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The Star
24-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Prosperity tops Vietnamese youths' priority list
ON April 30, 1975, Vu Dang Toan commanded the first tank to smash through the gate of Saigon's Independence Palace. After years of war, he was there for its bitter end – the full surrender. As helicopters carried away the last Americans, South Vietnam's soldiers scattered, leaving behind their uniforms and boots. 'I'm proud,' Toan later reflected, 'that as a soldier, I completed the mission.' Fifty years on, Toan is far from the battlefields of Saigon. Now living comfortably near Hanoi, surrounded by rice fields, he's witnessed Vietnam's dramatic transformation. In his home, a photo of his tank at the palace's gates hangs on the wall. Sitting beside his 14-year-old grandson Dang Hoang Anh, the stark contrast between their lives is evident. A family visiting the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. — Hannah Reyes Morales/The New York Times Anh dreams of studying in Canada and making money, free from the worries of his grandfather's generation. 'My grandparents' generation, they had to go to war. Now we don't worry about that. We worry about school and jobs,' Anh says. The Vietnam War was a complex conflict – a fight for nationalism, for ideological dominance between socialism in the North and capitalism in the South, and a tragic chapter for both the Vietnamese and the Americans. Today, however, ideology has largely faded, replaced by pragmatic progress. Vietnam has transformed from a war-torn nation to a growing middle-income country. The communist state that once defined it has evolved into a hybrid system, blending free-market principles with state control. Major multinationals, like Nike and Apple, have turned the country into an export powerhouse. A young girl watching excitedly as kites fly overhead in a field adjacent to skyscrapers in Ho Chi Minh City. — Hannah Reyes Morales/The New York Times This shift began in the late 1980s when the country opened up its economy. By embracing industrialisation and higher-tech manufacturing, Vietnam is now a rising player in Asia's economic sphere. Yet, the country faces challenges as global trade dynamics shift. The US-China trade war has dampened investment and slowed economic growth, while Vietnam's population, which once fuelled the 'demographic dividend' of youthful labour, is rapidly ageing. Still, optimism remains high. In the past few decades, poverty has plummeted. Less than 4% of the population now lives below the national poverty line, and per capita income has soared six-fold since 2000. The country's social media presence is growing, reflecting the aspirations of a younger generation eager to engage with global culture. But beneath the surface of Vietnam's growing economy, there are concerns. In cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, air pollution is now a major problem. Coal still supplies much of the country's electricity, and unsustainable farming practices have taken a toll on the environment, particularly in the Mekong Delta. Le Hoang Phuc, 25, from the Mekong Delta, recalls a time when the area was abundant with fish, but now pollution has left it desolate. 'Today we have more trash than fish,' he says. His family now practises organic farming, but Phuc acknowledges that broader systemic changes are needed. A woman recording a video of herself selling coats at a shop in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It has been 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. Most of the country's 100 million people were born after the fighting stopped and have seen Vietnam transform. — Hannah Reyes Morales/The New York Times 'We need stricter laws, garbage trucks for rural areas,' he adds. 'We need to reclaim a community mindset.' Vietnam's economic ambitions are tempered by environmental degradation, yet a new cultural movement is gaining momentum. More young professionals are embracing meditation and spirituality at places like the Giac Ngo Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, where modern concerns like consumerism and stress are challenged through ancient practices. Religion, too, is making a resurgence. Catholic seminaries are producing more young priests, and faith-based communities are increasingly popular. For many, this return to traditional values represents a shift from the Marxist ideologies that dominated Vietnam for decades. Yet, Vietnam remains a one-party state, and any challenge to the system is met with consequences. A boat on a river near Can Tho in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. — Hannah Reyes Morales/The New York Times This creates a paradox – a country that embraces growth and global engagement while suppressing dissent and alternative ideas. As the country's population grows older, there are new challenges in sustaining its economy. Workers like Phan Van Du, a 40-year-old factory employee, are no longer the exception. Vietnam's youth-driven workforce is becoming harder to sustain, with many companies looking further afield to find workers. These rising costs, coupled with intense international competition, could stymie future growth. The question that looms large for Vietnam's future is what comes next. In his 1946 interview, the country's most famous revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh, said that economic independence would be harder to achieve than political independence – a sentiment that remains true today. The path forward may be marked by greater global integration, but it's uncertain whether Vietnam can overcome the demographic and economic obstacles in its way. A merchant waits for customers at her shop in Hanoi. Globalisation and capitalism have lifted Vietnam to new heights, but complaints about inequality, development and environmental dangers are increasing. — Hannah Reyes Morales/The New York Times The legacy of war is still felt across the country. While reconciliation with the United States has largely succeeded, the internal wounds from the conflict remain. Families still search for the bodies of lost loved ones, and the narratives of the war remain controversial, especially regarding the suffering and violence faced by those on both sides of the conflict. In an essay on national reconciliation, Vietnam's leader, To Lam, acknowledged that healing could only happen through accepting different perspectives, including those of the Vietnamese who fought for the South. However, internal reconciliation remains a slow process, and the legacy of the war continues to shape the national identity. — ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times
Winnipeg Free Press
17-05-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Revisiting Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Hamburger Hill, Hue, the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh: some remember the Vietnam War battles from the headlines of the 1960s and 1970s, others from movies and history books. And thousands of Americans and Vietnamese know them as the graveyards of loved ones who died fighting more than a half-century ago. Today the battlefields of Vietnam are sites of pilgrimage for veterans from both sides who fought there, as well as tourists wanting to see firsthand where the war was waged. 'It was a war zone when I was here before,' reflected U.S. Army veteran Paul Hazelton as he walked with his wife through the grounds of the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, which was known as Saigon when he served there. David Rising / The Associated Press Files A tourist walks through the military cemetery in Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam. Hazelton's tour — just shy of his 80th birthday — took him back for the first time to places he served as a young draftee, including Hue, the former Phu Bai Combat Base on the city's outskirts, and Da Nang, which was a major base for both American and South Vietnamese forces. 'Everywhere you went, you know, it was occupied territory with our military, now you just see the hustle and bustle and the industry, and it's remarkable,' he said. 'I'm just glad that we're now trading and friendly with Vietnam. And I think both sides are benefiting from it.' Vietnam's war with the United States lasted for nearly 20 years, from 1955 to 1975, with more than 58,000 Americans killed and many times that number of Vietnamese. For Vietnam, it started almost immediately after the nearly decade-long fight to expel the colonial French, who were supported by Washington, which culminated with the decisive defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The end of French Indochina meant major changes in the region, including the partitioning of Vietnam into Communist North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and U.S.-aligned South Vietnam. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla troops, and the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. Tourism has rebounded rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic and is now a critical driver of Vietnam's growth, the fastest in the region, accounting for roughly one in nine jobs in the country. Vietnam had more than 17.5 million foreign visitors in 2024, close to the record 18 million set in 2019 before the pandemic. David Rising / The Associated Press Files A gardener waters flowers outside the newly rebuilt Kien Trung Palace in the Imperial City within the Citadel of Hue, Vietnam. The War Remnants Museum attracts some 500,000 visitors a year, about two-thirds of whom are foreigners. Its exhibits focus on American war crimes and atrocities like the My Lai massacre and the devastating effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used during the war. Other wartime sites in Saigon, which was the capital of South Vietnam, include the Rex Hotel where the U.S. held press briefings derisively dubbed the 'Five O'Clock Follies' for their paucity of credible information. On the northern outskirts of the city are the Cu Chi tunnels, an underground warren which attracts some 1.5 million people annually. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas to avoid detection from American planes and patrols. Today visitors can climb and crawl through some of the narrow passages and take a turn at a firing range, shooting targets with war-era weapons. Former North Vietnamese Army artilleryman Luu Van Duc remembers the fighting firsthand, but his visit to the Cu Chi tunnels with a group of other veterans provided an opportunity to see how their allies with the Viet Cong lived and fought. 'I'm so moved visiting the old battlefields — it was my last dying wish to be able to relive those hard but glorious days together with my comrades,' the 78-year-old said. 'Relics like this must be preserved so the next generations will know about their history, about the victories over much stronger enemies.' Fighting in North Vietnam was primarily an air war, and today the Hoa Lo prison museum tells that story from the Vietnamese perspective. Hau Dinh / The Associated Press Files Tourists visiting the Hoa Lo prison museum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Sardonically dubbed the 'Hanoi Hilton' by inmates, the former French prison in Hanoi was used to hold American prisoners of war, primarily pilots shot down during bombing raids. Its most famous resident was the late Sen. John McCain after he was shot down in 1967. 'It was kind of eerie but fascinating at the same time,' said Olivia Wilson, a 28-year-old from New York, after a recent visit. 'It's an alternative perspective on the war.' — The Associated Press — With files from David Rising in Bangkok
The Star
03-05-2025
- General
- The Star
Visitors reconnect with Vietnam's wartime past
Hamburger Hill, Hue, the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh. Some remember the Vietnam War battles from the headlines of the 1960s and 1970s, others from movies and history books. And thousands of Americans and Vietnamese know them as the graveyards of loved ones who died fighting more than a half-century ago. Today, the battlefields of Vietnam are sites of pilgrimage for veterans from both sides who fought there, and tourists wanting to see first-hand where the war was waged. 'It was a war zone when I was here before,' reflected US Army veteran Paul Hazelton as he walked with his wife through the grounds of the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, which was known as Saigon when he served there. Hazelton's tour just shy of his 80th birthday took him back for the first time to places he served as a young draftee, including Hue, the former Phu Bai Combat Base on the city's outskirts, and Da Nang, which was a major base for both American and South Vietnamese forces. 'Everywhere you went, you know, it was occupied territory with our military, now you just see the hustle and bustle and the industry, and it's remarkable,' he said. 'I'm just glad that we're now trading and friendly with Vietnam. And I think both sides are benefiting from it.' Vietnam's war with the United States lasted for nearly 20 years from 1955 to 1975, with more than 58,000 Americans killed and many times that number of Vietnamese. For Vietnam, it started almost immediately after the nearly decade-long fight to expel the colonial French, who were supported by Washington, which culminated with the decisive defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The end of French Indochina meant major changes in the region, including the partitioning of Vietnam into Communist North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and US-aligned South Vietnam. Wartime fascination This year marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla troops, and the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam. Tourists looking at an artwork at the Hoa Lo prison museum in Hanoi. Tourism has rebounded rapidly since the Covid-19 pandemic and is now a critical driver of Vietnam's growth, the fastest in the region, accounting for roughly one in nine jobs in the country. Vietnam had more than 17.5 million foreign visitors in 2024, close to the record 18 million set in 2019 before the pandemic. The War Remnants Museum attracts some 500,000 visitors a year, about two-thirds of whom are foreigners. Its exhibits focus on American war crimes and atrocities like the My Lai massacre and the devastating effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used during the war. The US was to open the first exhibit of its own at the museum this year, detailing Washington's extensive efforts to remediate wartime damage, but it is indefinitely on hold after the Trump administration slashed foreign aid. Other wartime sites in Saigon, which was the capital of South Vietnam, include the South Vietnamese president's Independence Palace where North Vietnamese tanks famously crashed through the gates as they took the city and the Rex Hotel where the US held press briefings derisively dubbed the Five O'clock Follies for their paucity of credible information. On the northern outskirts of the city are the Cu Chi tunnels, an underground warren used by Viet Cong guerrillas to avoid detection from American planes and patrols, which attracts some 1.5 million people annually. Today visitors can climb and crawl through some of the narrow passages and take a turn at a firing range shooting targets with war-era weapons like the AK-47, M-16 and the M-60 machine gun known as 'the pig' by American troops for its bulky size and high rate of fire. 'I can understand a bit better now how the war took place, how the Vietnamese people managed to fight and protect themselves,' said Italian tourist Theo Buono after visiting the site while waiting for others in his tour group to finish at the firing range. A tourist moving in a narrow tunnel passage in the relic site of Cu Chi tunnels. Not forgotten Former North Vietnamese Army artilleryman Luu Van Duc remembers the fighting first-hand, but his visit to the Cu Chi tunnels with a group of other veterans provided an opportunity to see how their allies with the Viet Cong lived and fought. 'I'm so moved visiting the old battlefields – it was my last dying wish to be able to relive those hard but glorious days together with my comrades,' the 78-year-old said. 'Relics like this must be preserved so the next generations will know about their history, about the victories over much stronger enemies.' The former Demilitarised Zone where the country was split between North and South in Quang Tri province saw the heaviest fighting during the war, and drew more than three million visitors in 2024. On the north side of the DMZ, visitors can walk through the labyrinthine Vinh Moc tunnel complex, where civilians took shelter from bombs that the U.S. dropped in an effort to disrupt supplies to the North Vietnamese. A tourist looking at a US Air Force attack jet used during the Vietnam war at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. The tunnels, along with a memorial and small museum at the border, can be reached on a day trip from Hue, which typically also includes a stop at the former Khe Sanh combat base, the site of a fierce battle in 1968 in which both sides claimed victory. Now, Khe Sanh boasts a small museum and some of the original fortifications, along with tanks, helicopters and other equipment left by US forces after their withdrawal. Hue itself was the scene of a major battle during the Tet Offensive in 1968, one of the longest and most intense of the war. Today the city's ancient Citadel and Imperial City, a Unesco site on the north bank of the Perfume River, still bears signs of the fierce fighting but has largely been rebuilt. West of Hue, a little off the beaten path near the border with Laos, is Hamburger Hill, the scene of a major battle in 1969. About 500km to the southwest near the Cambodian border is the Ia Drang valley, where the first major engagement between American and North Vietnamese forces was fought in 1965. Fighting in North Vietnam was primarily an air war, and today the Hoa Lo Prison museum tells that story from the Vietnamese perspective. Sardonically dubbed the 'Hanoi Hilton' by inmates, the former French prison in Hanoi was used to hold American prisoners of war, primarily pilots shot down during bombing raids. Its most famous resident was the late Sen. John McCain after he was shot down in 1967. 'It was kind of eerie but fascinating at the same time,' said Olivia Wilson, a 28-year-old from New York, after a recent visit. 'It's an alternative perspective on the war.' – AP
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
50 years after the war, Vietnam looks to the future
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, April 29 (UPI) -- Fifty years after a North Vietnamese tank came crashing through the front gate of Saigon's presidential palace and brought an end to the nearly two-decade Vietnam War, the metropolis that has since been called Ho Chi Minh City is gearing up for a celebration. Once a symbol of devastation and conflict, Vietnam has emerged on the global stage as a dynamic, growing economy -- a remarkable turnaround seen most vividly in the former capital of the South. The North's Communists may have won the war, but the capitalists have won this cosmopolitan city of nearly 10 million people that buzzes with entrepreneurial energy. And while there remain scars from a conflict that left more than 3 million Vietnamese and nearly 60,000 American troops dead, the public mood is one of jubilance on the eve of a massive military parade on Wednesday, the official anniversary of the war's end on April 30, 1975. Compared to previous anniversaries, "the scale of preparation is much larger, and the atmosphere is more confident, even celebratory," Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told UPI. One striking change is the participation of military units from Cold War allies Cambodia, Laos and China in the parade -- a first for Vietnam, Giang said. "The way the government is framing the event reflects a broader narrative of Vietnam's transformation from a war-torn, isolated nation into one of Asia's rising economic stars," he said. Also notable is the enthusiasm on display by Vietnamese in their teens and twenties, usually seen as apathetic and removed from the obscure politics of a one-party state. Driven by social media hype and a fear of missing out on one of the biggest celebrations the city has ever seen, young Vietnamese in patriotic outfits have been a festive presence at fireworks, street art installations and fighter jet airshows leading up to the anniversary. University student Thuy Pham traveled two hours from Dong Nai Province to Ho Chi Minh City to visit anniversary-related sites this week, including the city's War Remnants Museum. Posing for photos and shooting videos in the museum's courtyard, which features captured American tanks, planes and helicopters, Thuy said she wanted to showcase modern Vietnam to the rest of the world via TikTok and Facebook. "We want to share our pride in Vietnam with everyone," Thuy said, wearing a white ao dai -- a traditional Vietnamese tunic -- and holding a Vietnamese flag. "I also wanted to learn more about history and the suffering of the soldiers who fought for our country," she added. "I didn't know that much about it. I'm really thankful for their sacrifice." A message of reconciliation Others with a more direct experience of the war also have returned to Vietnam for the anniversary, from American veterans to legendary journalists to supporters of the South Vietnamese government who fled and started new lives elsewhere. Paul, a Vietnamese-American who asked to use only his first name when speaking to UPI, managed to escape from Saigon with his well-connected Southern family one day before the North's tanks and troops arrived. "We knew we had to leave," Paul, who was 13 at the time, said. "We were terrified about what would come next." After months of staying in camps in the Philippines and Guam, the family was eventually relocated as refugees to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas before starting over in the United States. And while his family was on the losing side of the war, Paul called his return to Vietnam "profoundly moving." "I wanted to be here on the day that changed my life," he said. "Some people will celebrate, some mourn. I did not fight in the war, so maybe I don't have the same sense of anguish. This week, I feel a sense of unity." That spirit of unity has been central to the messaging this year by Vietnamese leadership, particularly in an article written Sunday by To Lam, the General Secretary of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party. "After 50 years of national reunification, we have enough courage, faith, pride and tolerance to overcome the pain and look forward together -- so that the past war is no longer a gap between the children of the same [Vietnamese] bloodline," Lam wrote. "We believe that all Vietnamese people -- no matter where they live or what their past is -- can join hands and contribute to building a bright future for the nation," he wrote. "We cannot rewrite history, but we can reshape the future." Lam's message signals a remarkable change in tone for a Vietnamese leader, Carlyle Thayer, professor of politics and a Vietnam expert at the University of New South Wales, told UPI. "This is not a Communist monologue," Thayer said. "There is no negative content. It is a call for reconciliation." Thayer noted that Lam, who came to power in August, is looking to build a broad coalition of support in Vietnam ahead of the next Party Congress in early 2026, when he will seek to extend his position for a full five-year term. He is also reaching out to trade partners and Vietnamese living overseas to contribute to Vietnam's development, Thayer said, as the country faces headwinds from economic uncertainty that will test the party's leadership. Vietnam's export-heavy economy is particularly exposed to the effect of a China-U.S. trade war and President Donald Trump's proposed 46% tariff on Vietnamese imports. The World Bank in April cut its 2025 growth forecast for Vietnam from 6.8% to 5.8%, even as the Vietnamese government is maintaining its 8% growth target for the year. Controlling the narrative Tuong Vu, professor of political science at the University of Oregon and founding director of its U.S.-Vietnam Research Center, said that Hanoi's efforts to build up excitement around the anniversary could be a way to divert attention from potential bumps in the road ahead. "[The government] is trying to shape the narrative to create a unified message and reach out more deeply to various constituencies," Vu told UPI. "They want to convey an upbeat message so the new leadership can ride on a sentiment of national accomplishment," he said. "It's also an effort to buy time and cover worries about a changing international environment that is posing big challenges to the [Communist] Party." Hanoi is growing increasingly savvy about using social media and influencers to spread its messaging to a younger audience, Vu added, while at the same time consolidating control over the traditional media landscape and cracking down on dissenting voices. Over the past six years, Vietnam has ratcheted up enforcement of an open-ended law to imprison at least 124 people for "infringing upon state interests," as Human Rights Watch noted in a report released last week. Fifty years after the war's end, the city many still refer to as Saigon has transformed almost beyond recognition. From its soaring skyline to its newly opened subway to the home-grown VinFast electric cars filling its roads, the remarkable distance the country has traveled since the war's end is on full display. But after the parade ends and the celebrations die down, Vietnam will have to take the next steps in a post-war journey filled with daunting challenges, the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute's Giang said. "The return of great-power rivalry, a stubborn middle-income gap, rapid aging and environmental degradation all threaten to slow Vietnam's remarkable ascent and its open economy," Giang said. "These of course could not compare to the existential struggles of half a century ago, but how Vietnam weathers them will define its place in the decades to come."
South China Morning Post
14-04-2025
- South China Morning Post
50 years later, Vietnam's battlefields draw war veterans and other tourists
Hamburger Hill, Hué, the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh: some remember the Vietnam war battles from the headlines of the 1960s and '70s, others from films and history books. And thousands of Americans and Vietnamese know them as the graveyards of loved ones who died fighting more than 50 years ago. Advertisement Today, the battlefields of Vietnam are sites of pilgrimage for veterans from both sides who fought there, and tourists wanting to see first-hand where the war was waged. 'It was a war zone when I was here before,' reflected US Army veteran Paul Hazelton as he walked with his wife through the grounds of the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, which was known as Saigon when he served there. Hazelton's tour just shy of his 80th birthday took him back for the first time to places he served in as a young draftee, including Hué, the former Phu Bai Combat Base on the city's outskirts, and Da Nang, which was a major base for both American and South Vietnamese forces. 'Everywhere you went, you know, it was occupied territory with our military. Now you just see the hustle and bustle and the industry, and it's remarkable,' he said. Advertisement 'I'm just glad that we're now trading and friendly with Vietnam. And I think both sides are benefiting from it.'
