#文章首发挑战赛#
Vietnam's GDP in 2022 will exceed 400 billion US dollars, and it is also a large country with a population of more than 98 million, although it cannot be compared with China, but the young and middle-aged labor force has also reached an astonishing 50 million, so in the previous new round of industrial transfer, it has become an important target for many multinational companies to carry out labor-intensive industrial transfer, in addition to clothing and footwear companies such as Nike Adi, Samsung, Nvidia and other electronics companies have also set up factories in Vietnam, which once made Vietnam known as the new "world factory". ”。
However, although the name is loud, in fact, the strength of Vietnam's manufacturing industry is just like that, and the main advantage is only cheap labor, so the follow-up development momentum is insufficient. Therefore, Vietnam has not gained much international strategic status as a result, although it is an important member of ASEAN and a member of APEC, it is only an existence similar to most countries in Southeast Asia.
However, since the beginning of this year, the situation has suddenly undergone a tremendous change, and in addition to China, which is closely related to it, has given it full attention, the United States, which is thousands of miles away, has actually cast an olive branch, not only sending Secretary of State Blinken, the "second-in-command" of the US government, to visit Vietnam in April this year, but also directly visiting President Biden, the "number one" in September, and directly elevating the diplomatic relations between the two countries to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Before that, Vietnam had only maintained diplomatic relations at this level with China, Russia, India, and South Korea. What's more, the United States and Vietnam, which were sworn enemies of the war for more than 20 years, were able to form a relationship of such a level, and it is obvious that the United States is trying its best to win them over. In the Vietnam War, the United States withdrew as a defeated player, and now it can pull down its face and make friends with Vietnam, but there must be no good thing behind it. It is probably because of Vietnam's strategic location close to the west of the South China Sea, as well as its 3,260-kilometer coastline, and at the same time directly facing the Strait of Malacca to the south, and excellent ports such as Cam Ranh Bay and Da Nang along the coast, it is one of the important forces to guard the passage from the South China Sea to Malacca. In addition, the existence of a dispute with China over Nansha islands and reefs can become an important starting point for the United States to "do things" in the South China Sea.
Therefore, the United States is wishful thinking that if Vietnam can become a pawn like the Philippines, or at least be able to stand on the opposite side of China and continue to do things in the South China Sea, it will be able to serve the purpose of counterbalancing China's development. Not long ago, however, the mainland leader visited Vietnam upon invitation and brought two "great gifts" to Vietnam.
Does the mainland also want to "woo" Vietnam? Is Vietnam worth the two special "gifts" given by the leaders during their visit to Vietnam?
In order to balance the mainland, the United States has elevated its relationship with Vietnam to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Unexpectedly, as soon as the mainland leaders went to Vietnam, China and Vietnam would become a community with a shared future, and the relationship would not only be at a higher level, but also significantly larger. Compared with the "co-optation" of the United States, the mainland advocates a win-win cooperation path of mutual dependence and common development. You must know that this is not a big and empty slogan, the proposal of a community with a shared future for mankind, and the construction of a community of shared future countries, the core behind it is development rather than confrontation, although China and Vietnam have been at war, but more are mutual economic and trade ties.
Now Vietnam can become the second country to build a shared future with the mainland after Laos, in addition to the historical exchanges between China and Vietnam and the two parties as a accumulation, the most important thing is the economy and development behind it. In 2022, the bilateral trade volume between China and Vietnam will reach 234.9 billion US dollars, which is equivalent to half of the country's development for Vietnam, which has a GDP of 400 billion yuan a year.
China has also been Vietnam's largest trading partner for nearly 10 consecutive years, and Vietnam has gradually become the mainland's fourth largest trading partner. Such close ties with each other have made Vietnam willing to develop higher-level relations with the mainland despite its differences. Building a community with a shared future is China's first gift to Vietnam, which represents Vietnam's inseparable relationship with China, which also means that even if Vietnam is on good terms with the United States, it will not be on the premise of harming China's interests.
The second major gift was the signing of 37 important cooperation agreements between the two sides, the most notable of which is China's assistance to Vietnam to invest in the construction of railways from Kunming in China to Lao Cai and Hanoi to the port city of Haiphong, which will be renovated and built according to Chinese standards. For a long time, Vietnam's main railway was built during the colonial period, and the adoption of Chinese standards not only means that it has achieved real "integration" with China, but also facilitates the transportation of goods between China and Vietnam.
It is also a path for China to radiate to the Indochina Peninsula and connect the countries of the wider ASEAN region, with road transportation as a medium to connect development, it is an important strategic node of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Vietnam occupies the position of the bridgehead of the entire Indochina Peninsula and will play a more huge role.
Therefore, Vietnam is important enough to the mainland, and it is equally important to the development of the whole of Asia, but the mainland does not need to be co-opted, and the stakes of national development directly make Vietnam make the right choice.