It has been a while since I last updated the blog. It has been quite a busy year so far for me -and, I guess, for other Vietnam watchers as well. I just wanted to share a bit about my recent work commitments.
In February 2024, I went to India for the first time to join a very interesting summit on the prospect of Indian defense exports. I offered my views on the India – Southeast Asian relations, and was humbled to hear opinions from other experts including Chairman of DRDO Samir V. Kamat, former Israelis PM Ehud Olmert, and former State Minister of Defence Yasuhide Nakayama. My panel can be viewed on YouTube.
In early March, I returned to Hanoi for a closed conference organized by SEB Bank (Sweden), where I had the opportunity to discuss Vietnam’s foreign policy with the great James Crabtree and my ISEAS colleague Hoang Thi Ha. Unfortunately, I left just a few days before the resignation of President Vo Van Thuong, so I couldn’t really explore the mood of such a crucial event in Hanoi.
Upon returning to Australia, I participated in a very exciting workshop on “Future proofing the public sphere” organized by Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (University of Canberra), and the DMRC at Queensand University of Technology. I had the chance to present my preliminary research on “The Power and Limits of Digitalized Authoritarian Deliberation: Insights from Vietnam,” for which I received very helpful feedbacks from my mentors, UC’s Nicole Curato and University of Melbourne’s Sofya Glazunova.
I’ve continued to write my monthly English column on Fulcrum, mostly focusing on Vietnamese politics. My latest one (February 2024) was about the question over Vietnam’s labour ‘export’. I also wrote a Perspective – a long essay – assessing Vietnam’s fight against Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and its implications for its domestic and foreign policies.
I haven’t been able to write as much in Vietnamese as I like, but I contributed a long feature for the Saigon Times early this year on how a one-party state can be accountable to its population. I argue that within the boudary of a one-party rule, the state can in fact be held accountable to maintain its legitimate rule. The article follows my Chapter on the Accountability system in Vietnam in an edited book “Vì một Việt Nam dân giàu nước mạnh” (For a prosperous future of Vietnam) by Waseda Professor Tran Van Tho and veteran journalist and Saigon scholar Tran Huu Phuc Tien, published December 2023.
Once in a while, I also contribute to bao Nhan Dan (Vietnam’s People’s Daily) – as a way to offer my views on various issues through the official party channel (where party officials most likely read). This time, I wrote how to build a sustainable, innovation-led bureacracy when cadres are more concerned about the risks of being drawn into the “Blazing Furnace”.
April will be an exciting month in terms of work schedule. I’ll be speaking with Young Professional Network – the Canadian International Council, on researching ASEAN, its topics, methodologies, and related issues on April 5 (5.30AM Hanoi time, very early there!). If you’re interested, you can join by registering in this link.
I will also join Tran Le Quynh, a researcher at Amnesty International, London and former Senior Journalist at BBC, on a ISEAS Webinar on Vietnam’s Elite Politics and Implications for Leadership Transition. This will be organized on April 8, 3-4.15PM Singapore Time. You can register to join it here.
(The picture shows a residential area near Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi. It bears a striking resemblance to certain places in Vietnam and possibly other developing Asian cities too. This observation leads me to ponder the implications of urbanization on politics, as Vietnam will aggressively urbanize in the coming time).
Khac Giang's blog 