China is a large economy, but Chinese goods are available with different quality. Chinese can make goods cheaper than Vietnamese ones, and also high-quality goods with higher quality than Vietnamese ones. The US, Japan and the EU and major economies often make quality products, China makes too many products to compete with Vietnam. As a result, the Vietnamese economy lost its autonomy.
In 2022, Vietnam’s imports from China were $117.87 billion, and exports to China were very modest, only $57.7 billion. So, Vietnam’s trade deficit with China was $60.17 billion last year. Vietnam’s trade deficits with China is increasing every year. Meanwhile, in the same year, Vietnam had a trade surplus with the of $94.92 billion (exported to the US was $109.39 billion and imported goods from the US was only $14.47 billion). In general, the Vietnamese economy is making money from the US market to enrich the Chinese market.
The Communist Party of Vietnam always likes good statistics, they don’t care how much Vietnamese people benefit from those numbers. In fact, Vietnam’s exports to countries around the world, out of 72% are from FDI enterprises, the rest are from Vietnamese enterprises. Vietnamese enterprises mainly process and manufacture raw products with low processing. In general, Vietnam’s economy shows only good numbers, but it is very weak in nature.
In the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and China, China is more beneficial than Vietnam. The first is cheap Chinese goods flooding into Vietnam to dominate the market and push Vietnamese producers to find difficulties for surviving. For many years, Chinese agricultural products have replaced Vietnamese agricultural products, causing Vietnamese farmers to struggle to call on society to rescue them because they cannot sell them. The second is that Chinese producers want to use Vietnamese firms to export to the US and EU markets, to avoid the US sanctions on China.
An economic expert told us that the problem of Vietnam today is in the internal strength of its economy. How to still do business with China, but not let China kill Vietnamese agricultural products, and not let China use the country to export its goods to the third parties. Shaking hands with China is necessary to have agreements that bring fairness to the two sides, not Vietnam making concessions, so that China can do whatever it wants with the Vietnamese economy.
In the business relationship with China, it is not difficult to recognize the noose that China has put on Vietnam’s neck. Through many years of doing business, Vietnam is too dependent on China for both imports and exports. As long as China closes the trade border gate, Vietnam will collapse on the spot. As long as China does not export goods to Vietnam, the Vietnamese outsourcing economy will starve for raw materials.
In addition to the economic noose, China also puts a political noose around the neck of the Communist Party. From the Chengdu Conference until now, Hanoi has hardly dared to do anything against Beijing. Every time Vietnam shakes hands with the US, Hanoi has to go to Beijing to appease. And of course, Beijing observes that the Communist Party of Vietnam is not double-minded, they will be lenient, but if they see that Vietnam is too close to the US, they will strangle the Communist Party of Vietnam, so that Vietnam can be tied into their orbit.
With China, the Communist Party of Vietnam has been too indulgent, while the country needs to be untied both in terms of economic institutions and political institutions to develop. However, the Communist Party will never dare to change. Those who sit on the top of the Communist Party keep walking on their knees to protect the Party, and that is the tragedy of the nation. This nation is stuck in two nooses, unable to escape.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
