COMMUNIST VIETNAM WINS | HOW IT WON THE PROSPERITY GAME
Global Affairs Session 40 21 May 2026 COMMUNIST VIETNAM WINS Đổi Mới, bamboo diplomacy and Asia's newest manufacturing hub Vietnam has travelled from French colonial exploitation and a divided, war-ravaged nation to becoming one of the world's fastest-growing export economies. The Communist Party's 1986 Đổi Mới reforms opened markets while keeping one-party rule intact, and by 2026 Vietnam is balancing China, the United States and the wider Indo-Pacific through a careful policy of "bamboo diplomacy."