APEC and hopefully soon WTO is what matter most for Vietnam.

Exports - partners:
Definition Field Listing
US 21.4%, Japan 13.5%, Australia 8.5%, China 7.6%, Singapore 5.4%, Germany 5.1% (2005)

Imports - partners:
Definition Field Listing
China 16.3%, Singapore 12.8%, Taiwan 11.7%, Japan 10.4%, South Korea 9.9%, Thailand 6.8% (2005)

2 is better than one

ASEAN membership is good for our people:

(1) the government has been forced to improve governance to create a climate that is more hospitable to foreign investment;

(2) government officials have been forced to open their eyes and see how much better off much of ASEAN is than Vietnam;

(3) membership in ASEAN has paved the way for many mutually beneficial bilateral and ASEAN-wide cooperation initiatives.


The biggest testimonial to ASEAN's effectiveness is India's long standing desire to join ASEAN. Membership in ASEAN and WTO by themselves don't do much: it's what we do to take advantage of the memberships that makes all the difference - There are plenty of WTO members that are basket cases, by the way.

One more point: the major members of ASEAN were able to generate a pretty high rate of economic growth over an extended period of time. Their rate of growth (5% average) seems slow, but only when compared to Vietnam's. A lot of countries would kill for a 5% economic growth rate. As a reference point, a country with uncontrolled population growth will increase in population by 3% a year - For such a country, any economic growth rate over 3% is good.

http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/fs/asean.pdf#se...%20factsheet%22

ASEAN Factsheet

Recent economic indicators: 2002 2003 2004 2005(a)
GDP (US$bn) (current prices): 548.6 610.9 792.8 861.9
GDP PPP (US$bn) (b)©: 1,773 1,906 2,070 2,228
GDP per capita (US$): 1,033 1,135 1,385 1,484
GDP per capita PPP (US$) (b): n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Real GDP growth (% change YOY): 4.7 5.3 6.5 5.5

Vietnam should decrease the imports from China, but increase imports from other countries, such as Japan. Chinese products?

if asean is holding veitnam back from going further, what's stopping them from leaving?

What i found funny is that ASEAN was originally formed to prevent expansion of Vietnam.

really?

Yes

eh were they afraid we're gonna take over cambodia or what?

maybe, whatever they're doing it's working

They were afraid that Communism would spread and Vietnam will take over the Indochinese peninsular.
However, the reality showed that it did not happen, even when Vietnam could have done it. Right after the war, Vietnamese military was quite strong but it did not take over other countries. So, ASEAN was formed for the wrong reason.

Nowadays, even Vietnam is in ASEAN, Vietnam's economic interest and cultural tie lie outside the region. And i think that other countries in ASEAN have not fully embraced Vietnam. Maybe they only included Vietnam so that the ASEAN would be bigger and has more influence.

Literally, Southeast Asia = right in the postion of Vietnam nowadays, it would be funnier if Vietnam is not included. Since Vietnam joins ASEAN, Vietnam successfully promoted the inclusion of Cambodia, Laos & Myanmar into ASEAN too. Vietnam was also actively able to promote economic relation with East Asian countries and Europe.

Agreed. I got sick those those damn chinese-made kimchi.

individually they knew that they coudn't counter vietnam so they ganged up on vietnam....pathetic

ASEAN hated us with a burning passion during the 80's

^ why r we still in asean?

We declined thier invitation in 1984.

^^^ it's funny that they invited us

And what does Vietnam gain by not joining ASEAN?

I think it is better to be in ASEAN than not to be in it.

Vietnam can be an important commercial and trading center for ASEAN and China. Vietnam needs to take this opportunity to become a leader of ASEAN.

oh we will.....