How Powerful Is Vietnam?
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam have come a long way since the two countries ended their 20 year war in 1975.
Formal relations have been reinstated, trade agreements signed, and in May 2016, the US even agreed to lift a decades old embargo on arms trade.
geographically, Vietnam is fairly small At 130 thousand square miles, the country is just larger than the US state of New Mexico.
despite its size, it boasts a population of more than 90 million, making it the 14th most populous country in the world.
As a long-time Communist state, Vietnam has been traditionally closed off to the West.
over the last several decades, it has introduced a number of modern economic and social reforms.
Since the mid-1980’s, the country has steadily moved away from a centrally-planned system by encouraging private business and free trade.
In the 1990’s, it halted requests for compensation for war crimes from the US, and in turn, the US partially lifted its trade embargo, which had decimated Vietnam’s economy.
coupled with aid from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, boosted the country’s economy by roughly eight percent a year, and made it one of the world’s biggest exporters of rice.
Today, Vietnam’s GDP is more than $180 billion dollars, compared with just $6 billion dollars in 1990.
The country also benefits from its membership to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which fosters economic growth in the region.
Vietnam also is a key player in the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which is a proposed free trade deal between the US and 11 other countries.
Vietnam is far from the largest market in the deal, and yet the country is slated to benefit the most, with its GDP expected to surge by 10 percent before 2030.
What’s more, the deal may be an antidote for Vietnam’s weakening ties with its biggest trade partner: China. The US hopes that the TPP will eventually end Vietnam’s dependency on China for trade, leaving them to revert to their second largest trade partner: the US.
US isn’t the only country with an interest in Vietnam Japan, Australia, Singapore and the Philippines have all recently strengthened defense ties, with the goal of creating a counterweight to the growing threat of China.
The alliance is crucial to Vietnam, as the country has a limited defense budget and dated, soviet-era equipment.
Vietnam does boast an army of roughly five-and-a-half-million, trumping many of its powerful neighbors, like Japan and South Korea In the US and abroad, it seems that all eyes are on Vietnam.
Formal relations have been reinstated, trade agreements signed, and in May 2016, the US even agreed to lift a decades old embargo on arms trade.
geographically, Vietnam is fairly small At 130 thousand square miles, the country is just larger than the US state of New Mexico.
despite its size, it boasts a population of more than 90 million, making it the 14th most populous country in the world.
As a long-time Communist state, Vietnam has been traditionally closed off to the West.
over the last several decades, it has introduced a number of modern economic and social reforms.
Since the mid-1980’s, the country has steadily moved away from a centrally-planned system by encouraging private business and free trade.
In the 1990’s, it halted requests for compensation for war crimes from the US, and in turn, the US partially lifted its trade embargo, which had decimated Vietnam’s economy.
coupled with aid from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, boosted the country’s economy by roughly eight percent a year, and made it one of the world’s biggest exporters of rice.
Today, Vietnam’s GDP is more than $180 billion dollars, compared with just $6 billion dollars in 1990.
The country also benefits from its membership to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which fosters economic growth in the region.
Vietnam also is a key player in the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which is a proposed free trade deal between the US and 11 other countries.
Vietnam is far from the largest market in the deal, and yet the country is slated to benefit the most, with its GDP expected to surge by 10 percent before 2030.
What’s more, the deal may be an antidote for Vietnam’s weakening ties with its biggest trade partner: China. The US hopes that the TPP will eventually end Vietnam’s dependency on China for trade, leaving them to revert to their second largest trade partner: the US.
US isn’t the only country with an interest in Vietnam Japan, Australia, Singapore and the Philippines have all recently strengthened defense ties, with the goal of creating a counterweight to the growing threat of China.
The alliance is crucial to Vietnam, as the country has a limited defense budget and dated, soviet-era equipment.
Vietnam does boast an army of roughly five-and-a-half-million, trumping many of its powerful neighbors, like Japan and South Korea In the US and abroad, it seems that all eyes are on Vietnam.
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