A Vietnamese Perspective on Chinese Modernization
Author: Duong Van Huy, Director, Department of International Cooperation, Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (IAPS), Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS)
As we foreign observers understand it, Chinese modernization represents a genuinely new and historically unprecedented path to modernization. Its essential foundation lies in an unwavering commitment to the leadership of the Communist Party of China and to the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, while bringing the general principles of industrial and technological modernization into alignment with China’s own national realities and its deep-rooted cultural traditions. The course of modern history has never produced a single path to modernization. Different countries, shaped by their own histories, cultures, political systems, levels of development, and international environments, have pursued modernization in different ways. Their experiences illustrate a broader truth. Modernization is neither a uniform process nor another name for Westernization. It is a diverse and multifaceted process that remains inseparable from the particular realities of each country. The Chinese approach to modernization also places considerable emphasis on high-quality development and on achieving progress in a harmonious and balanced manner, not least by promoting a harmonious relationship between humanity and nature.
At the same time, it is intended to raise living standards and enhance people’s well-being. It places people at the heart of development and, in a broader sense, seeks to contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. Seen from this perspective, Chinese modernization constitutes a model without historical precedent. Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China states that Chinese modernization has broken with the long-standing assumption that “modernization equals Westernization”. It presents a different vision of what modernization can mean, widens the range of development paths open to developing countries, and provides a Chinese approach to humanity’s exploration for better social systems. Modernization has often been understood as Westernization, based on the assumption that countries can become modern only by following the developmental path once taken by Western societies. China’s experience offers a different proposition. Chinese modernization demonstrates that it is possible for China to become a highly developed modern country without retracing the historical course followed by the West. What emerges, therefore, is the possibility of a new path, one that seeks to avoid some of the contradictions and dilemmas encountered in the historical process of Western modernization. For developing countries and countries of the Global South, this experience may offer a point of reference and a source of lessons as they explore their own modernization paths.
Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China also describes Chinese modernization as modernization on a vast demographic scale, modernization aimed at achieving common prosperity for all, modernization that brings material and cultural-ethical progress into greater balance, modernization that fosters harmony between humanity and nature, and modernization that follows a path of peaceful development. In Vietnam-China relations, the practice of Chinese modernization moves in the same direction as the principles of good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation, the building of a Vietnam-China community with a shared future, and the continued advancement of the socialist endeavors of both countries.
China’s modernization experience has likewise become a subject of interest and study for other countries, especially countries such as Vietnam. Vietnam and China share significant similarities in their political systems, as well as a long tradition of friendly relations. Throughout their respective processes of national construction and development, the two countries have continued to learn from one another. China’s experience in national development and governance thus provides Vietnam with valuable lessons. Vietnam and China are close neighbors linked by mountains and rivers and bound by many cultural affinities. Their relationship has long rested on friendship, good-neighborliness, and broad-based cooperation, with the two countries regarding each other as comrades and brothers. Nurtured through generations of historical interaction, this relationship has continued to be enriched and strengthened with the passage of time. Under the careful stewardship of successive generations of leaders in both countries, the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic partnership has grown steadily deeper and more wide-ranging. Today, Vietnam and China rank among each other’s leading partners in economic cooperation, trade, and investment. Strong bilateral relations between Vietnam and China are therefore of considerable importance to peace and stability in the region and beyond.
Meanwhile, political exchanges have entered a new stage under the strategic guidance of the senior leadership of the two Parties and the two countries. High-level contacts remain regular and close, enabling the two sides to consult in a timely manner on the strategic direction of bilateral relations. The two sides have agreed to continue advancing the overarching goals characterized by “six mores” and to further deepen the building of a China-Vietnam community with a shared future, ensuring that it becomes increasingly substantive and produces concrete results. Such efforts may also contribute to the advancement of socialism in an increasingly complex and fluid international environment.
For Vietnam, studying China’s modernization model is more than an academic undertaking. It also provides an opportunity to deepen and broaden understanding of the theoretical and practical dimensions of national development in the contemporary world. Vietnam and China are neighboring countries. Both are led by communist parties, and both are pursuing socialist development in ways shaped by their respective historical circumstances. China’s experience in development, reform and opening up, and modernization can therefore provide Vietnam with additional perspectives as it develops and refines national policies and moves forward with industrialization, modernization, and international integration. Yet drawing on China’s modernization experience also calls for careful assessment and selectivity so that any lessons adopted are appropriate to Vietnam’s own circumstances. No two countries share exactly the same history, culture, institutions, resource base, or development objectives. International experience may offer valuable lessons, but it is most useful when subjected to careful analysis and comparison and adapted creatively to the realities of the country concerned.
Vietnam, for its part, has set out a long-term development vision. By 2030, it aims to have put in place the foundations of a new development model. By 2035, it seeks to have largely completed the transition toward a model defined by self-reliance, innovation, human-centered development, sustainability and integration. By 2045, its ambition is to become a developed, high-income country whose growth is grounded in knowledge, science and technology, innovation, the green and circular economies, strategic autonomy, and deep international integration. In this context, China’s experience in advancing Chinese modernization, as well as the theoretical and practical value of that experience, offers many important insights for Vietnam as it pursues development in the new era and advances toward national rejuvenation.
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