>Last I heard they were opening the country up for foreign investment
>and pretty much giving up on anything smacking of
>socialism/communism. Even though the "Communist" Party might be in
>power (like it is in China), is it really accurate to call them
>"Leninists" or even communists anymore? Aren't they just one more
>authoritarian (possibly mildly socialist) regime now?
Socialist Vietnam won the American War, but capitalist Vietnam lost the Catfish War (see Tran Dinh Thanh Lam, "US 'Catfish War' Defeat Stings Vietnam," Jul 31, 2003, <http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/EG31Ae02.html>).
Now, the Vietnamese and others are fighting a Shrimp War against US protectionism:
***** Asian ire at shrimp 'protectionism' By Clare Arthurs BBC correspondent
Asian shrimp exporters have reacted angrily to a US anti-dumping lawsuit that they say will flood the American market with shrimp at below market prices.
A spokesman for Vietnamese seafood producers, Nguyen Van Kich, said the petitions asking for steep tariffs on shrimp imports goes against the trend of global trade liberalisation which the US claims to champion. . . .
Last year Vietnam lost a bitterly fought campaign against a similar move by US catfish producers.
But the shrimp market in the US is worth a lot more. Vietnam sells about $500m worth of shrimp to the American market, compared to less than $60m in catfish.
But this time Hanoi will not be fighting its giant trade partner alone. Thailand and India are also major US suppliers and there is already talk of a coalition.
The legal case also names China, Brazil and Ecuador. The loss of the American market would be a blow to shrimp producers. . . .
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3361187.stm> *****
The US wasted so many human lives, and so much money, trying to keep Vietnam capitalist. Now that the Vietnamese have turned to capitalism, however, the US doesn't let them go down the capitalist road very far.
Yoshie