Category English Writings
Thirty years of change
Bài mới của mình trên tờ Mekong Review (https://mekongreview.com/), một quarterly journal do Minh Bui Jones, founder của tờ the Diplomat sáng lập, với hy vọng tạo thành một kiểu New Yorker của Đông Nam Á. Các bạn ở Hà Nội có thể tìm đọc tờ báo in bán tại Tadioto, 25 Tông Đản. Mình […]
New rule-based order needed to save the Mekong
As Vietnam suffers its worst drought in nearly a century and Cambodia faces a water shortage that could jeopardise the livelihoods of 1.5 million people, debates have been reignited over the mega dams built along the Mekong. Once referred to as ‘one of the world’s last great stretches of undammed river‘, the Mekong could well […]
Vietnam’s China challenge
After one of the most highly contested Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) elections to date, the incumbent General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected to the top post of the Vietnamese regime in late January. But victory in the elections is just the first challenge in Trong’s five-year term. The next major challenge for the new […]
Vietnam’s banking system: Drowning in the debt
While Vietnam’s non-performing loans take a heavy toll on the economy, authorities’ efforts to tackle the problem remain in their infancy By Khac Giang Nguyen Early this year, the Vietnamese central bank had quite a serious quarrel with Moody’s, one of the world’s big-three rating agencies. Moody’s estimated on February 18 that non-performing loans (NPLs) […]
The Chinese trade behemoth
To avoid losing out in trade pacts with China, Asean must move up the value chain and increase its competitiveness No country has more advantages to trade with Asean member states than China. Benefitting from its vicinity to the region and a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the bloc, signed more than a decade ago, China is […]
China-Vietnam dispute in a nutshell
The recent tensions between Vietnam and China have rocked the peaceful Asia-Pacific region. Here is the basic background. As a Vietnamese national, I try to keep this as objective as possible. What happened? In early May 2014, China moved a giant drilling rig, named HD-981, into the area claimed by both China and […]
The oxen and communism
Progress has always been an exciting topic for human being. As a curious creature, we tend to see things in a line: both backward and forward. Throwing a ball into the room, the dogs will run after it while a man will look for where it is from and heading to. For kids, the curiosity […]
