Vol 8, No 4 (2024)

The article examines the state and prospects of relations between Japan and Vietnam, two key East Asian states, in the trade and economic field, as well as in the field of security in the context of the international situation in the Asia-Pacific region. By now, the two countries have become closely linked in both trade and investment. Japan and Vietnam have complementary economic structures and comparative advantages that create opportunities for the development of mutually beneficial economic relations. Vietnam is a very attractive target for Japanese investment and the largest recipient of Japanese ODA (Official Development Assistance). At the same time, Vietnamese investments are beginning to flow into the high-tech sector of the Japanese economy. An important factor in the bilateral ties is the large number of Vietnamese labour migrants in Japan.

In light of the growing confrontation between the United States and China, relations with Japan are becoming an important direction of Hanoi's multi-vector foreign policy, called “bamboo diplomacy”. In recent years the two countries’ cooperation in the field of security has come to the fore in the overall complex of bilateral relations with the goal of jointly opposing China’s “maritime expansion”. The important role of two countries for each other in the basic areas of international cooperation in the foreseeable future will increase and create prerequisites for the emergence of an informal Tokyo-Hanoi axis.

Vietnam’s human rights protection in general and human rights diplomacy in particular have achieved many positive results in recent years. However, some Western reports issued in early 2024 still make unobjective comments about Vietnam’s efforts. This article is made to clarify Vietnam’s views and achievements in human rights diplomacy over the past time, in which the results of vaccine diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic to realize the statement “Leave No One Behind” and the settlement of international issues on religion-human rights will be analyzed in detail to prove it. The article also draws some relevant experiences and implications to further improve the effectiveness of human rights diplomacy in Vietnam in the coming time.

The focus of this paper is to try to find out what has happened to Prime Minister’s Decision No. 531/QD-TTg “Approving the general strategy for development of the Vietnamese services sector for 2021-2030, and the vision for the period to 2050” [1/4/2021]. This has been done primarily by examining relevant official documents, accessed through the large online database https://thuvienphapluat.vn; this is easily searchable and offers paid translations of official documents, though here the author use Vietnamese language texts and give his own translations. The author also reports what appears to have been happening to GDP, and the results of a cursory look at the topic online (searching in Vietnamese). The policy, as there seems to be as yet no clear articulated instrumental narrative, yet a clear focus on supporting an existing trend, appears to ‘follow reality’ and can therefore be labelled “post hoc”.

In the process of colonial conquest, beside political and economic strategies, Western powers continually sought to establish hill stations as “sanctuaries from the death in the tropics”. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, French colonialism in Vietnam intensified their exploration and search for places in the midlands and mountainous areas to establish hill stations. These stations served as retreats for vacationing, recuperation, and cure during summers, eliminating the need for travel to distant lands. This article aims to answer the question of the reasons and conditions that led the colonial authorities to choose locations for establishing these mountain resorts. It elucidates the process of formation and development of Tam Dao (Vinh Yen province), in comparison with Da Lat (Central Highlands) and Sapa (Northwest region). The article contributes to sparking further research on this intriguing topic in the modern history of Vietnam, particularly in Vĩnh Yên.

The rich and priceless ideological heritage system of Ho Chi Minh is influenced by Buddhism with its core values of humanism, worldview focused on pursuing idea of “the true, the good, the beautiful”, on “compassion, sympathy, joy, equanimity”, on “impermanence, selflessness, altruism”, on saving the suffering, living a good and moral life… The core idea of Buddhism is one of the cultural thoughts that had a great influence on the process of forming Ho Chi Minh’s worldview. The combination of Buddhist thought and Ho Chi Minh’s worldview is the combination of converging lenses of nation and Buddhism, life and religion, in connection with Ho Chi Minh's lofty human values.

This review analyzes latest findings of research on Vietnam presented at the international scientific conference "Actual Problems of Vietnamese Studies" (October 2024) at the ICCA RAS. The forum touched upon both the modern problems of Vietnam's development, as well as historical topics, and traditional society. The scholars examined a wide range of issues of domestic and foreign policy of the SRV, economic cooperation with its main partners, including Russia, China, and the United States. The results of the studies on philology, culture, history and archaeology are presented too.

The full text of the Joint statement on elevating Viet Nam–France ties to comprehensive strategic partnership adopted on October 8, 2024 in Paris, is given.

The review examines the book “Discovering Vietnam’s Ancient Capital. The Archaeology and History of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long–Hanoi”, published in 2024 in Singapore. The discovery at the beginning of the XXI century and further archaeological excavations of the Thang Long citadel in Hanoi became one of the most important stages in the study of the history and culture of Vietnam. Vietnamese and foreign experts in various fields of humanitarian studies – history and archaeology, chronology and reconstruction of the historical past – participated in the preparation of this monograph.