Presentation of the Quarterly Macro-Economic Report 3/2019

The Quarterly Economic Report 3/2019, an independent assessment of Vietnam’s macro-economic performance, was released yesterday by the Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) with the support of KAS Vietnam. 50 reporters of local newspapers and televisions were attending the launching workshop. In the first part of the workshop, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham The Anh, chief economist of VEPR, presented the report highlighting the growth rate of 7.31 % in the 3rd quarter despite the slowing down growth rates in many countries. FDI enterprises remain the main contributors to the growth. It’s noticeable that there were 35,316 newly registered enterprises in Q3, a year-over-year increase of 37%, while the number of businesses suspending operation decreased remarkably. Further, Dr. Le Dang Doanh, former President of the Central Institute of Economic Management, Dr. Can Van Luc, chief economist of Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Bao, University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City commented on the report. Dr. Doanh suggested that the report should also include analyses of the health of Vietnam’s banking system, measures to promote SOE equitisation, public investment and digital economics. The VEPR was also recommended to clarify the motivation of the country’s economic growth in the context of low public investment, low credit growth, the slow down of the world economy. In the second part of the event, the participants had the opportunity to interview the commentators.

Consulation Workshop on "Best Practice of Urban Governance in Vietnam"

KAS, in collaboration with ACVN, organizes a consultation workshop today, at Sheraton Hotel, on “Best practice of urban governance in Vietnam”. At the event, findings from a study research focusing on: i) Administrative Reforms; ii) Urban Environment Management and iii) Building city branding which was conducted in 6 selected cities including Uong Bi, Ha Noi, Lao Cai, Vinh, Hoi An and Nha Trang are presented. All participants agree that these above themes are most important and burning issues in urban management nowadays. Many practical issues, model and effective ways are shared and exchanged. The workshop is successful in bringing a platform for connection among cities as well as between city and government ministries and agencies towards a long-term, sustainable and effective collaboration in the future. People of the cities play an important role in the success of model as without their support and participation, models could not be able to achieve its expected outcomes. Plastic waste related issues also should be incorporated into the report. The final report should synthesize into lesson learnt so as to easy to replicate nationwide. ACVN will play a very important role in connecting with other cities in countries and abroad as well to exchange lesson learnt in urban management. Leaders from ACVN highly appreciate the valuable support from KAS and look forward to continued collaboration in the time to come. In response, Mr. Peter Girke – KAS Representative also expresses heartfelt thanks and appreciation to ACVN and emphasizes that the findings from this study research shall be the kick-off and basis for designing next year’s cooperation plan between ACVN and KAS.

Strengthening understanding of criminal provisions to protect the rights of women and children

Training Workshop

A training seminar on the criminal provisions under the Penal Code 2015 to protect the rights of women and children was successfully co-organised by Ministry of Justice and KAS Vietnam. The training was well attended by nearly 100 participants who came from different sectors, including but not limited to prosecution, adjudication, women’s union, children’s protection and care from both central and provincial levels. Presenters of the workshop were among top experienced experts/scholars on this mentioned themes. During the event, speakers gave audiences the overview of newly changed regulations over women’s and children lawful rights which were both constituted in The Constitution Law 2013 as well as The Penal Code 2015. At the event, participants also had chance to listen to emerging crimes which women and children are victims of, for example: child abuse, women’s sexual attack…and the need of having soon endorsed decree guiding how to prosecute and adjudicate those crimes. At the workshop, local participants also raised their concerns that having applied and implemented laws in practical is still a gap. There are many cases at their localities, especially the ones involved offenders who are under 16 years of age, that still pending because judicators are unclear on which [judicial] guidelines should be applied as there are overlapping/unclear in those guidelines. Making an opening remark at the workshop, KAS Representative, Mr. Peter Girke highly appreciated the strong political will of government of Vietnam in its efforts to finalisation of legal framework in pursuing the state rule of law. However, Mr. Girke also raised a question on how much of those written letters, how much of the spirit of this commendable text, has been transferred to the practice, to real life? How effective is the implementation of the various provisions…these concerns were fruitfully discussed during the event between policy makers and practitioners.

The recent trends in the development of the Chinese defense innovation and industrial base

China Talk 13

On 13. August 2019, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) in cooperation with KAS organized the thirteenth conference of the China Talk series. This time, Dr. Vasilii Kashin of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow talked about the recent trends in the development of the Chinese defense innovation and industrial base. In order to understand the recent trends, Dr. Kashin first of all explained the history of Chinese defense innovation. After deprioritizing military modernization in the 1980s and 90s the 1999 US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, changed the Chinese perception and Beijing launched a major effort to modernize the military. After relying on limited imports of technology from the US (until 1989), Israel (until early 2000s) and post-Soviet countries from 1989 until now, China could lend a series of breakthroughs in the late 2000s and in 2010s. These include Radar Technology, Al military applications and military shipbuilding. The new reality of confrontation with the US let China actively plan for the future confrontation since 2009 which resulted in an Air Sea Battle concept. While the US started the trade war under the Trump administration since mid-2018, the defense cooperation with Russia is rebounding. These recent trends will most likely result in an even greater Chinese-Russian integration, while China´s chance to win the defense innovation competition is getting more realistic, Dr. Kashin said. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan, former Deputy Director of the Institute for Defense strategy, Ministry of Defense and Dr. Do Le Chi, Director of the Department of Science, History and Strategic Studies, Ministry of Public Securities were two commentators of this event. Both of them shared valuable inputs on aspiration of Beijing in realization of its power as well as security’s concerns of Vietnam – one of the most affected countries in the region. The event was received great participation from other well-known scholars as well as stakeholders from research institutes, embassies, government agencies as well.

Research methodology in Social Sciences/ International Relations

Workshop

Between July 22-24 2019, KAS Vietnam and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) hosted a workshop to broaden the knowledge of methods and methodology in International Relations and Social Sciences for young lecturers and researches. In order to provide an adequately knowledge of new research trends in these sciences, the organisers invited two research experts of the field: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Christina Schwenkel from the University of California and Dr. Michaela Boerner from Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Germany. The two experts helped the participants improve their quantitative and qualitative methods in doing research, especially in investigating and assessing non-traditional security threats and human security issues. To do so, they organized an inter-disciplinary workshop in which the participants could engage, formulate their own research questions and share experience. One of the major issues discussed was how to publish papers in international journals. Dr. Christina Schwenkel who is co-editor of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies provided a number of insides and advice.

Division of power in Vietnam will prolong

Workshop

The division of power is crucial for Vietnam to improve the efficiency of state governance, said experts at the workshop on division of power between central and local governments held on July 17 in Hanoi. Power division must be constitutionalized rather than regulated by any governmental level. However, the experts warned, when the power is transferred to local governmental bodies there must be constant inspection. The supervision of the central state over local governments must be dropped. Organised by the Institute of State and Law and KAS Vietnam, the workshop convened more than 50 participants who are researchers and officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the National Assembly’s Economic Commission, University of Law.

Quarterly Macroeconomic Report II/ 2019

The Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) in cooperation with KAS Vietnam launched its quarterly report II/2019 on July 11. The report was presented by Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, President of the VEPR. Vietnam’s economy grew at 6,71% (yo), lower than the figure Q1/2019 at 6,79%. The growth in the agro-forestry-fishery, service and industrial sectors slowed down the first half of 2019. The FDI sector played crucial roles in economic growth through exports. Established Vietnamese economists including Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, Dr. Can Van Luc and Dr. Nguyen Nhu Phong commented on the VEPR economic report and answer questions of journalists on the plan of downsizing state personnel and state investment allocation.

Criminal liability of Legal persons in Vietnamese Criminal Laws

Training

In cooperation with KAS, the Department of Criminal and Administrative Legislation of the Ministry of Justice organized a training on the 2015 Penal Code's provisions on the criminal liability of commercial legal persons and regulations on order and the role of defense counsel in criminal cases which are related to commercial legal persons that commit a crime. In the 2015 Penal Code, Vietnam introduced for the first time the concept of legal persons in its criminal code which led to major changes in the practice of criminal law enforcement. It is meant to effectively fight crimes of companies, especially to combat serious violations of economic and environmental laws as well as money laundry and terrorism financing. The training seminar provided the participant, which were mostly members of provincial criminal courts, with important information on criminal policies which will have to be applied to handle the violations of commercial legal persons and to ensure their liability. Even though the law was already ratified in 2017, there are no practical cases made yet, which is why this seminar was on a theoretical bases and the participants could ask their questions and raise concerns or issues. KAS and its partner (MOJ) are looking forward to further seminars to discuss the practical experiences which will hopefully be conducted soon.

Interpreting Chinese perception of International norms in the 21st century

Seminar

Am 21. Juni 2019 organisierte die Diplomatische Akademie Vietnams (DAV) in Zusammenarbeit mit der KAS die zwölfte Konferenz der China Talk-Reihe. Diesmal interpretierte Prof. Shin Kawashima von der Universität Tokio die chinesischen Wahrnehmung internationaler Normen in einem modernen Kontext. Die Diskussion beschäftigte sich mit der Frage, ob China internationale Normen in Bezug auf Global Governance respektiere, sich ihnen widersetze oder sie reformiere. Ist China vielleicht sogar zu einem Agenda-Setter für internationale Normen geworden? Prof. Kawashima gab anhand einer Diskursanalyse von Reden und offiziellen Dokumenten interessante Einblicke in die Wahrnehmung internationaler Gesetze der Xi Jinping-Ära. Er erklärte Konzepte und Veränderungen in der chinesischen Diplomatie. Die Kommentatoren Prof. Nguyen Huy Quy und Dr. Do Thi Thuy waren sich einig, dass weitere Überlegungen und Vergleiche zwischen Chinas Worten und seinen Handlungen erforderlich sind, um das Gesamtbild der Wahrnehmung internationaler Normen zu verstehen. Am Ende wurden die Teilnehmer aufgefordert, Fragen zu stellen, und es entstand eine interessante Diskussion.

The 5th Ocean Dialogue: ASEAN Cooperation in the South China Sea

Discussion

On 18. June 2019, KAS Vietnam and its partner, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV), hosted the fifth Ocean Dialogue. The event consisted of a thorough discussion between regional and international experts which discussed the possibilities and difficulties of ASEAN cooperation concerning the South China Sea dispute. Geographically, the dispute lies at the heart of ASEAN and is troubling the region ever since. At the centre of the discussion were traditional key issues such as the high-military equipment and the Sino-US competition in the region as well as non-traditional issues, for instance environmental-pollution and how a future cooperation in the region could look like. Mr. Edcel Ibarra, from the Philippines' Foreign Service Institute, elaborated two possible future senarios: The ASEAN + and the ASEAN – cases. In the first one, the non-claiming states would be engaged in multilateral agreements and discussions while in the second one, only claiming states would participate in the talks, which would have a huge risk of marginalizing the other states. Participants had the opportunity to share their opinions and raise questions in the end. The dispute remains topical which is why KAS and its partner (DAV) are looking forward to the next Ocean Dialogue.