what is communism like in vietnam today?

Question

is the government still oppressive? how do they treat their citizens?

Answer 1

Like every other communist state. The people are starving and being deprived of basic human rights!

Douglas are you actually serious? Chinese people are not homeless? That's what you hang your hat on? My God man; they live under a dictatorship who imposes the harshest of penalties for the most minimal infractions. Bend over and kiss the ground and be thankful that we are able to debate here on this computer instead of worrying that you may get your wife pregnant and be sanctioned!

Now go to my 360 and do my survey!!

Answer 2

You know boss, it's so easy to spit out stuff like that, and it's true enough that it sounds good. But did you know that the per capita income in 'Red China' is less than $400/year, but their homeless rate is much lower than ours? That their population has been stable or declining for decades? Do you think a Democratic government could have accomplished that under those circumstances?

No, I'm NOT a Communist, I love democracy as much as anybody. But don't assume that because a country is run by a Communist regime everything is awful, any more than a Democratically-run country is automatically wonderful. Life is not black and white, it's an endless panorama of gray.

Answer 3

Like China, they will soon have the best of all worlds. They can have a free-market economy, and a cheap labor force following the still hard party-line of a socialist paradise.

Meanwhile, back here at the ranch....................

Answer 4

Communism (Prolitrarien Dictatorship) is an utopian concept.Taking it as a guidline , Vietnamis implimeting it considerig its geografical cultural economical &physical needs. .,.

Answer 5

They defy the constitution, executive orders rule the land, they have illegal wiretaps, contracts go to friends of the president and have off-main land prisons where the rule of law does not apply...
hold on.. that is not Vietnam.... it's...

Answer 6

The Vietnamese people are some of the most hard-core capitalists in the world. They aren't Commies, they are CIMOs (Commies In Name Only).

Answer 7

When i get back from that part of the world i'll drop you a line.

Answer 8

It's slowly ending,just like in China.Just waiting for the capitalist revolution to happen!!!!

Answer 9

VIETNAM CONTINUES TO COURT OVERSEAS VIETNAMESE

Celebrations of Tet, the start of the Lunar New Year and the most important national and family oriented celebration in Vietnam have just commenced. In this time of celebration, the return to Vietnam of former South Vietnam Prime Minister and later Vice President, Nguyen Cao Ky, for a short visit after nearly 30 years of exile in the U.S. made news but was little noticed by much of Vietnam’s over 80 million population. To a very large percentage of Vietnam’s relatively young population, Ky is just a historical figure with little resonance and often, for most of them, little interest in finding out more. The reality during Tet is that it is a time of families and coming together and in Vietnam today most Vietnamese are less interested in politics and more interested in economics -getting a job, getting a raise or finding a good company to work for.

Still, the Vietnamese government decision to approve a tourist visa for Mr. Ky, now 73 years old to return to Vietnam to celebrate Tet, visit old friends and family and to visit his family’s village in the North of Vietnam is a significant event. Ky was South Vietnam’s Prime Minister in 1965 following a coup and later served as Vice President to Nguyen Van Thieu who also fled Vietnam and died in exile in Boston in 2001. Ky is the last remaining major figure of the pre-1975 government in the South of Vietnam. Following his escape from the South in 1975 in the last days of the War when he flew a helicopter to a U.S. ship off the coast of Vietnam, Ky was an oftentimes vocal critic of the triumphant Vietnamese government and of Communism. I remember during the Ford Administration hearing him speak on this in Washington, DC in 1976 at a Republican sponsored event. Although Ky who now lives in Hacienda Heights, California has been less in the news in recent years, he still has a high profile in overseas Vietnamese circles in the U.S. and his return is likely to further fractionate overseas Vietnamese circles. Increasingly those who still oppose closer ties and increased cooperation are being sidelined and Mr. Ky’s visit will no doubt further isolate these groups.

From the Vietnamese government side, the decision to grant issuance of a tourist visa to Mr. Ky is a further step in the governments attempt to seek increased constructive collaboration with the overseas Vietnamese community. As early as the late 80s, the Vietnamese government was increasingly realizing that the educational, financial and experience base that many of the overseas Vietnamese represented needed to be more fully tapped. Therefore, increasingly from this period, statements and also real efforts at better reaching this resource were made. Despite these central government efforts, however, even in the years following the lifting of the Embargo by the U.S. and into the late 1990s, returning overseas Vietnamese (so-called Viet Kieu) were often the subject of harassment by the police, immigration and customs officials and minor corruption (requests for “processing fees” for customs clearance, in-country visa extensions, etc.) by some local government officials who viewed the returnees as rich and as easy pickings.

This is largely changing, however, as the government further notes that remittances from overseas Vietnamese now amount to over $2 Billion a year and are nearly on par with foreign development aid and a strong support to many cities and families. Further with nearly, 200,000 Vietnamese returning home annually for Tet Celebrations, overseas Vietnamese are a prime source of tourism dollars and GDP growth. On January 15, 2004 in recognition of these important statistics the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee instructed local police to make it easier for foreign nationals of Vietnamese origin to receive temporary or permanent residence cards when they visit their families, return for work or make an investment in the city. Additionally, they instructed local tourism, schools and other offices to better service returning Vietnamese in most areas of contact with City offices. This attention is having an effect and although the amount of dollars invested is not currently large, many overseas Vietnamese are returning to Vietnam to look at possibly starting businesses or in financing relatives to start commercial ventures. Others are looking at importing Vietnamese items for sale and/or in linking Vietnamese companies as agents with U.S. and European firms. The total capital invested on a project by project basis in these ventures is often small and often goes undocumented by government financial flow statistics but the real investment has led to the start of numerous small businesses and to job creation in many areas.

In this vein, the decision to grant a tourist visa to Mr. Ky only makes good economic sense as Mr. Ky’s return will lead to further discussion in the overseas community of returning for a visit and possibly looking at wider opportunities. Whatever the economic reasons, however, it is also a positive sign that many in the Vietnamese government are interested in the same things the people want - economic development, more jobs, higher wages and that the government is willing to reach out to the Overseas Vietnamese community even if minor local problems with corruption may on occasion run counter to expressed government policy.