Published 30/04/2025 17:04 | Edited 30/04/2025 19:10
On April 30, 1975, the North-Vietnamese tanks crossed the gates of the Independence Palace in Saigon, symbolizing the definitive victory of the Communist Vietnam over the US and its South Vietnam allies. The episode, broadcast live to the world, marked the collapse of one of the greatest military interventions of the Cold War and generated a national trauma in the United States that perhaps to date.
More than 58,000 US soldiers died, in addition to millions of Vietnamese. The war caused political crises in the US, fueled the pacifist movement and generated the so -called “Vietnam Syndrome”, which for decades conditioned the country’s reluctance to directly engaged in prolonged armed conflicts.
Pragmatic socialism: the reforms of đổi mới
After the war, Vietnam faced severe difficulties: food shortages, diplomatic isolation and the inheritance of a devastated country. It was not until 1986, with the 6th Communist Party Congress that the country launched the reforms known as Renew (“renewal”).
Inspired by socialist market models such as China, đổi mới implemented measures such as:
- Agricultural Decentralization: Substitution of the collective system by encouraging family production with autonomy over surpluses.
- Opening to foreign capital: Creation of special economic zones with tax incentives to attract multinational companies.
- Property Reform: Legalization of small and medium -sized private companies.
- Incentive to industrialization: focus on exports and import replacement.
These reforms have maintained state control over strategic areas – such as energy, transportation and banks – but allowed the accelerated growth of industrial and technological sectors, with strong global integration.
Social advances under the communist government
Vietnam ‘social achievements are often highlighted by multilateral organisms such as the World Bank and UNDE as an inclusion progress model. Among the most significant advances:
- Education: The literacy rate exceeds 95%. The country invests about 20% of the national budget in education. The performance of Vietnamese students in Mathematics and Sciences at Pisa rivals with developed countries.
- Health: Life expectancy has gone from 63 years (1990) to over 75 years (2023). Vaccination programs and preventive medicine are widely accessible and free.
- Poverty: Between 1993 and 2023, the extreme poverty rate fell from 58% to less than 2%.
- Inequality: The gini index remains relatively stable, even with the growth of per capita income.
According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, “the priority of the party and the state is to ensure that economic growth is accompanied by social justice and human development.” This approach is reflected in the high rates of government approval, including among young people.
The new Asian power
By 2024, Vietnam reached 7.09% growth in GDP, with strong export performance (US $ 435 billion) and foreign direct investment of more than $ 25 billion. Giants like Samsung, Intel and Foxconn have installed factories in the country. In addition, Vietnam has expanded its industrial base to areas of higher added value, such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
The country also stands out in the energy transition, with massive investments in solar and wind energy, becoming one of Asia’s largest renewable energy producers.
Vietnamese foreign policy has been based on a “strategic balance” doctrine, maintaining cordial relations with both the US and China, as well as strengthening ties with global southern partners and BRICS – block to which Vietnam has already expressed interest in approaching.
Lasting impact in the United States
On the other hand, the defeat in Vietnam had lasting consequences on US politics, culture and diplomacy. Since the 1980s, films like Platoon, Apocalypse Now e Killed sought to elaborate the collective trauma of war. At the same time, the US Congress began to exercise more control over military interventions, marking an era of containment after decades of imperial expansion.
There was strong public distrust about the government, expanded with the Watergate scandal, which led to the fall of the Richard Nixon government. “Vietnam Syndrome” influenced American foreign policy for decades, leading the US to avoid direct involvement in similar conflicts
In the geopolitical plane, defeat slowed the interventionist logic and generated intense debates about the limits of military power as an instrument of domination. Only in the 1990s did the US restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam, today their largest commercial partner in Asia after China and Japan.
The triumph of sovereignty
Fifty years after the end of the war, Vietnam is more than a resistance memory: it is a rising power, with a hybrid model that combines state planning, economic pragmatism and political stability. Its example demonstrates that it is possible to overcome destruction and isolation with sovereignty, social cohesion and long -term strategy.
The 1975 victory was not just a military man. It was also the seed of a national project capable of inspiring in search of alternatives to the neoliberal model and external dependence. Its trajectory – from French colony to battlefield and now emerging power – is inspired by many global southern countries that seek to reconcile national sovereignty, development and inclusion.
Source: vermelho.org.br
