngo. Academic Fair Use

Thu Ha Tran Thi is a Vietnamese girl born in 1992 in Germany. She says her childhood was so happy with different Disney movies. She gave up her Vietnam citizenship and became a legal German citizen half a year ago.

Anni will apply for German citizenship in the near future. “I think German is much better than Vietnam. Here in Germany, if you have no job, the state will pay you. In Vietnam, you have to find work or die in poverty.”

There are over 40,000 people like Miss Thi between 1981 and 2007, giving up Vietnamese citizenship and get German nationality.

International Mass Media: July 30

By Lindsay Boyle

On Monday, July 30, the seventh International Mass Media summer course was held in Copeland Hall at the Ohio University campus. During each class, two SUSI scholars give a lecture about their own country’s media systems, journalism practices and political cultures. All of the lectures are streamed live through Ohio University distance learning and are available online to 35 students who are taking a summer class instructed by Dr. Brook Beshah.

The SUSI summer institute — in which scholars from all over the world come to the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at OU to study journalism and media — is funded by an annual renewable grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Study of the U.S. Branch in the Office of Academic Exchange Programs.

Prof. Trang Nguyen
Vietnam

At the beginning of her presentation, SUSI scholar Trang Nguyen described her academic and professional background. She then spoke about her university, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, which was established in 1956.

Afterward, Nguyen transitioned to an overview of Vietnam. The country has a population of 91 million with 64 ethnic groups and several different religions, including Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam and Cao Dai.

In Vietnam, the Communist Party of Vietnam is the sole political party, Nguyen explained. She said that the theory of the state is synonymous with that of the media, further elaborating that, since the 1980s, the press has served primarily as the voice of the government. However, media are also used as public forums for the opinions of society.

According to Nguyen, journalists’ duties are to report news about the party and the state, and to reflect on social issues. However, they are licensed by the government and enact self-censorship so they do not go against the party. Those who do go against the party can face governmental penalties. Investigative journalism is limited in Vietnam, Nguyen explained.

There are no private-owned news organizations in Vietnam — they are all registered under ownership of state-related organizations. Though media companies operate mostly by themselves, Nguyen said the news production portion is an exception because the government controls it. Despite that, she said that many people seem genuinely happy with the government, and that there are no strong oppositional movements.


SUSI scholar Dr. Huei Lan Wang asks scholar Trang Nguyen a question during her lecture that is streamed live through OU distance learning, and is available online.

In 2010, Nguyen said there were more than 700 newspapers and magazines, 76 radio and TV stations, 21 online sites, and 160 newspaper-related sites. There were about 17,000 licensed journalists in Vietnam at that time. The papers have many different targets, and the radio programs are often aired in multiple languages. Additionally, Vietnamese are able to freely watch international programming.

Vietnam has a large number of Internet users and continues to gain more, according to Nguyen. Blogs and social networks are popular among the young, as 55 percent of users 15-25 have at least one of the two. The mobile 3G network does not yet have much penetration, though — about 15 percent of the population uses it.

Nguyen explained that, in Vietnam, social media are emerging as a way to both provide new information and to spread already existing information provided by traditional media.

According to Nguyen, efforts to make new laws suggest that media reformations are developing. However, the media is still quite restricted, and she said the more pressing question is how to fit new technology and media into such a restricted system. Currently, penalties for those who publish things deemed inappropriate by the government also apply to Internet users, as the Internet is closely monitored.

Prof. Alexandre Twizeyumukiza
Rwanda

Rwandan scholar Alexandre Twizeyumukiza first described his institution, the Catholic Institute of Kabgazi, which was established in 2002 and has three main faculties.

He then described his country, Rwanda, which is located in East Africa, has a population of 11 million and has primary languages of Kinyarwanda, French and English. He gave a brief history of the country as well, which he said consists of four main periods: before colonization, 1900 to 1990, 1990 to 1994, and 1994 to the present.

The period of 1900 to 1960 was a time marked by the creation of schools, as well as the creation of newspapers that encouraged independence and battled resistance. Twizeyumukiza explained that, in 1961, Rwanda gained independence, and Gregoire Kayibanda, who had been the editor of the very first paper in Rwanda, became president.

Though it was hoped that he would promote Rwandan press because he was a former editor, that was not the case. According to Twizeyumukiza, Kayibanda believed that papers that were negative toward the government would sabotage development. Some papers were even undermined.

Then, in 1990, a rebel force called the Rwandan Patriotic Front — consisting primarily of members of the Tutsi ethnic group — invaded the government, starting a three-year-long civil war. At its end, a multiparty system was established, though Hutu Juvenal Habyarimana remained the president.

In 1994, however, Habyarimana was assassinated. That, combined with the Hutus’ use of the media as a way to portray Tutsis and moderate Hutus as enemies, fueled the genocide that occurred in 1994.

Immediately following the genocide, Twizeyumukiza said Rwandan journalism faced many difficulties. First, there was a lack of resources and materials. Additionally, he explained that many journalists lost their lives, fled, or were jailed during the course of the genocide. Further, because the press had played a large role in the genocide, there was a general distrust of the media among the population.


SUSI scholar Alexandre Twizeyumukiza presents a lecture that is streamed live through OU distance learning, and is available online.

Media today still work to specifically denounce divisionism ideologies and promote reconstruction and development in Rwanda, according to Twizeyumukiza. Currently, Rwanda has one government-owned TV station and 31 privately owned radio stations.

Twizeyumukiza said that there are several positive things about journalism in Rwanda. First, a transparent law that journalists contributed to is what governs the media. Many articles of that law emphasize human rights and media independence, according to Twizeyumukiza.

Second, he explained that several regulatory bodies ensure that journalism operates within the framework set by the law. Also, training sessions that are meant to ensure compliance occur often.

Twizeyumukiza said he finds positivity in the fact that the number of Rwandan papers is steadily increasing, and that those papers are eager to play a role in rebuilding and strengthening social ties. Online media is also increasing. Finally, he said it is encouraging that there are three different schools of journalism in Rwanda.

Regardless, Twizeyumukiza also recognized many challenges that still face Rwandan media. Journalists often receive low salaries and have little professional training, some journalists are susceptible to corruption, and there is a lack of adequate equipment, a lack of access to information, and a lack of investigative journalism. Perhaps as a result, professional journalists rarely come to Rwanda.

Additionally, Rwandan audiences tend to prefer audio and visual content over print material, so they do not often read papers. Many Rwandans do not spend much time analyzing their news, and prefer sensational news to hard news.

In conclusion, Twizeyumukiza said that, although media freedom is a long process, some efforts have definitely been made. At this point, the most important step is for journalists to unite, according to him. “Nobody will free the media apart from journalists themselves,” he said.