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Vietnam OVERVIEW OF NATIONAL SECURITY
Official attitudes in Vietnam toward national security have
arisen from an amalgam of the country's heritage, historical
experience, internal sociopolitical strengths and weaknesses, and
geopolitical position. They are also the product of a singular
kind of leadership, which in 1987 was undergoing gradual change.
The Vietnamese look back at the great events of their past and
see themselves as victims of history. They perceive that Vietnam
always has been threatened by formidable enemies, frequently has
been beleaguered, and on occasion has only narrowly escaped
destruction. For centuries China repeatedly sought to establish
hegemony over Vietnam. A century of colonial control by the
French was shaken off in 1954, following a long, bitter struggle
that concluded by planting the seeds for still another struggle
for complete unification of the country. In 1987 the Vietnamese
perceived their country to be isolated, surrounded by hostile
neighbors, and dependent on the Soviet Union in an intimate
association that was a military alliance in all but name.
Internally, the country was viewed as divided by geographic
regionalism stemming from ancient cultural differences among the
people of the North, Center, and South
(see The Chinese Millennium
, ch. 1). Regardless of their veracity, such
perceptions were widely held in Hanoi and conditioned the
leadership's thinking about national security.
Data as of December 1987
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