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Vietnam’s ‘Era of National Rise’ and the Risk of Imperial Overreach: Lessons from 1975

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ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia

Vietnam’s ‘Era of National Rise’ and the Risk of Imperial Overreach: Lessons from 1975

Despite its growing prosperity and ambition, the country still has to tread a careful line between larger regional and global powers.

Vietnam’s ‘Era of National Rise’ and the Risk of Imperial Overreach: Lessons from 1975

The T-54 tank that smashed through the gates of the Independence Palace during the fall of Saigon to the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam on April 30, 1975.

Credit: ID 124230146 © Stuart456 | Dreamstime.com

Vietnam has rarely had a buzzword to describe its grand strategy, but now the “era of national rise” has taken a central place in the country’s political discourse. The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) conceptualizes it as a “strategic plan to accelerate economic growth, innovation, and global influence” in service of national progress. Besides the domestic ramifications of the era of national rise, the concept also signals an assertion of Vietnam’s agency on the international stage. Of course, the country’s foreign policy is still built on the “Four Nos” principle, that it says no to military alliances, no to siding with one country against another, no to foreign military bases and using Vietnamese territory to oppose other countries, and no to using force or threatening to use force in international relations.

However, if the “Four Nos” emphasize Vietnam not doing things that it deems counterproductive to its national interest, the “era of national rise” signals that Vietnam will be actively doing things to increase its international profile. CPV General Secretary To Lam has made clear that the years between 2025 and 2030 would be crucial to shaping a new international order. Vietnam should prepare itself for this “turning point” and it could no longer be a bystander to international politics.

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