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Vietnam GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Party and Government: Democratic Republic of (North)
and former Republic of (South) Vietnam united to form Socialist
Republic of Vietnam on July 2, 1976. Constitution adapted in 1980
stipulates National Assembly as highest governing body. Members
serve five-year terms and nominally directly elected by
electorate. Council of State, which serves as collective
presidency, and Council of Ministers, which manages governmental
activities, nominally accountable to, and elected by, National
Assembly. Political power effectively in hands of Vietnamese
Communist Party (VCP, Viet Nam Cong San Dang). Most government
positions filled by party members, who act at direction of party.
Party led by National Party Congress, which meets infrequently.
Congress elects Central Committee, which in turn elects Political
Bureau, party's highest policy-making body.
Administrative Divisions: Country divided into thirtysix provinces, three autonomous municipalities, and one special
zone. Provinces divided into districts, towns, and capitals.
Judicial System: Supreme People's Court; local People's
Courts at provincial, district, and city levels; military
tribunals; and People's Supreme Organ of Control. National
Assembly elects Procurator General, who heads People's Supreme
Organ of Control and performs overall administration of justice.
Foreign Affairs: Vietnam dominated Laos through
numerous Hanoi-dictated cooperation agreements; most important--
Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed in 1977. Occupied
Cambodia as result of military conquest in January 1979 and
subsequently negotiated Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.
Relations with China marked by China's limited invasion in 1979
and frequent border skirmishes. Formally aligned with Soviet
Union through Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed in
November 1978. Both countries shared membership in Council for
Mutual Economic Assistance
(
Comecon--see Glossary); Soviet Union
largest donor of economic and military aid. Limited governmental
and commercial ties established with all Association for
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members but prevented from
developing further by ASEAN's opposition to Vietnam's Cambodia
policy. In 1988 no diplomatic relations with United States, which
maintained economic boycott against Vietnam and stressed
Vietnam's cooperation in accounting for servicemen missing in
action as prerequisite to normal relations. Admitted to
membership in United Nations in 1977.
Data as of December 1987
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