Vietnam’s power shift  
     

Vietnam’s rapid industrialization will necessitate a shift in the way the country generates power, while balancing economic and environmental needs. (Industrial Fuels and Power)

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Vietnam and the Philippines: Assertiveness in the South China Sea      

At a time when Chinese power is inchoate, Vietnam and the Philippines are becoming increasingly assertive in the South China Sea. China has tried both the ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ approach, and neither has been successful. (East Asia Forum)

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Vietnam’s Cabinet: Three Key Ministers Reveal Policy Directions      

A look at three key ministers elected by the Vietnamese National Assembly last week – Phung Quang Thanh at Defense, Vuong Dinh Hue at Finance, and Pham Binh Minh at Foreign Affairs-reveal the pillars of Vietnam’s core policies going forward. (CogitAsia)

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Vietnam’s New Leadership and their immediate Inflation Challenge      

Vietnam’s 500-member National Assembly convened on July 21 to formally select the country’s new leadership team for the next five years. The National Assembly’s role has largely been ceremonial because the country’s leadership was already determined behind closed doors at the Communist Party Congress in January. However, political reforms have empowered the legislative branch of the government, and rumors swirled ahead of their voting that there could be some surprises. In the event, there were no such surprises. (CogitAsia)

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Vietnam’s tyranny of geography  

Some researchers liken China to a rooster, with Korea as its beak and Vietnam its leg. The analogy, while highlighting the strategic importance of Vietnam toward China’s well-being, especially in terms of security, also implies that Vietnam has long been living with the weight of China on its shoulder. The problem is that Vietnam can’t do much about it, even if it wants to. (The Diplomat)

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Vietnam’s carefully managed anger  

    

For five consecutive Sundays this past month, protesters in Hanoi have gathered close to the Chinese embassy to protest China’s recent actions in the South China Sea (known as the East Sea in Vietnam). (The Diplomat)

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Vietnam weighs patriotism against diplomacy in China spat   
  
As anti-China protests in Vietnam enter their fourth week, Hanoi's recent rapprochement with China has raised the question of how well the government can balance diplomatic requirements with the public's patriotic demands. (M&C)

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Danger at sea  
  
China’s surprisingly aggressive assertion of “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea has startled governments around the region, and puts the emerging superpower on a collision course with its partners in the region as well as the interests of the other, long-established superpower, the United States.                (The Inquirer)

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Vietnam should wake up to a Danger!  

Starting June 13, Vietnam first staged live-fire drills in the South China Sea amid rising tensions with China, then issued a decree specifying who would be exempt from military call-up in a time of war. In response, China said it will not resort to the use of force to resolve maritime border disputes in the South China Sea. Perhaps, it is due to the consciousness of the fact that as a "military underdog", Vietnam might well rally international support and garner others' sympathy that China has to be treading a little more carefully. (People’s Daily)

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Why not to sweat about China  

Its current row with Vietnam in the South China Sea has alarmed many observers. But a similar spat with Japan shows that conflict isn’t inevitable. (The Diplomat)

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China’s U-Shaped Claims   
  
Late last month, tension in the South China Sea was ratcheted up a further when three Chinese marine surveillance ships threatened the Vietnamese seismic survey ship Binh Minh 02 and sabotaged its seismic equipment. The incident took place 120 nautical miles from Vietnam’s mainland coast and 340 nautical miles from China’s Hainan Island, well inside Vietnam’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).               (The Diplomat)

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Russian naval visit a message for Beijing    
  

Just as the Chinese navy uses warships returning from anti-piracy patrols in the Indian Ocean to fly the flag in Southeast Asian ports, the Russian Pacific Fleet returns to Vietnam early next month to highlight one of the region's most intriguing - and enduring - strategic relationships. (The South China Morning Post)

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Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay: Geopolitical power in play  

The large Vietnamese naval base at Cam Ranh Bay, once a symbol of Cold War rivalry in South-east Asia, is set to assume an important role in the unfolding geopolitical competition between China and the United States in the Asia-Pacific region. (The Straits Times)

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Is it Time for a Ministry of Energy in Vietnam?   
  

Vietnam is Southeast Asia’s third largest country and fastest growing. It does not have a Ministry of Energy. Should it? A coherent and integrated energy policy is vital to Vietnam’s economic future and features prominently in its national security considerations, particularly those related to development of offshore oil and gas resources and conflicting claims with China in the South China Sea. (Cogitasia)

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Vietnam’s Murky Media Picture   
   

A new media law has been widely criticized as further curtailing press freedom in Vietnam. But the situation is more complex than many think. (The Diplomat)

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Why the Next Asian Tiger Remains a Cub   

For nearly two decades, Vietnam has been seen as a likely successor to the “Asian tigers,” a handful of countries including South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore that successfully and spectacularly industrialized during the late twentieth century. In the 1990s, it was widely thought that the Asian tigers’ success was due to their Confucianism—and since Vietnam was as Confucian as the four Asian tigers, the country was fully prepared for an economic take-off. Although today belief in the Confucianism thesis has faded and Vietnam has yet to tell a success story, the country stays high on the radar screen of international investors. (Asia Policy)

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Subtle shifts in party politics   

The 11^th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam was held from 12-19 January 2011. In a political system where radical changes in politics within a short time are usually not expected, attention should be paid to the drifting sands of the river, which might eventually led to long term changes in the political landscape. In this regard, a few developments at the Congress are worthy of note. (The Institute of Southeast Asia Studies)

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Balancing China through Vietnam   

The public display of China’s new J-20 stealth fighter, the expected appearance soon of China’s first aircraft carrier, and Secretary Gates’ troubled visit to the PRC reaffirm the importance for the United States of having good security relations with China’s neighbors. Defense ties with the Republic of Korea remain strong, while those with Japan have recovered from last year’s downturn, thanks partly to China’s confrontational policies regarding the territories in dispute between Beijing and Tokyo. But U.S.-Vietnamese security ties lag somewhat due to the legacy of confrontation and other factors. (Second Line of Defense)

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Lines of division in Vietnam   

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has chosen to stay the course by selecting a Marxist ideologue as its new general secretary. Nguyen Phu Trong, a 67-year old former editor-in-chief of the Communist Review and current chairman of the communist-controlled National Assembly, was a compromise choice of the just-concluded 11th National Congress. (Asia Times)

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Vietnam Presses the Flesh in Asia   

But are its efforts to bolster ties with the US and Asian nations only about containing China—and protecting its territorial interests? (The Diplomat)

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