In 2015, Vietnam had a population of approximately 93 million, with a population density of around 288 people per square kilometer. The economy was heavily reliant on exports and imports from other countries. The main exports included rice, coffee, rubber, tea, and seafood. In recent years, Vietnam has also been developing its tourism industry to attract visitors from all over the world to its stunning landscapes and vibrant culture. See ehealthfacts for Vietnam in the year of 2005.
Vietnam has close ties with many countries in Asia as well as the United States. It is part of regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In addition to this, it has signed numerous bilateral agreements with other countries such as China for trade and economic cooperation. Its political system is based on a single party socialist republic where the General Secretary serves as both head of state and head of government. The General Secretary is elected by the National Assembly for a five year term. The Vietnamese Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, press, assembly and religion amongst other rights for all citizens.
Yearbook 2015
Vietnam. On April 30, it was 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War. In Hô Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, the day was celebrated with a long procession of military and carnival-clad parades past the Independence Palace. It was April 30, 1975, that North Vietnamese troops, together with the Communist guerrilla FNL, entered the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam, which in 1976 was renamed Hô Chi Minh City after the president and revolutionary Hô Chi Minh.
In July, for the first time, a Vietnamese Communist leader, Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, visited the White House in the United States. The meeting was described as historic. According to COUNTRYAAH, Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam which is located in Southeastern Asia. The US is now one of the largest investors in Vietnam, whose exports to the US have also increased significantly.
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Vietnam country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
In August, the Vietnamese central bank devalued its currency for the third time during the year. The Vietnamese central bank said it was worried that China’s devaluations would have a negative impact on the Vietnamese economy. Several countries in Asia were expected to lower their currencies and international analysts warned of an Asian currency war.
In September, Nguyen Phu Trong visited Japan. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised to donate vessels to Vietnam to strengthen the country’s coastguard. Both countries have a conflict with China over where the territorial waters border should go and regard the construction of Chinese outposts in the South China Sea as a “threat to peace and stability in the region and the world”. The focus is on the two island groups Spratly and Paracel, which cover most of the 200 small islands of the South China Sea. Various estimates have suggested that there may be large resources of oil and gas.
The same month, blogger and former police officer Ta Phong Tan was released from jail. After her release, she traveled to the United States. Ta Phong Tan was arrested in 2011 for blogging about human rights and corruption in Vietnam. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote in a press release that it was good news but that “Vietnam still keeps more than a dozen journalists behind bars because of their work”.
In October, Vietnam signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement. The agreement was signed between twelve countries, including the United States, Canada and Japan. Vietnam promised that it would be allowed to form trade unions in the country, one of the conditions for Vietnam to be included in the TPP. The agreement is said to comprise 40% of the world economy and will, among other things, contribute to lower tariffs on trade. According to US analysts, the trade agreement was not only financially but also strategically important for both Vietnam and the US in relation to China, which was not included in the TPP negotiations.
In December, Vietnam and the EU signed a free trade agreement, which means that 99% of all customs duties on goods traded between countries will be removed.
Dien Bien Phusta My Laihin – when the world lived in Vietnam time
When Japan was overthrown in 1945, Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the resistance movement in the north, declared Vietnam independent. The form of government became the Communist People’s Republic. France did not recognize the nascent state, but took over the southern parts of the country in an attempt to return the whole of Vietnam back to its colonial rule. The Indochina War broke out between the parties for eight years. During that time, the French established a pro-Western Republic of Vietnam in South Vietnam. The heavy war ended with the defeat of France in Dien Bien Phun mot in 1954. In the peace talks, Vietnam was divided in two. Author Graham Greene’s novel The Silent American nicely depicts wartime Saigon.
The United States began supporting the South Vietnamese government in the early 1960s with the goal of halting the spread of the communist social system in Southeast Asia. The Communist North received support from both China and the Soviet Union. A full-scale war broke out between the parties in 1964 when U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to expand aid by increasing American forces and bombing North Vietnam. In connection with the bombing, toxins were spread that destroyed vegetation and were also harmful to humans. A total of 14 million tons of various explosives and toxins were dropped on the ground. The war also spread to neighboring Laos and Cambodia as the United States tried to destroy the service roads used by South Vietnamese guerrillas on their territory. North Vietnamese soldiers and southern resistance forces hid in underground networks and, as guerrilla forces, carried out attacks against American forces, taking advantage of knowledge of the environment and local nature. Despite enormous military force – the United States sent a total of half a million men into the war – the Americans failed to win. Excesses and attacks on civilians raised world public opinion, but also the United States ’own home front, against the leadership of the war. Pictures of the monks who committed the arson and the infantry burned by the napalm of the village of My Law shocked the world. The United States withdrew from the war in 1973 (Paris Peace Agreement), but the Vietnamese parties continued until 1975. In all, four million people are estimated to have died in the Vietnam War, and even today one million Vietnamese suffer from symptoms caused by vesic toxins (Agent Orange, for example). The film industry found an interesting topic in the Vietnam War. It was captured by directors Francis Ford Coppola (Book of Revelation. Now.), Michael Cimino (Capricorn Hunter), and Oliver Stone (Platoon), among others.