Reuters broke the news that Vietnam's top brass had made it clear that they would not get too close to the United States and rejected the United States' request for "diplomatic escalation".
The White House has long regarded Vietnam as a reserve force in Southeast Asia to contain China, and has invested a lot of resources. The United States** also plans to upgrade the relationship between the two countries to a "strategic partner" within this year, and the importance it attaches to Vietnam is self-evident.
However, Vietnam's attitude this time was unexpectedly resolute, leaving the Americans in the dust. There has been speculation that the shift in Vietnam's stance may be related to the newly appointed Vu Van Thanh.
So, who is Wu Wenxian? What does it mean for China that he was elected as Vietnam***? In the face of the United States' step-by-step pressing, where will China-Vietnam relations go?
The new generation of Vietnamese politics, Vu Van Thanh, with his firm "pro-China" stance, was overwhelmingly elected as the first young politician born in 1970 This young politician is undoubtedly a bright new star in Vietnam.
Vu Van Thuong was admitted to Ho Chi Minh University with excellent results, and served as the deputy secretary of the Youth League Committee of the school and a member of the ** Committee of the Vietnam University Students Association during his university years, and joined the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1993.
After graduating, he excelled at the grassroots level and rose through the ranks to become a member of the Ho Chi Minh City Municipal Committee. In April 2006, Vo Van Thuong was transferred to Vietnam as an alternate member of the 10th ** Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
His outstanding performance and firm political stance led to his election to the National Congress of Vietnam, which resulted in him receiving 487 out of 488 votes at the National Congress of Vietnam
The election of Vo Van Thanh undoubtedly marks the rise of a new generation of Vietnamese politics and also shows that his "pro-China" stance has been widely supported by the Vietnamese people.
With his outstanding talent and the appreciation of Vietnam's most evergreen Nguyen Phu Trong, Vo Van Thanh has gradually gained a firm foothold in the Vietnamese leadership. He was promoted from the secretary of the Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee to the executive deputy secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, and then to the youngest secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, until he concurrently served as the head of the Propaganda Department, focusing on ideological propaganda work.
At the same time, he is also active in the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Therefore, when Nguyen Xuan Phuc was forced to resign in January 2023 due to his involvement in the corruption case, Vu Van Thanh gained wide recognition within the Viet Cong and successfully took over the position of ***.
Among the people, however, the controversy over Wu Wenxian has largely focused on his pro-China political stance. Over the years, he has visited China frequently to absorb the valuable experience of reform and opening up and the advanced policies to unleash the vitality of the private economy.
Like a sponge, he brought China's political wisdom back to Vietnam and vigorously promoted Vietnam's economic development.
While there has been some controversy over Vo Van Thuong's birthplace, it has also sparked discussions about the differences between the North and the South in Vietnam. The contradiction between the southern faction and the northern faction is very obvious, and the southern faction advocates comprehensive westernization, economic liberalization, and political "democracy".
They are considered to be the ** power of the United States in Vietnam, and therefore extremely ** in foreign policy. The northerners, on the other hand, paid more attention to the stability of the country and devoted themselves to industrial construction and improving the gap between the rich and the poor.
The representative of the southern faction is the former *** Nguyen Xuan Phuc who is guilty of corruption. Therefore, the Vietnamese people's attachment to their birthplace can be found in the differences between the North and the South.
First, due to geographical reasons, Vietnam's territory is long and narrow, and there is a big difference between the north and the south, which leads to different political tendencies between the north and the south. The second is economic reasons, the Mekong Delta in the south is Vietnam's economic center of gravity, attracting most of the population and GDP, while the north is the political center, controlling the army and leaders.
The third is historical factors, in the sixties of the last century, the United States provoked the Vietnam War, which led to the confrontation between South Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam, and finally the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975.
South Vietnam may have died, but its influence remains. Especially in Vietnam"Innovation and openness"Since the beginning of the policy, the remnants of South Vietnam have played an important role in economic development.
As a result, the political situation in Vietnam gradually evolved into a southern and northern faction. The northerners are the birthplace of communist ideas, while the southerners believe in capitalism. In order to resolve the contradictions between the two factions, Vietnam has developed a unique political system known as the "Troika".
In this system, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam is from the north, the prime minister of the country is from the south, and the chairman of the National Assembly is from the central region. These four positions check and balance each other and together lead the way forward for Vietnam.
Knowing this background information, we can understand why Vietnamese people are so concerned about the origin of their leaders, and Vo Van Thuong is a special example.
His birthplace of Vinh Long province is located in the south, but his parents are from Hai Duong province in the north, which has pushed him to the fore on the cusp of the north-south rivalry.
So, does Wu Wenxun belong to the southern faction or the northern faction? From his actions towards China, we can see that he is a real northerner.
In mid-March, shortly after his tenure as ***, he and the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, showed his sincerity to China. He said that Vietnam attaches great importance to its cooperative relations with China and will give priority to China in Vietnam's foreign policy.
This shows that Wu Wenxiang's friendly attitude towards China is sincere, and he also intends to further enhance the relationship between the two countries. Considering the historical ties between China and Vietnam, Vo Van Thanh's strategic vision is very valuable.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there have been four wars between China and Vietnam. The first was in 1974, when the South Vietnamese army invaded the Paracel Islands, despite our solemn warnings, triggering our counterattack operation, the Battle of the Paracels.
In the end, the PLA, with its excellent command and exquisite coordination, sank Vietnam's main ships and recovered the three islands of Xisha Island. This battle was the first complete victory in a foreign war in the history of the Chinese national navy in modern times, and after this battle, Xisha has not had a war for 40 years.
In 1979, Vietnam provoked our borders and invaded Cambodia on a large scale. ** To make a counterattack operation, in just half a month, our ** team penetrated 40 kilometers into Vietnam.
China's withdrawal of troops after the attainment of its strategic objectives is of great significance to China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity and to peace and stability in Southeast Asia. In the 80s, the Battle of Laoshan and the Battle of Chigua Reef broke out, and the People's Liberation Army annihilated nearly 2,000 enemies and recovered a large territory.
Vietnam did not dare to be presumptuous anymore, and even at the behest of the United States, the Vietnamese Navy did not dare to confront the PLA head-on. The historical entanglement between China and Vietnam has given the United States an opportunity to incite the Vietnamese people on many occasions.
Since Nguyen Phu Trong assumed the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Sino-Vietnamese relations have continued to warm up and move towards the goal of deepening cooperation. Vo Van Thanh's statement shows that Vietnam has completely moved closer to China, and its rejection of the United States' "diplomatic escalation" is the most powerful proof of this.
However, diplomacy is, after all, a game of national interests, and as the leader of Vietnam, Vo Van Thanh's frequent overtures to China may only be a balancing act. There is a view that with the rapid economic growth of Vietnam, Sino-Vietnamese relations will face new challenges.
In the three years of the pandemic, Vietnam's economy has indeed performed well. According to the data, Vietnam's GDP will exceed US$400 billion for the first time in 2022, with a growth rate of an astonishing 802%, which is the largest increase in nearly a decade.
You know, this is the answer sheet handed over in the context of the global economic downturn, and the Western countries have generally stagnated or even regressed during the same period, and it is not easy for Vietnam to achieve such high economic growth.
According to the World Bank**, Vietnam's GDP will grow by more than 6 in 20235%, Vietnam is creating an economic miracle thanks to a number of factors such as strong exports, growing domestic demand and increased foreign investment.
Global capital is favoring Vietnam, and this trend is expected to continue. However, some have raised the question of whether Vietnam can replace China's economic position in Asia, and even argued that moving production lines to Vietnam could be a blow to China.
However, this idea is naïve. First of all, there is a huge difference in size between China and Vietnam, which occupies only 1,300 of China's area and has a population of only about 100 million, which is even less than the population of some provinces in China.
Compared with Vietnam, Japan has a larger territory and a larger population, and it far surpasses South Korea in terms of industrial level and scientific and technological strength.
China surpassed Japan a few years ago, so where does Vietnam have the ambition to "surpass" China? After all, China's economic structure and development direction are in frontier fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and aerospace, while Vietnam's economy mainly relies on manpower-intensive industries.
It can be said that Vietnam's current development path is an imitation of China in this century, but the gap between the past 20 years and more cannot be bridged overnight. Therefore, it is completely unnecessary to worry that Vietnam's economy threatens China, which will lead to damage to relations between the two countries.
In fact, the test for both countries today is mainly focused on the geopolitical aspect. Away from the United States, close to ChinaAs we mentioned at the beginning, the United States** is making a big push to escalate relations with Vietnam.
After all, the Asia-Pacific strategy previously deployed by the United States has failed one after another, and its influence in the South China Sea has been overtaken by China. However, Vietnam does not seem to buy the olive branch extended by the United States.
Vietnam has chosen a different policy from China and the United States because of the different importance of China and the United States to Vietnam, as well as the divergence of foreign policy. China emphasizes win-win cooperation and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, while the United States tends to favor hegemony and overseas disturbances.
As a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam values China's respect and independence more than anything else, and has agreed with it on the South China Sea issue to jointly develop a transportation hub in the South China Sea. In addition, Vietnam is currently at a critical stage of economic development, needs a peaceful and stable environment, and does not want to get involved in the great power game.
Therefore, China's respect for Vietnam and the exemplary role of the "One Belt, One Road" policy have been supported by the northern faction represented by Vu Van Thanh.
It's not just infrastructure and jobs that have come from this cooperation, but also countries in Central Asia, Africa and China that have benefited a lot. Wu Wenxiang must also be able to feel China's growing international influence and friendly and peaceful attitude towards small countries.
Compared with the United States, which has waged a global war and dominated for decades, why not have friendly relations with China? In particular, China has become Vietnam's largest country in the world, and both countries are in the development stage, and further deepening cooperation will be mutually beneficial.
In general, the current situation is not optimistic, and Vietnam needs more opportunities for cooperation.
On the road to economic development, a country will inevitably face various challenges. A slowing economy could lead to social problems, while sustained high growth could also invite external pressures.
For small countries, it is a daunting challenge to survive in the cracks of large countries. Whether to choose to sacrifice national interests and become a vassal of a major power, or to maintain domestic stability and cooperate closely with neighboring countries has become an urgent issue to be solved.
Vu Van Thanh, who came to power and placed China at the heart of Vietnam's foreign strategy, may have been his unique perspective on the issue.