Fifty years after the war, Vietnam has a new American threat: rates

On a burning afternoon in Vietnam, Tung Linh stated that they “actually know nothing” about the bloody, decades of war that the communist north of her country turned against the south of the United States.

“My grandparents fought in the war and that is why we can look at the sky today and see a plane and we don’t feel afraid as they did,” says the 20-year-old student.

Stuck to her right cheek was a small yellow star on a red rectangle – the Vietnamese flag. Just like her, Ho Chi Minh City, where she lived, was committed to celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of the war when the Communists triumphed.

Today Vietnam is a remarkably different country than that of the American troops who withdrew from the defeat – it is entrepreneurial, it grows fast and it gets richer.

Authoritarian communist leadership has embraced capitalism. They strive to follow in the footsteps of China and have plowed money and effort to become a reliable production hub, even an alternative to China.

But that is a risky ambition during the trade war of US President Donald Trump – it is partly the reason why he threatens a 46% levy against the Southeast Asian nation. That could crush the economic potential of the country.

Vietnam was a French colony, a Chinese vassal and for 20 years, the proxy stroke field in the bloody struggle of America to prevent China from spreading communism over Southeast Asia.

But it can’t escape geography. Nestled under the broad background of China, it is again in the front line in a new American struggle – he hopes to arise the rise of Beijing as an economic super power.

Vietnam is hasty a young country. The median age is 33, considerably younger than Thailand or China (40), and much younger than Japan (50).

“I want to do a work that will bring more success in Vietnam,” said Linh in Fluent English. She studies economics and marketing. “And yes, also success for me,” she admits with a smile when she is produced.

It is a dream that with its bustling city past-now a vast metropolis of 10 million people, Ho Chi Minh City has the same suffocation, with glass-dressed skyscrapers, five-star hotels, restaurants and shady massage salons as every Asian mega city.

You would be difficult to find traces of socialist ideology that led to the conquest of the city in 1975, when it was the capital of South Vietnam. The victors renamed the City Ho Chi Minh, after the revolutionary father of Noord -Vietnam. But for the locals it is still Saigon.

And when it fell on this day 50 years ago, Zuid -Vietnam ceased to exist when Noord -Vietnamese tanks struck the long iron gates of the presidential compound and raised the red flag with a yellow star over the presidential palace.

The ally of America, the southern regime, was overcome. The last president had fled the previous day. More than two decades from Bitter Conflict was over.

The victory was huge costs. An estimated three million deaths and millions more injured. Between 1968 and 1975 a larger tonnage bombs was dropped on this slender country than in all theaters in the Second World War.

But few want to talk about the war here, even if they celebrate the birthday of their “reunification”.

Linh and her friends screamed with pleasure while a truck that soldiers wore passed by. The shy idols waved back – they were on their way to the barracks after rehearsals for the birthday parade.

“I am excited because this is the day we were reunited when we became one country again,” said Linh.

Her answer sounded a bit rehearsed, not least because of the lessons appointed by the government that the BBC accompanied everywhere. But her enthusiasm for her future – and that of her country – is not uncommon.

A little further on the road, the 18-year-old Minh, who did not want to share her last name, told us she was studying to become a lawyer so that she could “become successful”. With a smile she added: “And rich!”

When we asked about how young people feel about Americans, the less visible and tried to stop answering.

“We are not angry,” she says. “We don’t hate them. That was the past. Now we want to act with America. Do you know globalization? We want to learn from America.”

The new leaders of Vietnam seem to have the same ambition. In January, the new communist party chef of the country, at LAM, started a program to lower bureaucracy that could impress Elon Musk, who has supervised the controversial cost-saving team of the Trump administration.

The 63 provinces and municipalities of the country are reduced to 34, and the ministries and agencies of the government are reduced from 30 to 17. This year, 100,000 government employees are being dismissed, according to official estimates.

The ambition is huge. Until now, only one country in Southeast Asia, Singapore, has succeeded in escaping the “fall of middle income”, where economic growth slows down before countries become rich. Vietnam, whose economy grows with a steady 5%, is planning to be the second. It has hurled its doors wide for investments – and welcomes those who once drove it off his coast.

After the 1975 victory, about two million South Vietnamese fled the country. Many were ethnic Chinese. They turned to thin boats and left over the South Chinese Sea. They became known as “The Boat People”. Nowadays their descendants form a diaspora of almost six million that extends from the United States and Canada to France, Germany, Japan and Taiwan.

“Since 2017 I have promoted many Taiwanese companies to invest in Vietnam, and I am an adviser for various large electronics companies that I brought here,” said Lisa Wu, who was born in Saigon, only spent three decades in Taiwan for three decades. Now she is back.

“The most attractive thing is that the Vietnamese government is very supportive. The electronics industry is expanding from China and a lot will choose Vietnam.”

It is no coincidence that this shift began around 2018, when Trump declared his first trade war against China.

Two young business women from South China, who did not want to share their names, tell us that they have spent the past two years setting up a shoe factory here: “Now it is ready to go.”

They are planning to export to the US. They are worried about the possibility of higher rates for Vietnam – it is currently confronted with a tax of 10%, such as the majority of the world – but “it’s much better here than China,” they say laughing. Chinese import to the US is confronted with a series of rates that go up to 245% for some goods.

Yet Vietnam feels the impact, Mrs. Wu said. “I had several factories who are preparing to start activities here in May. But because of the policy change, all stopped and everyone is waiting.”

Vietnam is asked again to choose – America or China. But it is not a choice that it can or will make because it needs both.

Less than two weeks ago they rolled out the red carpet to welcome the Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the capital Hanoi. Warm words were spoken about brotherly friendship and support. But the relationships with their big neighbor are more difficult than they can look like. For years, Vietnam has run a cord between Washington and Beijing – the vast ambitions of the latter can be a threat to neighbors, especially growing economies that would like to pursue American companies.

Just as Vietnam is “looking ahead”, it seems to have almost forgotten the men and women who have fought in the jungles and the hell of American bombs.

But even they say that there should be no return to the past. “I used to have a scar here,” says Le Thanh Gian, pointing to his right hand, where a bullet had once submitted.

“There are still a few pieces of shrapnel in my body that could not be removed. There were battles where it seemed like we were all killed. But some of us survived while others fell.”

But he says he no longer wears anger.

“We need peace. We have already made a lot of progress. The lives of people is more prosperous and fulfilled. Now we have to work with the Americans for the future.”