"When you open the door for new winds, the dirt comes in too"
(Old Vietnamese proverb)

Vietnam's economy shows substantial growth rates, but these disguise a growing worker rebellion against draconian conditions in the 'new economic zones' run by foreign companies, and official corruption.

Vietnam's economy continues to be afflicted by the trend of unresolved declining growth rate of production branches, continual natural disasters such as drought and flooding, added to the still great adverse impact of the financial and monetary crisis in the region.

In 1999, Le Dang Doanh, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management in Vietnam, said: "We have been in a difficult period of development. The history of Vietnam has shown that in hard times, the strength and creativity of the nation developed and the people, with their great efforts, would produce great achievements. This is our belief and we are determined to realise our goals... of social and economic progress."

Nam Now: John Pilger's 1995 article assessing the state of Vietnam 20 years after the US evacuation