December 31, 2007
Eye on Asia
Radio Singapore International
In January, Vietnam will become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the first time. This is a crowning achievement for Hanoi and caps a ten-year effort to build up Vietnam’s international profile.
However, Vietnamese leaders are wary about the kinds of new responsibilities that will come with Security Council membership. Rather than sit back and react to global developments, Vietnam has deliberately sought to make an active contribution to peace on the Korean peninsula. In doing so, Vietnam has received the backing of South Korea and encouragement from the United States.
The Cold War left both Vietnam and Korea divided. Hanoi and Pyongyang exchanged diplomatic relations in 1950. In 1957, Kim Il-sung and Ho Chi Minh exchanged presidential visits. During the Vietnam War, North Korea secretly sent pilots to help defend North Vietnam. Some perished in combat.
But not all has been smooth sailing between these communist states. Relations were strained during Vietnam’s decade long occupation of Cambodia in the 1980s. North Korea provided sanctuary to Norodom Sihanouk, the leader of the anti-Vietnamese resistance. Relations soured again in 1992 when Vietnam recognized Seoul and developed a substantial commercial relationship.
And relations were frayed in 2004 when Vietnam permitted several hundred North Korean refugees who arrived on its soil to be resettled in South Korea.
Since then, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has moved through several periods of crisis before entering its current positive phase within the framework of the Six Party Talks between China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas.
As a spin off to these talks, Vietnam hosted bilateral discussions on normalization between Japan and North Korea.
Vietnam has also initiated its own diplomacy towards Pyongyang. In mid-October this year, party Secretary General Nong Duc Manh and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem paid an official visit to North Korea.
Manh and Khiem then traveled to Seoul to further develop the already substantial bilateral commercial relationship. South Korea is currently Vietnam’s leading foreign investor. Manh briefed his counterpart on his visit to Pyongyang and declared that Vietnam was ready to play an active role in enhancing stability on the Korean peninsula.
In late October, Premier Kim Yong-Il made a reciprocal visit to Vietnam. In addition to holding discussions with his hosts, Kim visited the coal mining province of Quang Nam, tourism facilities in Ha Long Bay, the port of Hai Phong and the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.
From all these diplomatic initiatives signs are emerging that North Korea is looking closely and seriously at Vietnamese economic reforms known collectively as doi moi. The Chinese language media in Hong Kong reported that President Kim Jong-Il reportedly told Secretary General Manh that North Korea would adopt the Vietnamese model of reform and openness.
Perhaps more significantly, Vietnam has been able to ally some of Pyongyang’s suspicions about opening up to the outside world. During a research trip to Hanoi earlier this month, I was able to learn first hand from Vietnamese diplomats how isolated and distrustful North Korean officials really are about the motives of their closest neighbours as well as the United States.
Vietnam has been able to share some pertinent lessons from its experiences in dealing with Washington. After all, Vietnam suffered from a U.S.-imposed embargo that lasted three decades before both sides normalized diplomatic relations and developed a growing commercial relationship.
What is in store in the immediate future? Presidents Kim Jong-Il and Nguyen Minh Triet are likely to exchange visits in the new year. Vietnamese officials report that North Korea will send junior diplomats to study at the Institute of International Relations in Hanoi. Vietnam will quietly encourage North Korea on its present path. Both sides will also seek to promote cooperation in agriculture and science and technology.
The world has long become accustomed to Vietnam’s economic success and its rise as Asia’s next dragon. As Vietnam’s new foreign policy activism indicates, economic success has bred political confidence. Vietnam has shrewdly chosen the Korean issue to demonstrate that it can contribute to resolving international issues and is therefore worthy of a seat on the UN Security Council.
This is Carlyle Thayer, Professor of Politics at The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.
However, Vietnamese leaders are wary about the kinds of new responsibilities that will come with Security Council membership. Rather than sit back and react to global developments, Vietnam has deliberately sought to make an active contribution to peace on the Korean peninsula. In doing so, Vietnam has received the backing of South Korea and encouragement from the United States.
The Cold War left both Vietnam and Korea divided. Hanoi and Pyongyang exchanged diplomatic relations in 1950. In 1957, Kim Il-sung and Ho Chi Minh exchanged presidential visits. During the Vietnam War, North Korea secretly sent pilots to help defend North Vietnam. Some perished in combat.
But not all has been smooth sailing between these communist states. Relations were strained during Vietnam’s decade long occupation of Cambodia in the 1980s. North Korea provided sanctuary to Norodom Sihanouk, the leader of the anti-Vietnamese resistance. Relations soured again in 1992 when Vietnam recognized Seoul and developed a substantial commercial relationship.
And relations were frayed in 2004 when Vietnam permitted several hundred North Korean refugees who arrived on its soil to be resettled in South Korea.
Since then, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has moved through several periods of crisis before entering its current positive phase within the framework of the Six Party Talks between China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas.
As a spin off to these talks, Vietnam hosted bilateral discussions on normalization between Japan and North Korea.
Vietnam has also initiated its own diplomacy towards Pyongyang. In mid-October this year, party Secretary General Nong Duc Manh and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem paid an official visit to North Korea.
Manh and Khiem then traveled to Seoul to further develop the already substantial bilateral commercial relationship. South Korea is currently Vietnam’s leading foreign investor. Manh briefed his counterpart on his visit to Pyongyang and declared that Vietnam was ready to play an active role in enhancing stability on the Korean peninsula.
In late October, Premier Kim Yong-Il made a reciprocal visit to Vietnam. In addition to holding discussions with his hosts, Kim visited the coal mining province of Quang Nam, tourism facilities in Ha Long Bay, the port of Hai Phong and the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.
From all these diplomatic initiatives signs are emerging that North Korea is looking closely and seriously at Vietnamese economic reforms known collectively as doi moi. The Chinese language media in Hong Kong reported that President Kim Jong-Il reportedly told Secretary General Manh that North Korea would adopt the Vietnamese model of reform and openness.
Perhaps more significantly, Vietnam has been able to ally some of Pyongyang’s suspicions about opening up to the outside world. During a research trip to Hanoi earlier this month, I was able to learn first hand from Vietnamese diplomats how isolated and distrustful North Korean officials really are about the motives of their closest neighbours as well as the United States.
Vietnam has been able to share some pertinent lessons from its experiences in dealing with Washington. After all, Vietnam suffered from a U.S.-imposed embargo that lasted three decades before both sides normalized diplomatic relations and developed a growing commercial relationship.
What is in store in the immediate future? Presidents Kim Jong-Il and Nguyen Minh Triet are likely to exchange visits in the new year. Vietnamese officials report that North Korea will send junior diplomats to study at the Institute of International Relations in Hanoi. Vietnam will quietly encourage North Korea on its present path. Both sides will also seek to promote cooperation in agriculture and science and technology.
The world has long become accustomed to Vietnam’s economic success and its rise as Asia’s next dragon. As Vietnam’s new foreign policy activism indicates, economic success has bred political confidence. Vietnam has shrewdly chosen the Korean issue to demonstrate that it can contribute to resolving international issues and is therefore worthy of a seat on the UN Security Council.
This is Carlyle Thayer, Professor of Politics at The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.
