Although Vietnam liberalized its economy somewhat in the 1990's and 2000's, it retained a highly centralized political system under the strict control of its Communist Party. Many Vietnamese people began to chafe at this system, and some of those people were in influential political positions. In late 1998, General Tran Do, a party member and senior officer in the Vietnamese military, wrote a series of open letters criticizing the closed and undemocratic practices of the party. After he was expelled from the party in January, 1999, another officer, Lieutenant General Pham Hong Son, spoke out against the party's corruption and undemocratic ways.
The dissatisfaction of ethnic minorities in Vietnam drew international attention in February, 2001. Members of groups in the central highlands of the country joined together in protests against the Communist Party's confiscation of farm lands. Since many of the highland people, known as Montagnards (or "Mountaineers" in French) had cooperated with the Americans during the earlier war years, there was a long tradition of suspicion between the ethnic minorities and the Vietnamese government.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Vietnam faced continuing domestic tensions as it attempted to adapt to new global realities. While there were democratizing forces even within the Communist Party, the party did not appear likely to give up easily its tight hold on power. Since tourism had increased rapidly from 2000 through 2002, the Vietnamese population experienced more contact with outsiders and with new ideas. In addition, although most party leaders were aging veterans of Vietnam's long fight for independence and unity, nearly one out of every three Vietnamese in 2000 was under fifteen years of age. As a new generation comes of age in a new, more internationally connected nation, Vietnam faces almost certain change and the possibility of new conflict.
Richard L. Wilson Updated by the Editors
World History
