What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of Vietnam in Becoming a Player That Counts in Our Global World?

GEOPOLITICAL QUESTIONS

Question 1: What are the strengths and weaknesses of Vietnam in becoming a player that counts in our global world?

My opinions below will show the strengths and weaknesses of Vietnam when it has stepped onto the globalization world since 1986.

STRENGTHS

• Agriculture: Food grain production development, Vietnam is now the world's second biggest rice exporter, biggest peppercorn exporter, and the third biggest coffee and rubber exporter.
• Industry: Rapid industrialization, together with high economic growth and macroeconomic stabilization. The policy of openness and industrialization to make full use of its inherent comparative advantages, i.e. vast natural resources, abundant and inexpensive workforce.
• Foreign trade and investment: The open door policy started a new phase of relations between Vietnam and the world. Thanks to incentive policies on foreign direct investment.
• People: Vietnam has the young population which is initiative and creativity, suitable to reality and adaptable to changes.

WEAKNESSES

• Less competitiveness in international market: Structure of Vietnam’s key exports does not much differ from those coming from China and ASEAN. A rise in proportion of industrial goods and handicrafts is mainly focused on processed and assembled goods that have low added value due to lack of specialty work force and low of technology machines.
• Enterprise system: Vietnamese enterprises are at low development level in terms of technology, management capacity and labor expertise. For example, prices of agricultural products are down seasonally because they are not timely distributed.
• Physical infrastructure system: limited construction of developed infrastructure.
• Science and technology: Technological and knowledge content in Vietnamese goods is low, products are mainly based on capital and labor.
• Human resources: Vietnam has abundant human resources, however the skilled labor are very limited.
• Public institutions: the legal system is inadequate, not close to reality. Some are irrelevant with the market economy, i.e. intellectual copyright is unclear and unreality. Administration reform is not thorough. The administration apparatus is slowly innovated, ineffective and inefficient.

Question 2: Describe briefly one strategic issue that Vietnam is currently confronted with?

Conceived from 15th century by developed countries, globalization has been widespread round the world with establishment of international organizations such as: WTO, AFTA, APEC and Vietnam is not exception. Globalization does not only bring convenience and opportunities in terms of exchanging culture from the others country, but also effect on Vietnamese culture dilution and distortion. Its effect performed clearly in the most of teenagers. The fact is that there is a few of teenager Vietnamese listen to traditional music or intend to learn national instrument. Instead of, they prefer listening to Korean or UK style music. Moreover, it’s easy to find a teenager exciting on Western special holidays such as: Halloween, Valentine’s Day… Especially, they don’t need to understand the meaning or purpose of these holidays, although they look forward to them to have colorful clothes, toupee, mask... This penetration, apart from making life more various, has a side effect that it falsifies traditional cultural perspectives.