There will be no stopping Vietnam – if it can avoid the mistakes of other Asian tigers

DURING President Joe Biden’s short visit to Hanoi, the United States upgraded its partnership with Vietnam and offered support for semiconductor chip manufacturing. These closer links reflect the US’s recognition of Vietnam’s growing importance in supply chains and Indo-Pacific geopolitics – and comes just two weeks after Singapore unveiled a deal expanding its own scope of cooperation with Vietnam.

This rush of diplomatic activity is a consequence of Vietnam’s extraordinary economic development over the last decade, which has made the country of just under 100 million people globally competitive as an exporter. 

Today, Vietnam’s per capita income growth trend is similar to that of post-conflict South Korea’s in 1961, in current US dollar terms. The country’s growing young population and its people’s hunger to build a better life has powered its transformation from agrarian to industrial – and helped bring Biden to Hanoi.