April 30, 1975

April 30, 1975.  This date has been engrained in my head since I was young.  Why?  Because it was the day that Saigon fell.  Viet Cong forces took over the city, and the country became communist.  Vietnam was a domino that fell.  And I honestly can’t write this blog without crying.

I remember that when I was young, I first learned about the Vietnam War when I was in the first or second grade.  Well, I’m pretty sure my parents told me stories before, but my memory fails me.  Anyway, I was sitting on the floor and my teacher was teaching about the war.  I don’t remember what exactly what she said, but I was left with the impression that Vietnam had “won.”  The Vietnamese army was smart with their tactics and used guerilla warfare to defeat the United States.  In my head, at that time, the War was between Vietnam and the United States, and I was proud that Vietnam had defeated the US.

[I know this is wrong, and this is most likely not how my teacher taught it to me, but this is just what I got out of it – I was still speaking a lot of Vietnamese at this time.]

I only learned later that Vietnam didn’t win.  It’s not that simple.  The Vietnam War was a war between opposing ideologies: communism and democracy.  And the United States had eventually withdrawn their support for anti-communism.

From a United States standpoint, the one I was taught in the American education system, it seemed that President Richard Nixon had no choice but to back out of the war.  American troops were dying and many citizens did not support the war.  People felt that too much money was being spent, lives were being sacrificed, and no progress was being made.  In addition, the United States was only there to train and support the South Vietnamese to fight their war on their own, so the US pulled when they felt the South Vietnamese army was “ready”.

But growing up, I learned a different perspective.  My parents were teenagers when the war was occurring.  My grandparents served in the war as a doctor, a nurse, and a dignitary of the state (that’s what my dad told me).  This war is a large part of their lives.  So, I learned from them that the US knew that they could not stand against the warfare of the Viet Cong, essentially the US was in a war that they could not win.  Therefore, Nixon decided that he just needed to cut his losses.  However, Nixon promised “peace”, and the United States was the most powerful country in the world, so this was easily thought as betrayal.

To this day, many people still feel this way.

Because when North Vietnam won and Vietnam was reunified, there was an exodus of people.  People left everything.  They had to.   And leaving was not easy.  Not under this new form of government.

My family members have their own stories, and they’re scattered in many places in the world right now because of it.  One of my uncles was caught on the shores of Vietnam twice and brought back to the city by force before he was lucky to be rescued by a Japanese ship on his third try.  He actually stayed in Japan for an entire year before making it to the States.  My aunt was pregnant with her first child and she actually gave birth to my cousin on a refugee island, officially a part of Malaysia or Indonesia (not quite sure which country it was).  Another one of my uncles was rescued by the United States, on a barge that looked like this:

Source: http://www.army.mil/article/81143/Vietnamese_DLA_employee_proud_of_heritage__U_S_/

I am not asking for anyone to feel sorry because countless other people have had similar stories like these.  I would just like to take a moment to remember.

Many of my family members have escaped Vietnam, but I am sure that there are people that want to leave but can’t.

On April 30^th, 2014, it was the 39^th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, a day that changed the lives of millions of people.  I was slightly peeved that many people here were more concerned about the 10^th Anniversary of the release of Mean Girls, but that’s okay.

But, on that day, my parents went to participate in a parade that celebrated the soldiers that were in the war and are alive today.  In addition, my dad went to protest against the Vietnamese government and Chinese influence.   They chanted, “Freedom – for Vietnam”.  I am so inspired by my parents and other family members that are still involved in things like this.  Even though they have been away from Vietnam for many decades and haven’t returned, they still have a sense of belonging to the country.

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/vietnam-612168-saigon-westminster.html

Many people still don’t know that Vietnam is constantly under pressures of imperialism.  There is constant worry and concern about whether Vietnam will be taken over by China.  This is why it is so important to have a strong economy and strong military.  My dad says that Vietnam could go to war at any time against China.

As of now, I would take to take a moment to remember the day that has been an integral part of my life (as it affected the people I love and I may not be here had it not happened), and the country I will traveling to for my practice experience.

Stock Exchange and Coffee in Viet Nam

These last few weeks, I have been gathering a lot of information on and learning about Viet Nam and its political economy.

Here are some trends on its market:

• “Vietnam’s stock market has been among the world’s leaders year-to-date.” The Vietnam Stock Exchange Index (VNI) has increased by 10.3% in January 2014.
• The reason that is attributed to this growth is due to a high level of foreign direct investment (FDI).  According to Andy Ho, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of VinaCapital, many countries are investing in Viet Nam is because it seems to be relatively more stable than many emerging markets. "Vietnam has basically shined above other emerging markets in terms of economic and political stability which has attracted a lot of investors to look at Vietnam," he says.
• The stability has lasted for 2 to 3 years now and is an indicator that Viet Nam is not such a risky invesmtment.
• International investors are looking for business in emerging markets, but there are only a few viable choices because of a lot of currency volatility in the emerging economies. “Vietnam, with a stable Vietnamese Dong against the U.S. dollar and no political unrest coupled with a steady and growing GDP and a large population becomes awfully interesting at this time,” Andy explains.

It seems that on the macro-level, in the perspective of one stock exchange fund, Vietnam seems to be doing well.  It has been receiving foreign investments, which increases capital into the country.

Source: Vietnam's Market Emerging Again With Vietnam Opportunity Fund's Andy Ho

Furthermore, I wanted to analyze Viet Nam on a micro-level too, on a related note to the stock exchange and my practice experience.  I decided to read an article about Viet Nam’s  coffee.  Who doesn’t love a cup of cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee)?  The price of coffee in the world comes from the New York and London Stock Exchange.  Within the past few decades, Viet Nam has become a large participant in the global coffee market, being behind only Brazil in exports.

An article from Business Recorder stated that “Vietnam coffee prices climbed about 2 percent to 38,500-38,600 dong ($1.83) per kg on Tuesday (February 24^th, 2014), the highest since August last year … ”  The increase in price is probably due to the drought and water damage that is occurring in other coffee-growing places in the world.

From what I learned from GPP 115 and “Black Gold,” the price of coffee is low, but still volatile.  Right now, Vietnamese growers and exporters are playing a game of when to best sell their coffee beans.  Should they wait to see if the price of coffee increases?  If they do that, there is always a risk that they will decrease.  But, as of now, the trend of coffee price seems to be positive.  However, they are hopeful that the price of coffee will continue to rise, maybe up to 45,000 dong.

Source: Vietnam’s Coffee Prices Jump

The following is a video of the role of coffee farming in Viet Nam.

The video demonstrates strong faith in the coffee industry in Viet Nam.  Trung Nguyen Coffee plans to dominate the coffee industry.  In addition, despite the Starbucks that opened in Saigon last year, the Vietnamese locals still prefer Vietnamese style coffee (individual drip coffees).

Overall, it seems that there are positive trends in Viet Nam.  The dollar is stable, as pegged to the United States dollar. There is strong foreign investment, which means that there is something about the country that seems to be viable in getting returns on investments.  However, these are just two aspects of a very complex society.  This is something that I must careful and critical about because even though these parts seem to be good, there are many parts in Viet Nam that may be disadvantaged.