Thayer Vietnam's Armed Forces Domestic and External Roles

8/14/2019 Thayer Vietnam's Armed Forces Domestic and External Roles

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etnam s

rme

orces:

ProfessorCarlThayer

ResearchSeminar,

School

of

Humanities

and

Social

Sciences

AustralianDefence ForceAcademy

Can erra,29Octo er2009


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Vietnams Armed Forces: Domestic and External Roles

Professor Carl ThayerHASS Research Seminar, 29 October 2009


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(ANU)

chaptersinMuthiah

Alagappas2001

study

Vietnam:FromRevolutionaryHeroesto

RedEntrepreneurs

by

ThaveepornVasavakul


4/45

communistsystems

in

general

roleelites

The militar has olitical re resentation in the

Party,Stateandsociety

Part arm relations a ear stable over time

Butfluctuationsinthemilitaryspoliticalinfluence do occur


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Militar

Re resentationon

the

CentralCommittee,19862006

Congress VPA Percent

6 1986 9o 124 7.3

7th 1991 13of

146 8.9%

8th 1996 17of170 10.0%

9th 2001 14of150 9.3%

10th 2006 17of160 10.6%

.


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10thPartyCongress200610thPartyCongress2006

ToHuy

Rua

appointed

in

2009


7/45

Active Duty Military Are Elected to thea ona ssem y


8/45

Withdrawalfrom

Cambodia

(Sept

1989)

Collapse

of

socialism

in

Europe

and

s n egra ono e ov e n on

Peacefulevolutionanddepoliticizationofthe

m aryv ewe

as

one

o

e

ma n

causes

AsianFinancialCrisis,199798


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1992971987-92


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199720011988-91


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(militaryintelligence)

implicatedinwiretappingo Po it uromembers

th

CentralCommitteerebukesDefence

Ministerand

Chief

of

theGeneralStaff LeKhaPhieuisreplacedbyNon Duc Manh as Part

SecretaryGeneral


12/45

Militar

Re resentation

on

the

PolitburoReducedbyHalf

Congress VPA Percent

.

7th 1991 2of13 15.4%

8 1996 2o 19 10.5%

9th 2001 1of15 6.7%

10th 2006 1of

14 7.1%

average 11%


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ThaveepornVasavakul

concluded:

sharingandcontinuedpartycontrolofthearmy

VPAtoberunbypoliticalgeneralswhowouldnotbecomes okes ersonsfor rofessionalofficers

VPAwasredandentrepreneurandwouldcontinuetoplayimportantroleinnationaldevelopment


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ofthe

military

remained

unchanged

ConsensusVPAshouldcontinuetoplay

rolein

state

building

Economicdevelopmentandglobal

nationalsecuritypolicy


15/45

Internationaldefence

cooperation

o a n egra on

Divestiture

of

military

run

business

enterprises Economicdevelopmentandnationalsecurity

intertwinedinSouthChinaSea

Forcemodernisation

Technologydriverofmilitaryprofessionalism


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Commercialoperations,

joint

ventures

conom c e ence ones

economy

and

defence

should

be

combined MilitaryProfessionalism

Greateremphasisoneducationalrequirements

Militaryand

Society

Conscri tionanddefenceeducation


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9construction

units

converted

to

corporations

or

By1993:335MOEsincluding67jointventures

rs waveo res ruc ur ng =

SecondwaveofrestructuringN=164

4 P enum

Jan2007

ivestiture

y

2012

Nationalsecurityenterprisesexempted


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19/45


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phong)established

1998

Boostsocioeconomicdevelopmentand

strategicandborderareas

Createclusters

of

villages

to

form

a

belt

along

theborder


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Economic-Defence

Khu Kinh Te-Quoc Phong

1. Muong Cha, Lai Chau2. Song Ma, Lai Chau and

Son La3. Bat Xat, Lao Cai4. Xin Man, Ha Giang5. Ky Son, Nghe An

6. a a - n uocBinh Doan 157. Tan Hong, Dong Thap

conom c- e ence ones ntotal


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Educationalrequirements

for

entry

into

cer orps

Ageand

time

in

rank

requirements

for

promotion

AfterApril2000,allofficersmusthavea

universitydegree

or

equivalent


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Eligibilityand

length

of

service

lowered

e ence uca on

Compulsoryatseniorhighschool&university

MilitaryIntelligence(GeneralDirectorateII)

Allegationsofdomesticpoliticalinterference

Disasterassistance

and

relief


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General

Directorate

II


26/45

mp ca e nw re

tappingin

2001

allegationsof

retiredgeneralsVo

NguyenGiapand

NguyenNam

Khanh


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ecur y a enges

DefenceEx enditureandProcurements

FuturePlans


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Threatof

peaceful

evolution

Bor er, an an maritime isputes

East

Sea Nontraditionalthreats

Illegaldrugtrafficking,weaponssmuggling,piracy,

transnationalorganised crime,

terrorism,

illegal

migration,environmentaldegradation


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ff h r il Pl f rm


30/45

MaritimeStrategyto2020

ExxonMobileChinaapplies

pressureonforeignoilcompaniestostop

exploration

and

development

Vietnamagreesto

jointdevelopment


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DefenceExpenditureUSD


32/45

Upgrade T-54/55

Tanks

M113 APCs


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Overhauland

upgradingof Su-22sand MiG-

21s


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-

FLANKER-

30MK2V


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Two batteries S-300 PMU1 SAM


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4 TarantulI I + 2 TarantulV Corvettes


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, ,

surface(AS

18)

missiles

Surfacetoairmissiles(S300PMU1)

Airdefenceradars

TwokitsBPS500missilecorvettes

Assemble8

Tarantul

V

(Molnya)

Corvettes


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Possiblecontribution

to

UN

Peacekeeping

e ca orm nec earance

More

self

reliant

national

defence

industryCoproductionandoffsetagreements

PurchaseofuptosixProject636Kiloclass

dieselpowered

submarines

PackagevaluedatUS$3billion


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Subordinationto

the

party

Qualityofciviliangovernance

Higheconomicgrowthrates

Administrativereformsofstateapparatus

Generalpolitical

stability

Divestitureofmilitaryownedenterprises


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Corporateinterests

Militaryprofessionalism

nternat ona n uences

SocialisationwithinASEAN

Socialisationwithin

ASEAN

Regional

Forum

Greaterinternationalmilitaryengagement


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symbiosisto

conditional

compliance

defenceensuresbroadroleinsociety

a,se e encean reserves

Defenceeducation

Lessentrepreneurial/commercial

orientation

Postglobalfinancialcrisis


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NguyenKhacNguyenKhacPhung Quang

Thanh

Phung Quang

Thanh

LeVanDung

Head

oftheGeneralStaff

oftheGeneralStaff

n steroNationalDefence

n steroNationalDefence

eneraPolitical

De artment

Generals Promote Militar Professionalism


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Tradeoffbetweensizeofregulararmedforcesandtechnologicalmodernisation

old rofessionalism

Externaldefence task=militaryprofessionalism

ex ertise

res onsibilit

cor orateness

newprofessionalism

overmilitary

in

assignment

of

domestic

roles

,professional


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Vietnams Armed Forces: Domestic and External Roles

Documents

Thayer Vietnam's Armed Forces Domestic and External Roles