Author: Editorial Board (Editorial Board)

China’s aggression in the South China Sea poses an economic and security threat for nations with exclusive economic zones in that region along with their many trade partners. “To confront the danger, Vietnam openly begins cooperation with the Quad, ostensibly to manage the Covid-19 threat,” explains Nguyen Quang Dy, researcher, journalist and retired Vietnamese diplomat based in Hanoi. “Still, the United States, Japan, Australia and India formed the Quad in 2007 to confront China’s rising power.” The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s founding members have raised the possibility of expansion to Vietnam along with South Korea and New Zealand. While potential members pointedly resist antagonizing Asia’s largest economy with notions of containment, they do want to end the belligerence. A recent survey shows a majority of ASEAN respondents support the Quad for playing a role in regional security. Vietnam could also consider defense cooperation with a major power like the United States, cooperation agreements with other regional powers or an international court case over South China Sea territorial claims. – YaleGlobal

How did Vietnam, a country without wealth or an advanced healthcare system, avoid even one coronavirus death among its 97 million people?

When Facebook and Google want to strike ad deals in Vietnam, salespeople in Singapore get on a plane and fly to major cities like Ho Chi Minh City. They rent out rooms in five-star hotels for meetings with small retailers looking to sell around the world or big brands wanting to reach Vietnamese consumers. Vietnam...

(CNN)When the world looked to Asia for successful examples in handling the novel coronavirus outbreak, much attention and plaudits were paid to South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But there’s one overlooked success story — Vietnam. The country of 97 million people has not reported a single coronavirus-related death and on Saturday had just 328...