{"id":4864,"date":"2026-07-30T23:05:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/?p=4864"},"modified":"2026-07-30T23:05:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:05:53","slug":"vietnam-and-leftist-instrumentalism-by-walid-abd-el-hai-translated-by-ibrahim-ebeid-from-arabic-august-1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/?p=4864","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam and leftist instrumentalism By Walid Abd El Hai. Translated by Ibrahim Ebeid from Arabic. August 1\/2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vietnam and leftist instrumentalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Walid Abd El Hai.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Translated by Ibrahim Ebeid from Arabic. August 1\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the U.S. military intervention in Vietnam in 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973 and the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Vietnamese Revolution was the shining symbol of national liberation. It was the most popular in the world, and its leaders, such as Ho Chi Minh, General Giap, Lee Duan, Van Van Dong, and others, formed icons of the liberation revolutions during that period.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Vietnamese Revolution received support from the forces of Arab liberation and from the nationalist and Marxist forces. The Palestinian organizations sought distinguished relations with the Vietnamese Revolution. The singing of Ho Chi Minh and Jiab became repeated by the Arab leftist singers. The slogans were repeated at Arab universities in support of the symbols of Vietnam and, as much as possible, in support of Vietnam.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As soon as we reached 1993 (18 years after the Vietnamese reconstruction of the repertoire of the war with the United States), Vietnam announced the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Israel, without any regard for Israel’s place in the capitalist system, not to mention that it is, in leftist culture, a form of settler colonialism that is no different from the apartheid regime in South Africa, which was adopted by the United Nations by a resolution of the General Assembly in 1975, the same year that Saigon fell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Hanoi and Tel Aviv, the relationship has grown steadily. The\u00a0 leftist theorizing of the colonial system in Vietnamese literature has gradually disappeared, and this has been evident in the following phenomena:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2025, Vietnam’s military intelligence signed a $680 million contract with the Israeli Military Aerospace Industries Authority. In 2026, Vietnam signed a $250 million contract with the Israeli company Rafael for advanced defense systems. All these deals are based on the 2015 memorandum of understanding for defense cooperation between the two parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2- Trade cooperation: At the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Flood, the volume of Vietnamese-Israeli trade exchange was about $2.2 billion, and the value of trade exchange in 2025 increased to $3.63 billion, an increase of 11.8% from its annual rate, including 865 million Vietnamese exports to Israel and $2.765 million Vietnamese imports from Israel. However, it is noteworthy that before the Battle of the Flood, Israel and Vietnam signed a free trade agreement. It is noteworthy that this agreement is the first between Israel and the Southeast Asian region, which includes 11 countries (including ten that make up the Organization of Regional Cooperation (ASEAN)), with a total population of about 700 (seven hundred) million people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3- Vietnam’s voting behavior in the United Nations since the beginning of the flood: Since the UN resolutions represent the soft side of international relations, Vietnam voted after the flood in favor of five resolutions in the Assembly calling for a humanitarian truce and the protection of civilians, the release of hostages and the entry of aid, the two-state solution, or the application of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice to end the Israeli occupation of the occupied territories.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Returning to the literature of the Communist Party of Vietnam during the period before the fall of Saigon and its fall until now, we will find the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel was described before the fall of Saigon as literally “an imperialist instrument of Western colonialism and American domination.” Still, now, according to official statements, it is “the preferred partner in the fields of agriculture and technology.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The party has consistently stated that “the Palestinian armed struggle is legitimate and must be supported without limits as part of the national liberation movements”, but now Vietnam believes that 78% of Palestine is Israel, whose legitimacy and right to security and peace are recognized by the party.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The conflict with Israel before the fall of Saigon was, in essence, a “conflict that was implemented.”Now it is a “political dispute”, and there is a big difference between conflict and conflict (conflict-dispute) in the dictionary of international relations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1975, Vietnam voted in favor of the United Nations resolution declaring Zionism a form of racism. In 1991, Vietnam also refused to vote in favor of repealing the resolution. Still, it recognized Israel legally and factually in 1993, acting as if the UN resolutions did not concern it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To understand this shift from ideological to pragmatism, it is necessary to stop at the “Doi Mui” (Renewal or Innovation) policy promulgated by the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1986, which stipulates a “socialist market economy”, which means, according to the Declaration: allowing the private sector, abandoning mass farming, opening the way for foreign investment and attracting multinational companies, opening up to all countries regardless of their structures or policies with others, and considering international law as the reference point of international behavior. He has moved from an ideological foreign policy to one that prioritizes economic benefit over other ideological commitments, a triumph of pragmatism that is currently sweeping the global left.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the other hand, it is necessary to stop at the following indicators:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The total amount Vietnam has provided to Palestine (to the PA, organizations, or UNRWA) is only $500,000 since 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Between 3 and 4 Vietnamese academic seminars on the Arab-Israeli conflict were held after the flood. Two small demonstrations were held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, only in support of Gaza.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bottom line: it’s politics… Maybe.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vietnam and leftist instrumentalism By Walid Abd El Hai. Translated by Ibrahim Ebeid from Arabic. August 1\/2026 From the U.S. military intervention in Vietnam in 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973 and the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Vietnamese Revolution was the shining symbol of national liberation. It was the most popular in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4865,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4864\/revisions\/4865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}