Financial Crisis in Vietnam

As the world community focuses attention on Egypt and on the political crisis in its surrounding countries, the financial crisis in Vietnam is spreading subtly and speedily. If Vietnam's financial crisis cannot be handled by its government properly, Vietnam can become a new financial disaster center in this region.

When the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advocates Asian countries to use their respective currency appreciation to resolve inflation problem; but of late, the devaluation of Vietnam's currency Dong against the US dollar has already reached as high as 9.3 percent. Such a development has caused export pressure to Vietnam's neighboring countries.
In 2003, since Vietnam implemented its Free Trade Area, the speedy economic growth of Vietnam and the economic future and prospect of Vietnam were viewed by all sectors as very good. Vietnam has even been viewed by many as "the next China."

Pursuing Rapid Economic Growth
However, to pursue rapid economic growth, Vietnam has introduced massive foreign investment to its country. Vietnam has absorbed more foreign capital than what its own economy could bear. Within a short period of less than one year, Vietnam has already faced severe inflation and its economic bubble has burst. All of a sudden, Vietnam's economy plunged into the verge of collapse. It was only through the Vietnamese Government's strong intervention that Vietnam was able to barely stabilize the spread its financial crisis.

At present, Vietnam's currency has devalued drastically and its inflation is getting out of country. At this juncture, no one dares to optimistically speculate if the financial crisis in Vietnam has indeed reached the bottom and from now onward, Vietnam's financial outlook should face a brighter future. This is because simultaneously, political and societal crisis have also emerged in Vietnam. If the Vietnamese Government cannot handle these entire crisis properly, the ruling party of Vietnam which is described as an evergreen party that can last a thousand year, may face collapse and disintegration. In short, Vietnam has suddenly turned into a modern apocalypse for other countries to observe of how a developing country can suddenly suffer such a severe setback.

To the outside world the multiple crises in Vietnam have seen to burst out too sudden and too fast. Although on the surface, whether it is in the area of politics or economy, Vietnam has given the outside world an illusion of progress and prosperity. But in actual fact, the problem relating to Vietnam's real structure crisis has long existed. But all along, Vietnam's ruling party refuses to face the fact. This has led to the present deteriorated condition in Vietnam that is difficult to clean up.

Toward Open Reform Process
In 1986, Vietnam has already begun to push forward economic reform. Vietnam has, from the past collective economy gradually transformed and transited into a free market socialist economy. In 2007, Vietnam entered the World Trade Organization as an equal status member. The fact that Vietnam can become a member of this international organization has reflected the reality that Vietnam has already gone through its past suffering and adversity, entered a better road and allowed its politics to move toward an open reform process.

The steady and rapid growth in trade and economy in Vietnam has helped to resolve its foreign debt crisis and the people in Vietnam are full of confidence and hope toward the nation's future. It is because of such development that many Asian countries have used Vietnam as a good development model and vowed to follow the economic growth path of Vietnam. Many other Asian countries hope that like Vietnam, their countries also can also go through economic and economic reform similar to that of Vietnam within short period of time. Many Asian countries also hope that they can promote the development of Free Trade Area and together with Vietnam, also enjoy a new era of political reform and economic prosperity.

Present Danger and Situation

However, at the 2006 Annual General Assembly of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the leadership transition process for both Vietnam's party leadership and its government leadership from one generation to another has set off the nightmare of Vietnam's present danger and crisis. Because of the fact that the Communist Party of Vietnam is the single domination ruling party that controls Vietnam's political, economical, societal and communication media, the Communist Party of Vietnam has become Vietnam's 'thousand-year" evergreen and an unmatched ruling party in the country.

However, when a party such as the Communist Party of Vietnam takes up a single party dominant structure that has also controlled too many vested interests, benefits and resources of the nation, it has the tendency to produce too many self-interest pipelines for their leaders and create issues relating to corruption and abuse of power.

Impact of Asian Financial Crisis
After Vietnam went through the Asian financial crisis, the Communist Party of Vietnam did carry out innovative efforts to encourage local people with good reputation as well as with good international experience to take part in politics to push forward its economic reform.

As such, under Vietnam's favorable condition of having geopolitical competitive advantage, the economy of Vietnam has also begun to rebound from the valley and appeared to attain an affluent and prosper economy on the surface. Because of the fact that the United States has the intention to pull Vietnam closer to its side in order to strengthen the US controlling power and influence in the South China Sea, the United States has given Vietnam many opportunities to participate in international organizations' programs and activities. Overnight, Vietnam has entered an international community that is fully open. However, Vietnam's political structure could not adjust to such changes. As such serious crisis occurred within the nation.

Communist Party of Vietnam's Interest
The conservative fraction of the Communist Party of Vietnam that controls major party affairs felt uneasy and shock when the reformation fraction of the party wanted to expand its full fledged influence and demanded the ruling party and government to carry out comprehensive reform. On the handling of personnel, financial affairs and vested advantage, the reformation fraction wanted these issues to be done in a transparent manner.

However, leaders from the conservative fraction were disturbed and shocked about such reformation measures. This was because all along, they were the ones who have taken up the vast and wide vested interest of the Communist Party of Vietnam. How could they withstand the impact of such party reform? As so, the conservative faction of the party began to make plot and block the reform in Vietnam. At the recent Communist Party of Vietnam reelection, this rule party has appointed Nguyen Phu Trong as its secretary general and it seems that the retaining of its Prime Minister Nyuyen Tan Dung who was earlier rumored to step down was a compromise reached between the conservative and reformation fraction of the party.

Development Trend
In recent years, the developments in many developing countries have also suffered the bottleneck phenomenon. One of the main reasons is due to the fact that the reformation pace of the ruling parties in these countries cannot catch up with the pace of advancement in economics, societal and political progress of their countries.

As of today, some of the ruling parties in the developing countries have not even gotten rid of the Lenin's political decisionmaking model. Under these governments, many decisions relating to personnel, finance, party affairs are manipulated and controlled by the different political factions within the party. Under such development trend, outstanding party talents that process good image and integrity can suffer what is termed as "count-you-out" phenomenon. Good leaders could be phased out in the process. Moreover, when it is general election time, since the talents of the ruling party are limited, the ruling party leaders must depend on money politics and money power to gain the different political camps' support to win the election battle.

However, once the ruling leaders counted on the support of the different camps within the party through money power and money politics to win the election, the ruling party has to pay a high price to reward their supporters for what they have done. Second, those politicians from the different political camps who depended on money power to retain their position and power are usually those without any lofty goals to implement good national policy for the people. These politicians only know how to please the voters blindly. As such, they tend to give out astonishing welfare checks to the people and caused massive deficits in their nation's federal treasury. To many countries, the problem in Vietnam can serve as a good warning and lesson for many countries to learn.

11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam

As if it were a rule, every time Vietnam is preparing for a big political event, here and there the same propaganda themes crop up to undermine the Party, the State, and the revolutionary cause of our people, the same old songs with different tunes sung by hostile forces. It is like that this time.

Preparation for the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam is just beginning, and once again we see items under the name of "contributing opinions to the 11thNational Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam" appearing in websites obviously designed to sabotage Vietnam, in which one article calls for the abolition of the socialist political system in Vietnam. The Party "reform" by giving up communist ideology and abolishing Article 4 of the 1992 Constitution. With obvious intent and a malevolent goal, the article calls for deposing the Communism Party of Vietnam.

Mature Political Perception
In order to conceal his intent, the author resorts to a trick, not new but malicious, that is to present his opinions as full of responsibility to the national interest, with a very constructive attitude toward the development path of the nation, and with a "barrel of enthusiasm" for the public interest, "expounding" their love for their motherland.

The evasive way of expression implies that they are living in Vietnam and are "loyal" to the country, so they are contributing sincere opinions and hope that the Party will "reform." This type of discourse easily deceives people who are gullible and incapable of mature political perception.

Malicious Political Goals
Pretending to be objective and presenting both sides, spreading doubt and soothing the ears of people who are fond of compliments, they bring up issues such as "the motherland is on the brink", "strengths" and "weaknesses" of the Communist Party of Vietnam, "questions" and "solutions" as if this were a contribution of opinion with "good will" toward the Party. In order to stimulate and build the confidence of the readers, they cite various opinions, deliberately put them in random order, and equate them with the ideology of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, and proceedings of the National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam - hostile statements from those who are disappointed, turncoats, opposed, ungrateful to the land that gave them life and nourishment, and now they come back and talk nonsense. They deliberately look for contradictions between the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, and between the current Constitution and 1946 Constitution, and while pretending to be fair, they quote Marxist philosophy out of context, and deliberately ignore historical facts to serve their malicious political goals.

The reality behind those “contributed opinions” is hostile thoughts presented in a series of points in logical order. According to them, "The Communist Party of Vietnam has made a few credible advances, but due to mistakenly chosen party lines, has pushed the Vietnamese nation into a dead end. It is high time we "reform the Party," a reform culminating in abolition of the Party. It is abolition not only by doing away with Article 4 in the 1992 Constitution, but also by cutting the roots of the Party by means of eradicating the socialist political system.

Irresponsible Political Attitude
The logical extension of these hostile theoretical points exposes the irresponsible political attitude of those who claim that they take responsibility for the nation. We need only turn the pages of Vietnamese history, from the first shot fired in the invasion of Vietnam by the French colonizers on 1 Sept 1858 to the day the Communist Party of Vietnam was born and led the Vietnamese revolution, to prove who actually was responsible for the destiny of the country. And what was the first victory of Vietnam after 80 years of rule by the French colonials? It is not hard to realize that it was the August 1945 revolution, the revolution conducted by Vietnamese people under the leadership of the Party that has raised the Vietnamese nation to the level of other pioneer nations in the world.

History is the most accurate record confirming that during the whole eight decades of French colonial rule, from the armed uprising of the feudalist patriotic movement to the non-violent bourgeois democratic movement for national independence, all ended in failure. The reason for these failures was lack of correct revolutionary guidance, and the root of the problem was lack of a genuine political force and organization with the toughness and intelligence to define and follow such a path. The appearance of the Communist Party of Vietnam on the political stage resolved that conflict. The Communist Party it, and no one else, led our people to victory in the historic confrontation between the Vietnamese nation and two big imperialists, France and the United States. The result was that both of them had to accept defeat in Vietnam, a land that is not large and does not have a large population.

There are many reasons for the great victories of the Vietnamese revolution, but the decisive one is that the Vietnamese people are led by a genuine Marxist party. But today, to reform the Party, the author suggests "dissolving the socialist political system" of which the Communist Party of Vietnam is the nucleus. The fact is they want to create another political force in addition to the Communist Party to take the leadership role in society, and scheme to establish a multi-party system following the model of capitalist countries.

Communist Ideology
More maliciously, to "kill two birds with one stone", the author cites groundless analyses in order to create a conflict between the Communist Party of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh, between interests of class and national interests, and between the goal of national independence and socialism. The ultimate goal of the author is to deny the leading role of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Some people contend that "The victory of the Vietnamese revolution before 1975 belonged to the Labor Party of Vietnam, a party that accepted the role of President Ho Chi Minh and always put the national interest as its ultimate goal, and was separate from the present Communist Party of Vietnam that worships class interests and pursues communist ideology and, therefore, has become an obstruction to the development of the nation..." But they deliberately forget that since it was founded, the Party has borne the name "Communist Party of Vietnam" and that from the "Provisional Platform," the first Platform, the Party declared it would lead the nation to communism, and Vietnamese nation had to conduct "a civil rights bourgeois revolution, and then a land redistribution revolution to build a communist society."

Achievements in the cause of reform by the Communist Party of Vietnam are acknowledged by the whole world, but they present the groundless assertion that "The achievements in reform are because the Party has gradually retreated from the principles of socialism." They tried to prove that "Due to half-way reforms, the country is now facing difficulties, and the society is not stable and does not have allies. To escape from this situation which has many symptoms, and to escape from the threat of internal and external invaders, we must "reform the Party. To reform the Party, we must give up communist ideology, and eradicate the socialist political system. The author poses the direct question "Why is the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam determined to pursue socialism patiently?"

Path to Socialism
It is obvious that they want the Vietnamese nation to give up the path to socialism, the path that Uncle Ho, the Party, and people have chosen, and give up the goal of national independence and socialism. They want to eradicate the Communist Party of Vietnam, a Party that has successfully played the leading role for almost 80 years. That is the goal of "peaceful evolution," which they assume is a strange fear. Therefore, any person can understand what is behind that contributed opinion.

Cruelty and cunning have never been civilized human values. The evil scheme behind the "contributed opinions" of those who claim to have "good will" will certainly be revealed. It is not hard for each Vietnamese person to identify the true face and malicious scheme.