IT has taken long in coming but here it is at last—the broadening and deepening of Philippine-Vietnam relations. The first time many of us first heard of Vietnam was in the middle 1960s, when we sent a Philippine Civic Action Group (PhilCAG) to South Vietnam to assist in the delivery of humanitarian services to the Vietnamese people, instead of a military expeditionary force as we did to South Korea in the 1950s.
The Vietnamese had just defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu and the US had taken up the mantle for the restoration of colonialism in Asia.
Conscious of it or not, we served as an errand boy of the Americans. It would take another 10 years, up to May 1, 1975, to be exact, before the Americans would suffer the same fate as the French. Later, China would be similarly punished.
Vietnam is now a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), fully committed to the acceleration of its national development. With this commitment, it is in the same boat as the Philippines. It is only proper that the two countries came together to pursue their common objective.
Let’s establish a few facts about the two countries as of 2013. In key features, the two countries are nearly the same. In land area, the Philippines has 300,000 square kilometers, Vietnam 330,951 sq. kms. The Philippines has a population of 100 million; Vietnam’s is 90 million. The Philippines’s per capita gross domestic Product is $2,706 in nominal terms and $6,403 in purchasing power parity, while the figures for Vietnam are, respectively, $1,908 and $5,315.
The two countries have about the same potential for successful interaction.
Where they differ is in their external features as shown below in the results for 2013.
Exports Imports Tourist arrivals Foreign Investment
Philippines $54.0 mil $65.1 mil 4,681,300 $3.9 mil
Vietnam $132.7 mil $132.1 mil 7,572,400 $8.9 mil
In all three measures of external exposure and development, Vietnam is well ahead of the Philippines. Closer and Improved relations will, hopefully, contribute to the expansion of these features in the two countries.
Many observers say that it is not the international economics that is propelling the two countries to come together, but international security reasons. That might be the truth of the matter. For security reasons or not, the coming together of the two countries is in the interest of their respective peoples. The Vietnamese and Filipino people must interact more closely not just in the economic and political fields, but in the fields of history and culture, as well in order to maximize benefits from their geographic propinquity to one another.
In this connection, we note with great elation the formation recently of the Philippine-Vietnam Friendship Association, which consists of Philippine businessmen, media people, academics and cultural workers trying to bring the two peoples together through business, cultural and academic exchanges. Similar associations have been formed in Vietnam to interact with Philippine counterparts.
We look forward to the strengthening and warming of relations between the peoples of Vietnam and the Philippines in the years ahead.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano