Deceit and Desire: Ho Chi Minh City
At 9:00am, Lan and I finished breakfast and left the dining room on the 2nd floor of Hotel Vissai to go to the Golden Smile Clinic. It was on Ký Hoà Street in District...
Category: Vietnam
Labor Reform in Vietnam
In Vietnam, the workers who toil in the factories driving the nation’s rapid economic ascent belong to a single labor union: Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, or VGCL. As the only labor union in...
Vietnam’s Fading Free Trade Hopes
The prospects for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, in the United States do not look good, and Vietnam’s leaders are not happy. An expected rejection of the ambitious free trade accord by the U.S....
Vietnam’s Illicit Animal Trade
A taste for rare and exotic animals and a desire to flaunt newfound wealth have transformed Vietnam into the world’s largest trafficking hub for rhinoceros horn. Despite global protections the rhinoceros, which scientists classify...
China Populates the South China Sea
China is not only building commercial and military infrastructure on the disputed islands of the South China Sea. It is also trying to establish communities of Chinese residents there in a bid to strengthen...
Fishing in the South China Sea
Fishing is becoming increasingly dangerous in the South China Sea. In the past it was piracy that struck fear in the hearts of fishermen off the coasts of the Philippines and Vietnam. Today it’s...
Foreign Investment in Vietnam
In Vietnam, the most direct route to modernization is tried and true: using other people’s money to build new factories and roads. Communist leaders are soliciting foreign direct investment (FDI) to transform the Southeast...
Vietnam’s Metro Is Off Track
Vietnam’s leaders have high hopes for their first metro system. It would improve living conditions for inhabitants of their largest city. Costs related to traffic gridlock in Ho Chi Minh City reach $800 million each year,...
Repression in Vietnamese Politics
Vietnam’s communist leaders are intent on securing a free trade deal with the United States. They believe they can do so even if they choose to ignore US calls to provide their people with...