Five decades after regional geopolitical order changed forever

Business Times

28-04-2025

FIFTY years ago this week, a collective shudder rippled through South-east Asia. On Apr 30, 1975, Saigon as it was known then, fell to the North Vietnamese Army and their local supporters, shattering long-held assumptions about the geopolitical order in this part of the world. Even so, most regional leaders remained sangfroid. Others were unnerved and told their children to consider leaving for safety.
The ruling elites in Washington and many in this region had swallowed the so-called Domino Theory hook, line and sinker. It was Washington's overarching rationale for getting involved in what was essentially a local anti-colonial uprising. Worse, the theory, such as it was, had been based on a toddler's understanding of how to play the game: set up domino tiles upright, all in a row, and knock down the last one and watch all the others topple in succession. Such fun – if you are a two-year-old. Suffice it to say, the adult version of dominoes required somewhat more intellectual horsepower and would not have yielded such a silly analogy.
In the event, rather than the rest of South-east Asia falling under the sway of communism one by one, as theory predicted, Vietnam eventually joined Asean. Nor was there anything resembling the widely predicted bloodbath after the South Vietnam's ruling generals fled. As Associated Press reporter George Esper, who remained behind to continue his work, noted at that time: 'The official line from the United States government in the waning days was that there would be a bloodbath. I saw no bloodbath.'
This is not to say there was no aftermath. The legacy of Agent Orange remains a blight on the people of southern Vietnam. It has been estimated that between 1962 and 1971, US forces sprayed about 41.3 million litres of this toxic defoliant over forests and farms. Dioxin, the most toxic component of Agent Orange, found its way into the food and drinking water sources. Its molecular stability allowed it to accumulate in soil and water. This subsequently contaminated entire food chains and damaged the DNA of thousands of species.
In humans, it triggered severe health effects and thousands of children were born with congenital deformities, such as spina bifida and cleft palate, a result of the chemical's interference with the basic genetic code. Some of these deformed children survived and have been featured in recent documentaries. No one was ever held responsible for this atrocity.
America too was wounded. George Bush Senior spoke of the country's loss of self-confidence. Nothing would wash away the televisual reminders of the American ambassador departing by helicopter from the rooftop of the embassy. Far worse, thousands of young men returned broken in spirit and addicted to narcotics.
Mohamed Heikal, then editor of Egypt's premier newspaper Al Ahram, in his biography of Nasser, quotes Chinese leader Zhao Enlai as saying: 'Do you remember when the West imposed opium on us? They fought us with opium … We are going to use their own methods against them. We want them to have a big army in Vietnam which is hostage to us, and we want to demoralise them. The effect this demoralisation is going to have on the United States will be far greater than anyone realises.'
As ever in wars, the powerless and poor paid the price.