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The Vietnamese are different from other Asians from other southeast Asians. They are culturally individualistic and for 3000 years have insisted on their differences and their own culture vis-a-vis the Chinese who ruled Việt Nam for a millennium. The local Chinese officials and bureaucrats became after a couple of generations Vietnamese and were more trouble for the overlords. Communism is incompatible with Vietnamese chuture. It is a French import and very foreign. The Communists may last for a few more decades but they will either collapse eventually or just dissipate as the Communists become real indigenous Vietnamese. It is happening even now.That is part of the reason that capitalism is doing so well. Capitalism fits Vietnamese culture and when the Communists let it go it took off. It is not like China where the government, specifically the army, joined into the Capitalist venture and the Communists keep real control of the phenomenon. A lot of the internet controls and suchlike are in place in Việt Nam but are easily evaded by people and the government does not really seem to care.

The Vietnamese, even most of the government, are Americophiles. Clinton and Bush leaned constantly on Hà Nội to ease up on the controls and Hà Nội continually eased restrictions. Speech became pretty much free at street and coffeeshop level. The travel restrictions pretty much disappeared. They are still there "on paper" but are mostly ignored. Obama hates Việt Nam because of its affinity for America and Americans. He cold shouldered Việt Nam and the government backslid some. There came more conflict with the Catholicsand the Buddhists. speech was restricted political arrests became much more common. I see this year that things have become more relaxed again so Trump is either leaning on them properly a la Bush and Clinton or the Việts qre anticipating it and trying again to buddy uup to America.