I love Vietnam: Former CNN Asia Pacific Managing Editor
Let me tell you about my 21 year romance with a beautiful princess.
She is so seductive that you cannot leave her without longing for the next time you meet. She is so frustrating in her ways that you cannot wait to push her out the door.
Her name is Vietnam.
I have watched her grow and mature these past two decades from poor, stubborn but proud child into a young adult – full of potential, industrious and willing. When we first met, she was emerging from a long period of war, suffering and neglect.
In the mid-1980s, she could barely feed herself – importing rice from India to barely meet demand. A Flying Pigeon bicycle not a Piaggio scooter was a status symbol, sandals were made from old tires not Armani, there was no coffee, few cars, and an international phone call could take up to eight hours for a connection. There were no beauty salons, no designer chic clothes….and no 5-star hotels. More often than not – there was no electricity and no running water. The Cold War still raged, she had few friends from the West, no tourists, no bars and not a lot of laughter.
But she is a lucky country - blessed by an abundance of resources, by bountiful seas and fertile lands; by social and political stability and the boundless energy and enthusiasm of her people - kind and generous who smile with their eyes as well as their faces.
Twenty years on, how much she has changed – grown up and prospered. Look at her now. She is the second-fastest growing economy in the world today behind China.; the world’s second largest coffee producer after Brazil; the second fastest growing telecommunications market outside of China and the third largest oil and gas producer in South East Asia behind Indonesia and Malaysia. . She is fast becoming one of the largest producers of textile, garments and shoes for the world markets and is already the world’s fourth largest exporter of timber and wooden furniture. From having virtually no cars at all, she now hosts some 13 vehicles assembly plants– including those operated by Mercedes Benz, BMW and FORD.
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| Bruce Dover (R) with his colleagues at a rural market |
She sits upon a treasure chest of gold, so much of it yet untapped – vast oil and gas reserves, massive bauxite deposits and coal. But the next 20 years, in many ways will present far greater challenges than the past. She must choose her way forward, find her own path and economic model that unlock those riches - riches which must be distributed according to the needs of the many and not just the demands of a few.
She has come a very long way, but now adulthood brings with it new challenges, and she still has much to learn, but so little time to do it. She is eager to imitate others but she can not. For Vietnam is unique and must create her own model – find her own key.
Sometimes she looks to China where to be sure, “To get rich, is glorious” but at what cost? Does she poison her rivers, pollute her skies, and sacrifice the safety of her workers to the insatiable needs of a few? Should she develop at all costs – leaving ugly scars and edifices upon a once idyllic landscape, displace her farmers and her fishermen for a fast dollar but no long term return?
Or does she look to the West – where there is wealth, prosperity, opportunity to be had and fortunes made. But does not the devotion to material wealth and possessions come at the expense of spiritual, cultural and intellectual values. Is the mansion, the Mercedes, the Nokia and the Rolex more important than virtue?
Sometimes I think she forgets her own past, the sacrifice of her parents and their parents and their ancestors before them, who gave so much of their lives and their livelihood to build the platform of independence and freedom on which she now stands. Their ways may have been old ways – discipline, loyalty, patience, fairness and honesty but they provided strong foundations upon which to build.
Today, I remind her, that the foundations must be strong or the house will fall. The world has much to offer, and there is much to covet but she must be selective about what she takes from it and what she tastes and then discards.
And that which she discards must include corruption for corruption destroys trust and without trust there can be no virtue. She is not alone among nations who face the scourge of corruption but she is better placed than many to deal with it. She has a history of sacrifice – a culture built upon the qualities of fairness, truth, honor and respect. She must draw on these qualities now to restore the faith and trust of her people.
It is not about the money, I tell her, but trust – so easily lost so hard to win back. You can legislate and pass laws against corruption, but trust is earned and not imposed.
For all that, she remains so seductive - her greatest asset her people. It is not just that they are kind, hospitable and full of good humor – a people that can laugh with and at themselves, but also industrious and eager to learn and do well. Even the ever diligent Japanese acknowledge them as better than their cousins in China, Malaysia, India, Thailand and Indonesia in their ability to perform precisely and learn quickly.
For the moment, the greatest attraction of the Vietnamese worker is price - they work hard, they work long, they work for less than their foreign counterparts. But is it a situation that can not and should not be sustained. Vietnam’s people are too few, too smart, and too entrepreneurial to rely on their labor alone to secure a prosperous future in the 21st century. She must continue to modernize, make use of new technologies, and dramatically improve her management skills otherwise she may be left far behind her rivals.
She is proud, Vietnam – perhaps justifiably given her achievements but she need also to acknowledge her shortcomings. She has so many friends, she should not be embarrassed to ask for assistance. She must open her doors wider to the world. At present her industrial capability unassisted by foreign partners is still low and struggles to compete globally. The world is changing faster than perhaps she can act. Economic reforms must continue, and some of them will cause pain and hardship but these are but “growing pains” that must be endured as she takes her place amongst the new economies of the world.
And for assistance she need look no further than her own international family, the three million strong overseas Vietnamese living in the US, France, Australia, Germany, Canada - true global villagers with so much to offer by way of management, skills and technology. Certainly among the many Viet kieu so keen to return, there are some who appear to swagger about with pockets full of cash and keen to impress. But there are many, many more whose hearts will always remain with Vietnam – no matter what the color of their passport. And it is them, and their children and their children’s children who should be warmly welcomed back so to share their knowledge – and work alongside their compatriots as Vietnam matures and emerges as a fully fledged player in the world economy.
It has been a very long engagement, this my passionate affair with Vietnam. And like all courtships, there have been ups and downs; and there have been times when my frustrated by her inconsistencies and the vagaries of her polices, I have been impatience to get on a plane and leave. Yes, no sooner has my plane departed than I am longing to return – and every year for 21 years I have returned.
And perhaps it is proof of her seductive powers, that next year, 2006 – I will return not to visit – but to live.
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Written by Bruce Dover (Managing editor of CNN Asia Pacific)
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