Report on EUROVIET IV, Passau, 16-18 September 1999
In the middle of September last year, a sunny Bavarian late summer saw a number of experts convene in Passau for three days in order to discuss current developments in Vietnam. Under the title 'The Economic Crisis and Vietnam`s Integration into Southeast Asia' over twenty papers were discussed that comprised not only a survey of the economic indicators of the impact of the Asian crisis in Vietnam but also focussed on social consequences and government policies to alleviate the situation. Also the consequences of the crisis for the process of Vietnam`s increasing integration in the region, partly through its membership of ASEAN, and the security situation in the South China Sea were the object of debate. The participants of the conference were a balanced mixture of representatives of both Vietnam itself and countries were Vietnam-studies are prominent among Southeast Asian studies in general. Among the nine Vietnamese representatives were academic staff of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh University but also officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. A a special guest the Vice-Ambassador of Vietnam in Germany, Mr. Tran Ngoc Quyen, attended the conference. Besides that, European researchers from Germany, Holland, the Nordic countries, Russia and France took part as well as several Americans.
The keynote speech was held by Prof. Carlyle Thayer, who clearly illustrated how the impact of the crisis necessitates a clear-cut domestic policy response from Vietnam, which seems to be poised between a stepped-up doi moi-2 and a wait-and-see policy. After an analysis of recent macro-economic trends in the country by two Vietnamese economists (Phan Thanh Ha and Le Hong Truong), the implication of the Asian financial crisis on Vietnam's relations with the region were analysed by Khu Thi Tuyet Mai and Ramses Amer. Tran Thi Anh Dao showed how the recent growth of trade linkages and intra-regional production units has exacerbated the vulnerability for a crisis. In a historical section, two French researchers focussed on regional integration of an earlier kind (Sophie Reig on Cochinchina’s integration in Indochina and Southeast Asia) and on current account balances of the 1940s until the 1970s (Hugues Tertrais). There were two contributions on the ways in which Vietnam should model its future finance architecture (Gottwald/Klump, Galina Birina).
One group of papers interpreted the consequences of the economic problems for both the domestic economy, especially employment (Vu Van Toan, Irene Nørlund, Nguyen Thi Hoa) and big industrial estate projects (Laurence Nguyen). Long-term patterns of urbanisation (Ton Nu Quynh Tran) and entrepreneurial culture (Mutz/Meyer-Tran/Wolff) were highlighted as well. The last group of contributions aimed to put Vietnamese foreign policy and growing integration into the region into the perspective of the implications of the crisis. Le Linh Lan gave a survey of Vietnam`s relations with ASEAN, Ngo Dang Tri discussed the basic tenets of the Vietnamese Communist Party`s view on foreign relations. The issue of the contested islands in the South China Sea was explained by Stein Tønnesson, whereas Nguyen Van Lich described the foreign orientation of Ho Chi Minh City. Finally, possible future development paradigms were discussed by Tim Goydke (referring to Japan) and Pascal Bergeret, putting forard the hypothesis that maintaining the socialist market economy model might lead to a development strategy promoting agriculture more than industry.
The level of the discussions, held mainly in English but also in French and sometimes Vietnamese, was high and showed how a current theme with a clear focus allows for a fruitful cross-disciplinary exchange of thoughts, in which the Vietnamese guests were highly engaged. During the conference a new book on rural Vietnam was presented: Bernhard Dahm & Vincent houben (eds.), Vietnamese Villages in Transition. Background and Consequences of Reform Policies in Rural Vietnam. Passau: Lehrstuhl für Südostasienkunde 1999, 224 pages. A publication of a selection of the conference papers by the organizers of EUROVIET IV is envisaged.
Martin Großheim and Vincent Houben