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Why North Korea – and Vietnam – can benefit from the Hanoi Summit

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to begin two days of talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, in what will be their second meeting within eight months. While it might not draw as much attention as the earlier landmark event in Singapore, the Hanoi summit is expected to produce

By Trinh Le

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The Vietnamese venue will shape the second Trump-Kim summit

The news is in. US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un for the second time on February 27-28. Instead of Singapore, this time Vietnam will play host. Although there are many concerns regarding the prospect of success for the second summit and North Korea’s

By Khang Vu

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Vietnam: why blogger Mother Mushroom went free

During US Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ two-day visit to Vietnam last week, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) quietly released the high-profile dissident blogger known as ‘Mẹ Nấm,’ or Mother Mushroom, on the condition of her exile to the United States. While Mattis’ trip and the

By Hunter Marston

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Vietnam’s quandary: red or green?

A hand-crafted map on the wall of the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture Sciences (VAAS) neatly captures the country’s strategic vulnerabilities as it emerges as a dynamic new regional player. The map is fashioned out of grains of rice to demonstrate Vietnam’s agricultural production prowess, but it

By Greg Earl

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Death of a president: no power vacuum in Vietnam

The death of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang was unexpected by the general public: he was due to address the UN General Assembly this week, and Vietnam’s one-party system has a long tradition of keeping a veil of secrecy around the health status of its top leaders. But Quang’s passing

By Vu Lam

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Facebook and Vietnam’s new cybersecurity law

This article was co-authored with a Vietnamese journalist, Cecelia Nguyen. She is a freelance journalist in Vietnam working across a range of media. Her works focus on social injustice, culture, gender issues, youth and education. She has worked with a range of international news

By Sarah Logan

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Vietnam: a month of mass protests

June 2018 may go down as a new record for mass protests in Vietnam. Thousands of people across the three main regions of the country took to the streets, mostly in a peaceful manner, to protest against two controversial bills tabled at the National Assembly: the now-delayed special

By Vu Lam

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Vietnam: reconciling the diaspora

In 2018, Vietnam and Australia marked the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations by upgrading their ties to a strategic partnership. On this occasion, however, it is hard not to reflect on the disparity between the Vietnamese diaspora and homeland. Almost 45 years after the

By Vu Lam

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Vietnam’s crackdown on dissent could undermine its stability and growth

Since General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emerged in firm control atop Vietnam’s political leadership in early 2016, Hanoi has gone on the offensive in a massive effort to clamp down on internal political dissent of all stripes, arresting bloggers and purging corrupt state officials. The

By Hunter Marston

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Deterrence under the dragon’s shadow: Vietnam’s military modernisation

On 5 March the USS Carl Vinson made a port call to Danang, in central Vietnam. It was the first time since the War (the Vietnam War to Americans, and the American War to Vietnamese) that a US aircraft carrier anchored in Vietnamese waters – by invitation this time – for an official visit. The

By Wu Shang-Su

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Russian pragmatism on display in South East Asia

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Myanmar recently in a clear display of Moscow’s pragmatism. Many Western observers, especially from the US, present Vladimir Putin as either a Machiavellian mixer with almost superhuman abilities – he who put Donald Trump in the White House and

By Dmitry V. Shlapentokh

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The Vietnamese Communist Party’s corruption hunt

On Monday, Vietnam’s former transport minister Dinh La Thang was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Another prominent figure, Trinh Xuan Thanh, received a life sentence for “deliberate violation of state regulations on economic management”. It is first time in Vietnam’s recent political

By Huong Le Thu

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The missing middle: A political economy of economic restructuring in Vietnam

Despite impressive economic performance, Vietnam’s strong trade and investment gains have yet to fully overcome the vestiges of its economic past

By Matthew Busch

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Trump in Vietnam must not trump Asia's pivotal emerging economy

Originally published in the Straits Times

By Matthew Busch

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Vietnam: Kidnapping undermines efforts to seek friends and influence

Foreign investors and world trade institutions have long wished one thing for Vietnam: reform of its inefficient and corrupt state-owned enterprise sector. Competency, transparency and a measure of real competition would aid the nation’s economy and its business and trade relations tremendously.

By Helen Clark

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Vietnam and India: Shared interests in the South China Sea

Vietnam's recent request to India to play a more prominent role in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea did not come as a total surprise. It's not the first time Vietnam has asked a nation with no direct interest in the area for backing – it made a similar call to South Korea a few months ago.

By Helen Clark

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Vietnam’s free trade pitch to the US

It was trade, not China's manoeuvring in the South China Sea, that was top of the agenda when Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met US President Donald Trump on Wednesday in the first visit by an ASEAN leader to Washington under the new administration. It was a slightly surreal affair with

By Helen Clark

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Australia, Vietnam, the diaspora and generational change

Australia's Vietnamese diaspora is a remarkable element in the fast-evolving relationship between the two countries. Hanoi and Canberra are both doing what they can to help Australian Vietnamese to forge and strengthen links that can pay enormous dividends in trade and tourism. This latest chapter

By Emma Connors

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What is Vietnam’s fishing flotilla doing at Scarborough Shoal?

Those who have written off last July’s Hague Arbitral Tribunal ruling in the South China Sea as a dead letter should keep an eye on Scarborough Shoal. Late last week, reports surfaced on Twitter, showing the AIS signals from a flotilla of Vietnamese trawlers close to the shoal. Significantly,

By Euan Graham

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In Vietnam, Castro receives his dues

Vietnam is to hold a national day of mourning for Fidel Castro this Sunday, 4 December. Even now the old comrade commands respect in Vietnam. The country has been cultivating a varied network of foreign relationships in recent years, lately strengthening its ties with India and dismantling

By Helen Clark

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High hopes and a big let-down: Vietnam and the TPP

Vietnam was thought to be a big winner from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). As such, US President-elect Donald Trump's promise to withdraw from the deal is obviously bad news. Though it wasn’t unexpected, Vietnam has several reasons for disappointment: It might be a signal of a slowdown in

By Huong Le Thu

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Laos dams bad news for those downriver on the Mekong

A few days after Donald Trump's stunning election victory, a potentially bigger story broke for the millions who depend on the Mekong river for their food and livelihood: Laos informed the Mekong River Commission that it intends to proceed with a new hydro dam in the Pak Beng district, its

By Helen Clark

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What the Philippines and Australia can learn from Vietnam about living with China

It is early days, granted, but the Philippines' crude and crass new president Rodrigo Duterte appears increasingly intent on reversing his predecessor's plucky South China Sea policy and pro-Alliance leanings, opting instead for a tilt towards China. The Philippines' proclivity to flip-flop in its

By Euan Graham

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Vietnam

Why North Korea – and Vietnam – can benefit from the Hanoi Summit

The Vietnamese venue will shape the second Trump-Kim summit

Vietnam: why blogger Mother Mushroom went free

Vietnam’s quandary: red or green?

Death of a president: no power vacuum in Vietnam

Facebook and Vietnam’s new cybersecurity law

Vietnam: a month of mass protests

Vietnam: reconciling the diaspora

Vietnam’s crackdown on dissent could undermine its stability and growth

Deterrence under the dragon’s shadow: Vietnam’s military modernisation

Russian pragmatism on display in South East Asia

The Vietnamese Communist Party’s corruption hunt

The missing middle: A political economy of economic restructuring in Vietnam

Trump in Vietnam must not trump Asia's pivotal emerging economy

Vietnam: Kidnapping undermines efforts to seek friends and influence

Vietnam and India: Shared interests in the South China Sea

Vietnam’s free trade pitch to the US

Australia, Vietnam, the diaspora and generational change

What is Vietnam’s fishing flotilla doing at Scarborough Shoal?

In Vietnam, Castro receives his dues

High hopes and a big let-down: Vietnam and the TPP

Laos dams bad news for those downriver on the Mekong

What the Philippines and Australia can learn from Vietnam about living with China

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