As we have been aware of the development in Vietnam that in the previous two decades have been the most significant time for overall development and national renewal in Vietnam, both internally and externally. In this episode, Asian Vision Dialogue with our special speaker, Dr. Path Kosal, Advisor of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI), will analyst the implications of the Bamboo Diplomacy of Vietnam on its development and cooperation, internally and externally and provide policy recommendation for Cambodia on her foreign policy.

1. By implementing this bamboo foreign policy, how will it affect the cooperation in the country and abroad for Vietnam and its allies?

​In general, whatever the strategy is, it always has an effect. Normally, the big countries do not want the small countries to play the lead, they let the small countries be the supporters of the great powers, but the small countries are smart, in this meaning Vietnam is not a small country however we can say that it is a small country, a big country, a middle class country, but compared to the United States and China, it is still a small country, so all countries will always have the same strategy as Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.. as we do not take sides to any party, so meaning that the activity which we do not take sides, do not form an opposition party to any side, it is a flexible point that Vietnam can do because Vietnam has a policy that the first is not to ally, that Vietnam is not ally with any country, not Like the Philippines with the United States or Thailand with the United States or South Korea and the United States, there are no allies, no military in Vietnam and also we do not join in any party.

This is a point that Vietnam can apply in foreign policy, or a diplomatic principle in the use of foreign policy, if this is the case, he can turn around. This is the strength of the diplomatic of bamboo politics, in order to do so, the country will be strong, self-reliant, and self-sufficient, and diplomacy will be flexible according to the needs of the nation. For example, when H.E. Nguyen Phu Trong went to China, we saw that the United States was disappointed and did not want the United States to come to Vietnam. Recently, the US Secretary of State has paid another official visit to Vietnam, and one of the special things we should be interested in is the construction of a new embassy worth more than 1 billion dollars. This is important as it is a point that the United States needs to deal with China in the future, and because of the big market of this country with strong economic power, in general, if we are not strong, we are not interesting, they also don’t want to connected with us too so Vietnam has made itself more attractive, more nationally strong, has a stronger economy, and it is more prosperous society, and this is an attraction that is a lesson that other countries should learn as well as Cambodia too.

• From the business perspective, from your own point of view, can Vietnam increase the importance of its trade to its trading partners in this new era for the direct benefit of Vietnam?

Going back to Doi Moui in 1986, when it will be a turning point in the history of modern Vietnam, the recent shift from focusing on the use of force to military force to the reform of economic development and modernisation of trade is Important, this is a continuation of this open policy, which so far Vietnam has been very successful and we already know that Vietnam has attracted a large business community, big companies such as Samsung which Korea, Japan, Singapore. They come to invest and have an idea to set up large-scale production facilities and export to large countries, which is why Vietnam is a strong collection point that attracts large investors and technology companies. The leader of the Vietnamese Party has confirmed that 2045 will mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam, just as Vietnam has ruled the country for 100 years, and in 2045 Vietnam will develop their country into a country that have a high-income country and a country with strong human resources, using technology to further boost the economy and take advantage of the economy to develop the military, because the military and the economy will be important in two ways.

At the same time, Vietnam wants to take part in expanding the defense of its country, so they have a clear goal and about how much that they gonna spend is depends on domestic and foreign factors, domestic factors as we can see that the Communist Party of Vietnam continues to lead, but not sure that there is no problem, as I mentioned before, every day, communist leader always worries that the Vietnamese people no longer trust the Vietnamese Communist Party so the Communist Party of Vietnam need to develop itself According to the Vietnamese people and here is the reason that he saw this corruption as a big problem that caused the Vietnamese people to lose confidence in the Vietnamese ruling party, so he focused on officials at all levels. With all these exceptions, it is to build trust, continue to have the support of the people on the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the second point is that it makes the country to have transparent and whenever it is transparent, other country will  come to invest in business with them.

Third, if there is transparency, there is a policy to kick out the  corruption, the country’s revenue will increase, and they will be used to develop infrastructure, roads, airports, etc. Modernisation of trade is coming, they have a clear plan, but if it is successful, I do not know, but I see Vietnam on the right path and benefit from all circles and will be a lesson One that should be considered deeply on economic issues, I think Vietnam is focusing on diversification (network of economic relations), which is thought to be a multi-stakeholder and multilateral strategic network, and this is Vietnam is a strong country because it is a big market because it has a population of 100 million people and is a middle-class country. A big and long connection point, the country will have potential. Thank you

• What should Cambodia learn from what Vietnam has done so far?

Three points on this perspective, as Cambodia also has a famous leader, not only Vietnam, we have Samdech Norodom Sihanouk as the father of the nation, and now we have Samdech Hun Sen as an excellent guide to lead our country. There was an end to the war, there were negotiations for economic reform, not worse than Vietnam. This is a historical point that I would like to emphasize that we have at least two outstanding leaders who now Samdech Hun Sen as a guide, that he he become a leader since 1985 and Samdech’s study that we have seen is flexible and has properly assessed the world situation, and accurate assessment is very important because when assessed correctly, we can build a foreign policy on economic, military and also, if the evaluation is wrong, the policy is also wrong, this is the strength that has come to this day, including peace and the current economic reform, and we think about the issue of further development of commercial modernisation in Cambodia. Build infrastructure to increase the attractiveness of Cambodia. in here, there are three points that we can learn from them,  the first point is national unity, this national unity is very important because foreign affairs starts from this agreement if we speaking of domestic relations, and if we want diplomacy to be strong we also need people to  understand why we have to walk the path, and what we call public-private relations, including private companies, must be done to have consistent with the idea that this is a national unity with a clear goal, which is a thorn in the side and a clear direction. Many and I myself have been through a genocidal regime that would not be expected to survive to this day, and our country has experienced many situations, such as the colonial era, the encroachment on Cambodian territory, which means that there is a transition. Many problems and recovery has come to this day, we are already resilient, and another resilience is that Cambodia can be strong in the Covid 19 era, etc.

This resilience is broad, both military and economic, Second. And  third is The total strength of the nation that we have to think about human factors, a a point that Vietnam is thinking about human resource development, in Cambodia we use the word human resource. There will be high quality that people not only have knowledge but also national consciousness in the development of the country, a total of three points such as national strength, national resources and national unity are important.

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Guest Speaker: Dr. Path Kosal, Advisor of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI)

Moderator: Mr. Ton Linasopharith