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A few decades ago, Vietnam and the United States were basically bitter rivals. During the Civil War in Vietnam, the Americans brutally intervened in the war.
During the decade-long Vietnam War, the Americans attacked the Vietnamese military and civilians almost indiscriminately, causing more than 6 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians to be injured. In addition, the U.S. military also used Agent Orange and other ** in Vietnam, causing serious environmental pollution in Vietnam.
Vietnam can basically be said to have a deep hatred for the United States. However, since the 90s, the Vietnamese have taken the initiative to get closer to the Americans, and even the new generation of Vietnamese people are still yearning for the United States. What is it that makes the Vietnamese actually let go of their deep hatred for the United States?
For some time after the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnam and the United States were basically at the tip of the needle. In the seventies, Vietnam firmly chose to follow the Soviet Union. At that time, although relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were relatively relaxed, the United States and Vietnam were still very hostile.
On the U.S. side, the U.S. not only imposed an embargo on Vietnam, but also imposed various economic sanctions, making Vietnam's economy, which was already not very good, even worse.
Moreover, the Americans are not able to impose sanctions on one country, and they rely on their international influence to ask the World Bank and the International Monetary Organization not to lend money to Vietnam.
In addition to economic stumbling blocks, the United States has repeatedly and unilaterally vetoed Vietnam's application for membership in the United Nations in order to isolate Vietnam politically.
In the face of various obstacles from the United States, Vietnam has strengthened its anti-American propaganda at home, and on the other hand, it has tightened its grip on the thigh of the Soviet Union.
In the late 70s, with the normalization of relations between China and the United States, Vietnam even regarded this normal diplomatic exchange as a betrayal of itself, so when some contradictions arose between China and the Soviet Union, the Vietnamese directly backstabbed China that had given it a lot of selfless assistance back then.
So much so that in 1979, China had no choice but to launch a self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, teaching this troublesome neighbor a lesson.
In fact, Vietnam is so hostile to the United States in terms of diplomatic propaganda, but in fact they have long been preparing to repair relations with the United States. The number one reason is money.
Although the Soviets were generous and constantly gave aid to Vietnam, for Vietnam it was not enough to improve the country's economy.
And if we can repair relations with the United States and let the United States abandon its sanctions and blockade against itself, then its economic development will inevitably be much faster.
Therefore, at the Fourth Party Congress of Vietnam, the Vietnamese proposed to make full use of favorable international conditions to erase the wounds of the war.
In 1977, the American ** Carter came to power. This ** came up and urgently needed to improve the international image of the United States, so he thought of improving relations with Vietnam.
In restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam, the United States wants to restore its battered international image. There is also a small purpose, because the United States can see that Vietnam is a bit of a backbone.
Once the United States comes into contact with Vietnam, it is likely that another Yugoslavia will be cultivated in Southeast Asia. In this way, Vietnam could become the third important socialist force in addition to China and the Soviet Union, and further divide the socialist camp.
Although the Americans had this idea at the time, there was no domestic push for it.
On the contrary, the Americans believed that the most important thing to do well at that time was relations with China. And there are still some contradictions between China and Vietnam, and it seems that there may be a war.
If the choice to restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam is chosen at this juncture, the normalization of relations between China and the United States could face a major setback.
At that time, the American people felt that the country was a little weak, and although everyone was very tired of the Vietnam War and clamored for an armistice, they were very opposed to providing Vietnam with compensation and post-disaster reconstruction, thinking that this was a bit of a decline.
Moreover, the families of the missing US soldiers, as well as those former prisoners of war, felt that the United States had not yet resolved the matter of the missing US soldiers, so they were eager to admit that Vietnam's actions were undesirable.
In addition, the "Soviet-Vietnamese Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation" between Vietnam and the Soviet Union, the two were basically allied, and Vietnam subsequently sent troops to Cambodia, which made the United States have to worry about Vietnam's damage to its own interests in Southeast Asia.
So the United States decided to give Vietnam a little color, and in order to protect its allies in Southeast Asia, the United States took an extremely tough attitude towards Vietnam.
In particular, before the outbreak of the self-defense and counterattack war against Vietnam, Deng Gong made a special visit to the United States and informed the United States of this decision in advance. After the outbreak of war, Vietnam's hostility towards the United States was once again aroused.
In order to be able to take advantage of the war with our country, the Vietnamese can be said to have used all their strength. This has led to a worse domestic economy. Moreover, at that time, Eastern Europe was undergoing drastic changes, the Soviet Union was also showing signs of decline, and the Vietnamese began to engage in economic reforms.
Although Vietnam and China have a hostile relationship, Vietnam has also seen that China's business has been doing well after reform and opening up, so it has started to do the same. At that time, due to the blockade of Western countries led by the United States, most of the Vietnamese people's desire to open up this road was actually blocked.
So in 1984, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam declared that the global market between the two camps of capitalism and socialism was common.
Two years later, the Vietnamese governor proposed that the economy should be changed to cater to the global bad, change Vietnam's economic structure, and find a place for Vietnam in the international division of labor.
In 1986, the Vietnamese followed China's reform and opening up.
In the late eighties, the upheavals in Eastern Europe and the turmoil in the Soviet Union had a severe impact on Vietnam, and although there were people who wanted to stop the reforms, the voices were quickly drowned out.
At the same time, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union became increasingly cold to Vietnam as they became too busy to take care of themselves. At the 1989 Economic Interaction Conference, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe directly rejected Vietnam's request. A year later, the Soviet Union also cut off military aid to Vietnam.
In desperation, Vietnam began to cooperate with neighboring countries and developed Asian countries such as Japan. When perceptions change, so do actions.
Vietnam not only withdrew its troops from Cambodia, but also actively applied for ASEAN, ended the war with China and restored diplomatic relations. All these measures are a great effort by the Vietnamese people to develop themselves.
In addition to these efforts, the Vietnamese are also looking for opportunities to normalize relations with the United States, because it opens the door to cooperation with the Western world in order to integrate into the system of economic globalization. And the key to opening the door to the Western world is the United States.
One might ask that during the Vietnam War, the United States carried out indiscriminate attacks on Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, resulting in the deaths of more than six million Vietnamese.
Vietnam's poverty is also largely due to the Americans, and if they want to restore relations with the United States, can the Vietnamese agree? At first, the Americans were a little worried about this, but it turned out to be a kind of overwhelming.
In Vietnam's traditional culture, Confucianism and Buddhism are very influential. Under the influence of this ideology and culture, Vietnam has its own unique view of the guilty, that is, the prodigal son does not change his money.
Therefore, countries like Japan and France, which have also brought heavy disasters to Vietnam, can let go of hatred.
There are even the mothers of Vietnamese martyrs in the war, who said in an interview that they hate the American soldiers who invaded Vietnam and pointed guns at the Vietnamese, not the United States after the war.
The statement of the martyr's mother actually represents the view of the majority of Vietnamese, so in their view, as long as the war is over and the United States no longer invades itself, then the United States can come to Vietnam as a friend.
Under the influence of this ideology, more and more U.S. soldiers and their families came to Vietnam to search for the remains and missing soldiers of the U.S. military. With the gradual liberalization of people-to-people exchanges, the West has also continued to enter Vietnam.
Although these American soldiers and ** brought heavy disasters to Vietnam in the past, they were received by the Vietnamese with great courtesy.
As people-to-people exchanges intensified, the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam continued to advance, and the two countries formally established diplomatic relations in 1995.
A nation that embraces the United States is a cultural factor. So why do the Vietnamese authorities also continue to strengthen domestic education, in today's rising nationalism, Vietnam's proximity to the United States, can it really be explained with only one traditional cultural influence?
In the exchanges between the United States and Vietnam, there is one country that they cannot escape from each other, and that is China.
For the United States, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, although Russia inherited most of the Soviet legacy, its competitiveness has greatly declined, especially the economy. And China's continuous development has forced the United States to pay attention to this country that has been neglected for a long time.
Especially in recent years, the United States has basically done everything except to start a war in its suppression of China.
And for Vietnam, China is also not easy to mess with.
Historically, Vietnam was part of China from the Qin Dynasty until 968 AD, when it got rid of the Central Plains Dynasty.
Then they were conquered by the Central Plains Dynasty several times, although they were cut off from the control of the Central Plains Dynasty many times, but the long-term history of conquest left a shadow on them.
They even refused to admit that they were part of the Chinese cultural sphere, refused to admit that Vietnam was part of China before 986 AD, and said that China had invaded Vietnam for more than 2,000 years.
Moreover, the war between China and Vietnam in 1979 also made Vietnam see the strength of China. At this time, Vietnam can actually follow China's development, after all, the socialist New China will no longer engage in the expansion path of the feudal dynasty of the past.
But the Vietnamese are always worried about the sky, feeling that a powerful China is too dangerous around them, so they always want to get rid of China's influence.
This is not only reflected in the fact that Vietnam is now clinging to the thigh of the United States, but also in the choice of closely following the Soviet Union, and the choice of the Vietnamese can be almost understood.
In 2014, a maritime standoff broke out between China and Vietnam over the South China Sea issue. This is actually the erosion of China's territorial waters by the Vietnamese side, but the Vietnamese have made a big fuss about this matter and hyped it up in Vietnam.
So much so that two serious anti-Chinese campaigns broke out. But the Vietnamese did not dare to really let the relationship between China and Vietnam get rid of it, after all, Vietnam and the Chinese economy are deeply bound.
China is Vietnam's largest partner, and in 2016 alone, China accounted for 20% of Vietnam's total5%。
So the Vietnamese are very entangled, on the one hand, they covet so many islands in the South China Sea, and on the other hand, they don't want to have a stalemate with China. So he began to actively start with countries such as the United States, hoping that the United States could help him achieve de-Chinaization.
These countries led by the United States are naturally very happy to see that Vietnam has such a demand.
Because with the rise of China, the United States, Japan, and India all want to strengthen their competitiveness against China because of their own interests.
And Vietnam, because of its unique geographical location, culture and social system, is the object of their co-optation. The Americans dreamed of drawing Vietnam into the anti-Chinese coalition.
Since Vietnam's reform and opening up, the north has developed rapidly due to hostility and even conflict with China.
After the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam, South Vietnam, which had better infrastructure, a strong industrial base, and was relatively far from the disputed areas, received a large amount of American investment.
Moreover, South Vietnam was still under the help of the United States during the civil war. Therefore, after receiving the investment from the United States, Vietnam, especially the southern part of Vietnam, is even more **.
Compared with the history of aggression of Western countries for more than 200 years, in their opinion, China's oppression for more than 2,000 years is the most worthy of their worries.
After 2016, Obama also lifted the ban on Vietnam.
The entry of the United States ** made the Vietnamese ecstatic. Because after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the gap between Vietnam and China is getting bigger and bigger, and the entry of American-style equipment has given Vietnam, which is always guarding against China, a new reassurance.
After 1979, the Vietnamese knew they could not dominate Asia, so they wanted to become a hegemon in Southeast Asia.
However, as China became stronger, and the whole of Southeast Asia was under Chinese influence, Vietnam's idea continued to fail.
And this desire to dominate Southeast Asia forced them to walk with the Americans who had a deep hatred back then.
Under the continuous education of the Vietnamese authorities, the new generation of Vietnamese people has gradually forgotten the sins of the United States in those years, and instead shaped generations of young people who yearn for the United States.
Although such education will be of great help in strengthening relations with the United States, is it really the right choice to forget the pain of the nation in this way? Today, the United States can get closer and closer to Vietnam for the sake of interests, but what about in the future?
We advocate peace and we call for cooperation, but such peace and cooperation should not be a cover for certain countries to seek hegemony.
After all, there are never eternal friends, only eternal interests. If Vietnam goes further and further on the road of **, when this group of ** young people grows up, will Vietnam be affected by the color revolution under their influence, and will it become a pawn of the United States against China? We don't know any of this.
All we know is that if that day comes, it will be another disaster for Vietnam.
We hope that Vietnam will put aside its prejudices and sincerely establish good relations with China. Today's China is no longer the old China of the feudal dynasty, and we respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country.
As neighbors for thousands of years, shouldn't we go hand in hand? What do you think about this? Feel free to leave a message in the comment area.