Vol 1, No 4 (2014)

The collection «The Vietnamese studies. Vol. IV» consists of five sections. The first is «The Foreign policy of Vietnam». It offers quite an informative article of Pham Xuan Son (the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Russia and Doctor of Laws) on the foreign policy of Vietnam in light of the decisions of the latest XI Congress of the CPV. Having talked about the open, multi-vector policy of his country and the strengthening of its international position and growth of prestige in the global community, the author also described the importance of a comprehensive strategic partnership relations between Russia and Vietnam as a factor of peace and stability in the Southeast Asia and throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Leading Researcher of the Center of Vietnam and ASEAN studies Dr. G. M. Lokshin continues the Topic «Vietnam and the world community» in the article «Vietnam-China Relations: problems and perspectives.» According to the author, the sovereignty dispute over the islands and the waters of the South China Sea has reached a new protracted stage. However Vietnam tries to avoid worsening the relations with China.

Opening the second section of the collection, dedicated to the problems of social and economic development of Vietnam, Doctor of Economic Sciences and Head of the Center of Vietnam and ASEAN studies of the RAS Institute for Far Eastern studies V. M. Mazyrin, focused on the economic consequences of the six-year participation of Vietnam in the WTO. According to the author, the intensified economy liberalization (which had started in 2007), the inflow of foreign capital and expansion of foreign trade aggravated the country's macroeconomic imbalances, which (taking into account the global financial crisis) led to a slowdown in growth.

A broad scientific material is presented in the article prepared by a group of scientists from the ISPR RAS under the supervision of S.V. Ryazantsev, Doctor of Economic Sciences and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The author analyzed the demographic, social and economic impacts of global warming and climate change in Vietnam. It may result in the flood of the most developed areas, which will lead to the mass population displacement (including outside the country in a form of illegal immigration).

Dr. Do Huong Lan, Head of the International Cooperation Department in the University of Foreign Trade of Vietnam in her article talked in detail about a great potential of development of the international tourism in Vietnam. The country is located in the subequatorial zone and has unique natural and recreational resources and comfortable climate conditions. According to the author, there has been recorded a drastic increase of the flow of tourists from Russia during the past 2-3 years. This number was a bit more than 20 000 tourists in 2005 and the recorded number in 2012 was 174 000. The author believes that one of the main factors of such a rapid increase of tourists was the introduction of visa-free regime for Russians for 15 days in 2009. In general in order to increase the influx of foreign tourists to the country and foreign exchange earnings from tourism, Vietnam needs to improve the quality of services, create a diverse tourist infrastructure, ensure integrated development of recreational areas and increase a number of high-class recreations, resorts and hotels.

Lawyer and employee of EE «GGATK» G.A. Shytov (Belorussia) in his article touches upon the following thorny question: a variety of means used by the external forces (primarily by the United States) to interfere in the internal affairs of Vietnam, including the so-called protection of «the religious freedom». Thus, the author refutes the assertion that «the socialist government of Vietnam considers Buddhism its enemy,» and shows, that it doesn't correspond to actual situation. In fact Buddhism is an equal part of the Vietnamese society and enjoys the necessary support from the Vietnamese government.

Post-graduate student of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the Warsaw University L. Sobolevski convincingly showed that the introduction of Japanese troops in Vietnam in the 1940s (in addition to well-known political reasons) was also made due to acute economic necessity.

Associate Professor of the Eastern Faculty of the St. Petersburg State University Dr. N.V. Grigorieva showed how the veneration of the mythical dynasty of the Kings Hung transferred from a historiographic problem into an important state cult.

Associate Professor of LAAS, MSU Dr. M.A. Syunnerberg using the example of life and work of the two well-known Vietnamese women (the Empress Nam Phuong and Tran Le Xuan, the sis-ter-in-law of Saigon dictator's Ngo Dinh Diem) tried to show that the role of women in the traditional Vietnamese society was more important than it was believed.

V.A. Musiychuk, Doctor of Philology, Researcher in the University named after Krimskiy and a guest from Ukraine shared the results of her research on the phonetic borrowings in the modem Vietnamese language.

Dr. E.I. Tyumeneva, Professor of the MFA Higher Courses of Foreign Languages, shared a very informative article «The images of animals as national and specific symbols of the Vietnamese paremia.»