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Vietnam Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Vietnam
Official Name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Capital: Hanoi
Area: 331,690 square kilometres ( 128,066 square miles )
Major cities (Population)
Ho Chi Minh City 3,555,000 (1995 estimate)
Hanoi 1,247,000 (1995 estimate)
Haiphong 449,747 (1989)
Da Nang 369,734 (1989)
Hue 260,489 (1989)
Population: 74,545,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 2.2 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Communist state
Independence: 2 September 1945 (from France)
Constitution: 15 April 1992
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18
Government
Vietnam is a Communist state, led by a president, a prime minister, and a cabinet. The Communist Party’s general secretary is also powerful. The Vietnamese Communist Party is the only legal political party. All citizens may vote at the age of 18. The Quäc-Hçi, or national assembly, has 395 seats.
Recent History
The Vietnamese lived under Chinese domination for 1,000 years, followed by almost 100 years of French colonial rule (1858–1954). The Japanese occupied Vietnam in 1940, making a deal with the French, who had capitulated to the Nazis. After the defeat of the Japanese in World War II, Vietnam was divided into two zones for the purpose of disarming them. In the south, the British completed the task and restored French rule. In the north, China recognized the Hanoi government of Ho Chi Minh, which in September 1945 had declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Before 1945 there had been continued resistance to colonial rule, but the French succeeded in repressing even the most visible manifestation: the Indochinese Communist Party founded by Ho in 1930. In 1946 clashes between French and Vietnamese forces—following France’s refusal to recognize the DRV—led to war, and in 1949 France established a government in Saigon, headed by the former emperor Bµo жi. This government was recognized by the Western powers, but the Communist powers recognized only the DRV. The war continued until May 1954, when the French were decisively defeated at ĐiĆn Bięn.
The Geneva Accords were signed in July 1954 in an attempt to establish peace. They temporarily divided Vietnam into north and south in preparation for national elections in 1956. The southern regime, led by prime minister Ngo Dinh Diem (who was anti-French but pro-American), was opposed to the Accords. In 1955 Diem declared himself president of the Republic of Vietnam and refused to hold elections. Guerrilla warfare broke out between north and south.
In 1961 the Kennedy administration in the United States, alarmed at the possibility of a Communist takeover in Vietnam, increased its support to South Vietnam. Between 1961 and 1964 the number of US “military advisers” helping the South Vietnamese government in its fight against the Communist National Liberation Front (NLF) rose from 2,000 to 23,000. In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized the bombing of the north. The war spread to Laos and Cambodia, and the US Air Force began extensive bombing of Laos, Cambodia, and areas of South Vietnam under the sway of the NLF. The Tet Offensive of 1968 made it clear that South Vietnam’s government could no longer maintain popular support and security on its own territory, much less defeat the north. Ho Chi Minh died on 3 September 1969.
The war ended with the withdrawal of US troops and the fall of Saigon in April 1975. Saigon's name was officially changed to Ho Chi Minh City, but most Vietnamese still call it Saigon. All three Indochinese countries—Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—came under Communist governments. Thousands of families fled, driving an estimated three million people to seek refuge abroad, and those who remained faced difficult years of poverty, isolation, and repression.
In 1976 Vietnam was officially reunited as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The US refused to recognize the new government and failed to establish diplomatic relations. Until very recently, this kept Vietnam relatively isolated from Western nations. After the end of the American War, Khmer Rouge troops from Cambodia repeatedly attacked provinces of southern Vietnam. In December 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia, overthrew the Pol Pot regime, and installed a government loyal to Hanoi. In a related conflict during this period (in 1979), Vietnam fought off a Chinese invasion. In 1989 the Vietnamese reported that they had withdrawn from Cambodia. Since then, Vietnam has concentrated on internal development. In 1986 Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh introduced Éçi măi meaning “renovation”, a programme of economic reform that was to end the central planning system and encourage private-sector enterprise (including foreign investment). Since 1989 Éçi măi has been more meaningful and the government is now committed to it.
The withdrawal of its troops from Cambodia allowed Vietnam to seek renewed relations with the US. The US opened a diplomatic office in Hanoi in 1991 to coordinate the search for US troops missing in action (MIAs), and to pave the way to better relations. The economic embargo was finally lifted in February 1994, and in July 1995 the US president, Bill Clinton, announced the normalization of relations, subject to continued Vietnamese cooperation on accounting for MIAs. There were 1,615 Americans still listed as MIAs in August 1995. In 1992, diplomatic relations were resumed between Vietnam and North Korea. Vietnam has also signed an agreement on regional amity and cooperation, a preliminary to full membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which was set up in 1967 to help economic coordination between its members and, ironically, to oppose Communist expansion from Vietnam.
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