Viet Nam

Note: This column mainly includes countries along the Belt and Road and countries that have signed cooperation agreements with China on Belt and Road Initiative.

Viet Nam is located on the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia, bordering China to the North, Laos and Cambodia tothe West, and the Eastern Sea (South China Sea) of Pacific Ocean to the East.

Climate
Viet Nam is located in the tropical zone. Its climate is characterized by high temperature and humidity all year round. The Northern part has more or lessmainland climate.
Viet Nam’s climate changes by seasons and by regions from the lowland to thehighland, from North to South and from East to West.
There are two major climate regions in Viet Nam: (1) Northern Viet Nam (fromHai Van Pass northwards) has a highly humid tropical monsoon climate with fourdistinguishable seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter) and is influencedby the Northeast and Southeast monsoon. (2) Southern Viet Nam (from Hai VanPass southwards) has a rather moderate tropical climate given the weakinfluence of monsoon and is characterized by dry and rainy seasons and warmweather all year round.
The average temperature in Viet Nam varies between 21°C and 27°C and graduallyincreases from the North to the South. In the summer, the average temperatureis 25°C (Hanoi 23°C, Hue 25°C, Ho Chi Minh City 26°C). In the winter, thetemperature in the North reaches the lowest in December and January. InNorthern mountainous regions like Sa Pa, Tam Dao and Hoang Lien Son, thetemperature sometimes reaches 0°C with snow.
The annual average rainfall stands between 1,500 mm and 2,000 mm. Air humidityis around 80%. Viet Nam is prone to natural disasters like typhoons, floods anddroughts.

Population
With 85,789,573 people (as of 1 April 2009), Viet Nam ranks 13th among the mostpopulous countries in the world. 30% live in urban areas and 70% in ruralareas. People aged 15 to 60 account for 60% of the country’s population. Totalwork force in all economic sectors is around 45 million people (2008 figure).Ho Chi Minh City (7.1 million people) and Ha Noi (6.44 million people) are themost populous cities.
Average life expectancy is 73.

Ethnicity
Viet Nam is a multi-ethnic country with 54 ethnic groups coexisting peacefully,among which Kinh people account for 86% of the population. The majority of theother 53 ethnic groups are scattered over mountainous areas and the midland,particularly ones in Northern and Northern Central region.
Ethnic minorities have uneven development levels. All ethnic groups have theirown unique cultures. Their beliefs and religions are also diverse.

Language
Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam. Foreign language learning,particularly English, is popular among young people in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City,Hue, Da Nang and other cities. Tourist guides can speak English, French,Russian, Chinese and Japanese.

Constitution and Political System

Constitution

The current Constitution was adopted bythe 8th National Assembly in 1992 and was supplemented and amended in 2001 atthe 10th session of the 10th National Assembly. The 1992 Constitution inheritsfrom and builds on previous Constitutions (1946, 1959, and 1980). The 1992Constitution is the fundamental legal document of highest legal jurisdictionthat institutionalizes basic viewpoints of the Communist Party of Viet Nam oneconomic and political reforms, socialist goals, socialist democracy and citizens’freedom rights. The 1992 Constitution consists of a preamble and 7 chapterswith 147 articles clearly stipulating the country’s political regime, economic,cultural, education, and science and technology systems, fundamental rights andduties of the citizens, national assembly, state president, government,people’s councils and committees, people’s court and procuracy, national flag,national emblem, national anthem, national day, capital and constitutionamendment.
The Constitution clearly indicates that the state power is in the hand of thepeople. The State is of the people, by the people and for the people. The Stateensures and constantly promotes the people’s right to mastery in all fields andimplements the policy of equality, unity and mutual assistance among ethnicgroups. The people use the state power through the National Assembly andpeople’s councils. These agencies are elected by the people, representing theirwill and aspiration.
The Constitution endows all citizens (men or women alike) with equal rights inall political, economic, cultural and social areas as well as in familyaffairs, the right to freedom of belief and religion, the right to follow ornot to follow any religion, the right to freedom of movement and residencewithin Viet Nam, the right to go abroad and return home as stipulated by laws,etc.

Political System
The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is a law-governed state. The politicalsystem was established upon the birth of the Democratic Republic of Viet Namand comprises the following:
The Communist Party of Viet Nam is the vanguard of the Vietnamese workingclass, the working people, and the whole nation; a loyal representative of theinterests of the working class, the working people, and the whole nation.

People in the political system: As themaker of history, the people constitute the decisive force in the process ofsocial evolution and make up the current political system in Viet Nam. Allpowers belong to the people and their powers are exercised through the State. TheState regulates the society by laws under the leadership of the Communist Partyof Viet Nam.
The State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is the central organization andthe pillar of the political system that realizes the will and power of thepeople, acts on behalf of the people and is accountable to the people for themanagement of all activities of the social life and in domestic and externalaffairs.

The National Assembly is the highest-levelrepresentative body of the people; the highest organ of state power of theSocialist Republic of Viet Nam; the National Assembly exercises three mainfunctions: to legislate, to decide on important national issues, to exercisesupreme supervision over all activities of the State

The State President is the Head of State,elected by the National Assembly from among its deputies to represent theSocialist Republic of Viet Nam in domestic and foreign affairs. The Presidenthas twelve powers as provided by the Constitution, of which the most importantare to declare the promulgation of the Constitution, laws and ordinances,to head the all people’s armed forces and assume the Chairmanship of theNational Defence and Security Council, to recommend to the National Assemblythe election, removal or dismissal of the Vice President, the Prime Minister,Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, and Head of the People'sProcuracy.

The Government is the highest body ofState administration of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. The Government hasthe same term of office as the National Assembly. The Government administersthe implementation of the State’s affairs in the fields of politics, economics,culture, society, national defense and security and foreign relations; ensuresthe efficiency of the State apparatus from central to grassroots levels;assures that the Constitution and laws are respected and executed; andguarantees the sustainability and improvement of the people’s material andspiritual life.
The Government consists of Prime Minister, who is a National Assembly deputy asprovided by the Constitution, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and othermembers.
People's Courts: The Supreme People's Court, local People's Courts, MilitaryTribunals and the other tribunals established by law are the judicial organs ofthe Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Under special circumstances, the NationalAssembly may decide to set up a Special Tribunal. During trials, the Jury isequal to and independent from judges and shall only obey the law. Trials areheld publicly except in cases stipulated by laws. Judgments of the People'sCourts are made collectively and decided by majority.

The Supreme People's Court is the highestjudicial organ of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. It supervises and directsthe judicial work of local People's Courts, Military Tribunals, SpecialTribunals and other tribunals, unless otherwise prescribed by the NationalAssembly at the establishment of such Tribunals.
People's Procuracies: The Supreme People's Procuracy oversees the enforcementof the law by Ministries, Ministerial–level organs, other Government agencies,local administration, economic entities, mass organizations, people's militaryorgans and citizens. It exercises the right to prosecution, ensures serious anduniform implementation of the law. Local People's Procuracy and MilitaryProcuracy oversee the execution of the law and exercise the right toprosecution as stipulated by the law.

Social-Political Organizations andPeople’s Associations: These are organizations representing the interests ofdifferent social communities participating into the political system with theirown principles, purposes, and features. There are currently major social-politicalorganizations in Viet Nam such as the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, VietnameseTrade Union, Vietnamese Women’s Union, Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, andVeterans Association and other professional organizations.

Economy

Vietnam is now focusing on restructruringthe economy and our growth model, with emphasis given a reform of theinvestment model, restructure the financial and banking systems and reform andreduce the number of state-owned enterprises. Vietnam will also place priorityto maintaining social welfare, steping-up the fight against corruption,accelerating administrative reform and intensifying poverty alleviation andhunger eradication activities.

One of the main focus is the process ofeccelerating the restructuring of SOEs, with focus on consolidating andincreasing efficiency. The number of SOEs has reduced from 12000 in 1990 to1000 now and will be down to 500 in the next four years. All SOEs are plannedto be equitized this year. Only SOEs of core, strategic industries, likeenergy, heavy equipment, infrastructure... are retained because theseindustries in Vietnam are still in the process of developing.

In the long term, as detailed in the Socialand Economic Strategy for 2011 – 2020, Vietnam will focus on 3 goals: i)building market economy institutions and mechanism, with emphasis on a fair,transparent, efficient business environment being supported by a streamlinedbureaucracy; ii) developing human resources, especially high-skilled resources;and iii) building integrated infractructure to support growth.

Source: vietnamembassy-usa.org