In addition to economic worries, as long as the war continues, Vietnam will sink deeper into “double standards” that Hanoi will not know how to deal with Kyiv properly.
Vietnam continues to be isolated
On the 31st anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence Day, leaders of the State, Government, National Assembly, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam sent congratulatory messages to the President, Prime Minister, President of the National Assembly, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Tuổi Trẻ/Youth newspaper reported on Aug 24. The contents of the telegrams were not disclosed, probably because the words were too bland, just formal. News of the Vietnamese leader’s “congratulations” was only announced at the end of National Day (?!) Meanwhile, international leaders warmly expressed solidarity with Ukraine and reaffirmed their support on Kyiv Independence Day.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK would stand with Ukraine for a long time, giving further assurances on the provision of all humanitarian, economic and military assistance. Boris Johnson visits President Zelensky in Kyiv on Independence Day. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe stands with Ukraine not only today but also in the long run. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said the EU will unceasingly support Ukraine’s independence and its brave fight against illegal Russian aggression. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that his country’s heart goes out to Ukraine today, as the country celebrates Independence Day in “terrible circumstances.”
Mr. Olaf Scholz together with leaders from all over Europe wishes Ukraine a happy Independence Day. They include the presidents of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova and foreign ministers from Poland and Turkey. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his support remained “firm and unwavering” as it is rooted in the belief that international law must take precedence to protect the sovereignty of all nations. The Biden administration plans to announce a $3 billion military aid package to Ukraine this week, US officials told the Associated Press on Aug 23. The amount of $10.6 billion is the amount the Biden Administration has pledged throughout the 19 military aid packages since the war began, not counting the package expected to be announced this week. Since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014, the United States has provided $12.6 billion in security assistance to the Ukrainian government.
The worry of “rice and clothes” overwhelms
Perhaps only the “Youth” newspaper has an article commemorating the country of sunflowers celebrating National Day with the question of when the war will end. The war caused great changes for Kyiv, Moscow, and Vietnam as well. But when it ends is still a difficult question to answer. Vietnam’s biggest worry is that the removal of Russia from the SWIFT system has created a nightmare for domestic businesses, and exporters of goods and products to Russia. Currently making and receiving payments from Russian entities is facing real difficulties. Before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Russia was growing steadily, despite the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam exports a wide range of products to Russia, and bilateral trade between the two countries has reached $7.2 billion in 2021. Which, Vietnam’s total export value reached $4.9 billion, up 25.9% compared to 2020. The war caused world gasoline prices to rise, causing difficulties for agricultural production and import and export of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products of Vietnam. Some Vietnamese shipping lines have refused to accept orders to transport goods from Vietnam to Russia due to fear of sanctions. In particular, businesses that depend on input materials from Russia or Ukraine face the risk of a direct supply shortage caused by the war, while the Vietnamese aviation industry may also be affected by the rising oil costs.
Vietnam’s tourism industry is also affected. Russia was the sixth-largest source of international tourists before the COVID-19 pandemic, but sanctions have left many Russians worried about not being able to access money if they travel abroad. This is what will negatively impact Vietnam’s reopening to international tourists last month. The war caused shortages and increases in prices for many commodities such as oil, gas, and grain, of which Ukraine is one of the largest exporters. Therefore, inflation will increase and Vietnamese enterprises that depend on imported raw materials but are unable to increase selling prices to offset rising raw material costs will face difficulties. Inflation risks are likely to slow down capital investment in the Vietnamese economy.
Stuck between the “double standards”
In addition to economic worries, as long as the war continues, Vietnam will sink deeper into “double standards” that Hanoi does not know how to deal with Kyiv properly. On social networks, Facebooker Le Xuan Nghia can’t understand what a large part of Vietnamese people uses to insult Ukraine, which is struggling with the national defense war. Mr. Le Xuan Nghia asked: Why is it that Vietnam, “we would rather sacrifice everything, but definitely not lose our country, definitely refuse to be slaves” but demanded that Ukraine should surrender to Russia early and should follow Russia so that “people don’t have to die“? The Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was allowed to leave the capital to go to the resistance war to preserve its forces but many Vietnamese think Ukraine does not have that right. Have not been evacuated and have been criticized as “cowardly“?
But perhaps the biggest failure is that retired Major General, former Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies from the Ministry of Public Security Le Van Cuong posted a forum on events related to the Ukraine war. The quality of his predictions is “explosive” on the web. On February 17, 2022, in an interview with Dan Viet newspaper, Major General Cuong said that he supported and believed that President Putin would not go to war with Ukraine. In fact, 7 days later, on the morning of February 24, Russia attacked Ukraine without declaring war. And yet, responding to Nghe An newspaper, Mr. Cuong also said that Russia will not invade and won’t steal Ukraine’s land, Russia will not get bogged down in the war, and Russian troops will win quickly and end the war at the end of March, in fact, Russia had to withdraw from Kyiv and the fighting is still fierce these days.
The most offensive was when General Cuong condemned Ukrainian President Zelensky for serious crimes. “If the head of the country has committed three such felonies, he cannot survive,” said General Cuong, adding that Zelensky is a “43-year-old clown“, and “how can he compete with the 70-year-old former KGB officer Putin?” (?!). Luong Pham Van immediately tweeted: I don’t think Ukrainian President Zelensky is “a clown”. He is the President of a country… I respect him for his courage, not to leave the country, to fight against the invaders!”
What morality is this? Are the generals not embarrassed? When a country where a part of the people and self-proclaimed “voices to shape public opinion” (KOL) is deceitful, deceitful, trample on truth and right, that country is difficult to find. get the respect of the world. Can anyone answer the question above? It is the result of education, propaganda one-way makes the brain numb, looking one way and then getting used to it, losing the ability to reverse the problem and look closely to properly perceive things. Self-delusional, deceived but still continue to be wrong… At first, only a few believed in propaganda, but then they were indoctrinated for a long time, lost faith, and followed the psychology of the crowd.
The situation was so bad that a few mainstream newspapers in the country were forced to correct generals such as Le Van Cuong, Le The Mau, etc. Even then, these articles were “deleted.” The “Labourer” newspaper published on February 25 had an article: “British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that Russia had not achieved any major goals in Ukraine on the first day of its military operation, but had lost 450 soldiers, counting until Feb 25.” Newspaper “Youth on March 18” headlined: “Ukraine counterattacks, Russia’s advance is blocked.” Russia’s advance is said to have stalled on all fronts, while Ukraine has begun to organize a counterattack. And yet, AFP reported that Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on March 17 accused Russia on March 16 of bombing a theater in the city of Mariupol, where more than 1,000 people, including children, were hiding.
Did the author want to find the origin of the “double standard” situation? Is it possible that, during the Cold War, Vietnam was a country of a socialist system, hiding in the shadow of the Soviet Union and China? Therefore, up to now, Vietnam’s political system also carries authoritarian “genes” like Russia and China. However, unlike in Russia and China, where power is concentrated mainly on a single individual, in Russia, it is President Putin and in China is President Xi Jinping, Vietnam does not have a strong enough figure. wielding absolute power like Putin and Xi. However, Vietnam’s political system is still one-party, absolute leadership in all aspects belongs to the Communist Party. The dictatorship with the absolute rule has revealed many serious diseases. In addition to corruption from top to bottom, the “double standard” disease also comes from there. Because of the same dictatorship, Vietnam has not yet escaped from the “gray shadows” of Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi, although economically it wants to “integrate” with the US and the West.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
