On the morning of November 27, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the Vietnam-US Business Summit, with the theme “Policies and approaches to ensure mutually beneficial trade relations.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated online. He emphasized the opportunity to expand bilateral trade relations, and said that in his three visits to Vietnam, as foreign minister, he witnessed the vibrant and strong cooperation between the two countries and businesses on both sides.
On this occasion, PM Chinh proposed that the US soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy.
Global trade is a place where common rules are respected, of course, the US always complies. Even though it is the world’s number 1 power, the US cannot act against the “spirit of the rule of law.” To be recognized by the US, Vietnam must meet the standards of a free market economy. If the US makes an exception for Vietnam, will the US still be able to maintain its prestige?
Thus, the issue of whether the US recognizes Vietnam as having a market economy or not depends on the Vietnamese communist government. They must take reform steps to meet the US’s requirements. It is impossible that the Communist Party of Vietnam does not respect the common rules of the game but wants the US to give them priority. If so, the global playing field will become chaotic, with the strong having the right to break the rules, as the Communist Party of Vietnam is doing domestically?
In fact, the Party has not given up its ruling on the Vietnamese economy. Domestically, they still promote a type of monstrous economy, calling themselves a “Socialist-oriented market economy.” This is a hybrid, half-baked economy. The government still intervenes brutally in the economy. The state uses its power to claim the best part of the economic pie. If it were a true market economy, there would be no monopoly enterprises like Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).
State-owned enterprises take the best part, then it is the turn of the backyard enterprises. For example, Phuc Son Group is the backyard of former State President Vo Van Thuong, Thuan An Group is the backyard of former National Assembly’s Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, and Xuan Cau Group is the backyard of incumbent General Secretary To Lam, etc. There are many, many backyards like that, under the guise of private enterprises.
In general, the Vietnamese economy is an unfair playing field, in which state-owned enterprises and backyard enterprises take up most of the pie. Private enterprises are weak, having to fight injustice to survive. Even the Vietnamese people recognize the problems in the Vietnamese economy, so how can the US not recognize them?
The Communist Party of Vietnam can be likened to a “lazy” person. They eat anything very lavishly, from the sweat and tears of the people, but on the contrary, they create an unbalanced mechanism to feed state-owned enterprises and their backyards. The common people have to struggle, endure the exploitation of many levels by the corrupt government.
Although it has gone through many generations of communist leaders, the Communist government has never re-evaluated itself, but only knows how to beg for recognition from the US. The Party has no good will in joining the global common playground.
Because of the habit of lawlessness, when they want to, they give themselves priority, they refuse to change to join the common game, so they can only beg for recognition from the US and the West.
A Communist Party that always beats its chest saying “it is civilized, wise, talented” but does not know how to correct itself to join the international playground. That is the nature of Communism, it cannot be corrected, it is like a DNA of this regime.
Hoang Phuc – Thoibao.de
