"The era of the Vietnamese people's rise" is an inevitable requirement of history.

VOV.VN - "I think this era of rising up is very logical and objective, and is the inevitable result of previous successful steps. Looking at it this way, we can see that a new era has truly opened for our nation," said Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao, former Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics .

Recently, in some speeches of General Secretary and President To Lam at home and abroad, the message "Vietnam is facing a new historical moment, a new era - the era of national development" has been mentioned. So what is the connotation of "the era of development", when did this era begin and what are the goals? VOV Online Newspaper reporter interviewed Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao, senior lecturer, former Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics to clarify the above issues.

Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao - former Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

The “era of rising” is the inevitable result of previous successful steps.

PV: Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao, how do you understand the phrase “era of rising up” in the development process of our country? Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao: Recently, General Secretary and President To Lam issued an official message about the era of rising up of the Vietnamese people. We can understand some very basic contents of this concept. The era of rising up marks a new period of development of each nation, of course it must be in accordance with objective laws, in accordance with the general development process of humanity, especially in accordance with the development process of that nation, and must create very clear and typical milestones.

For our Vietnam, since the party took leadership in 1930 until now, we have clearly seen the emergence of eras. After 15 years of fighting for national liberation, fighting against fascist colonialism and other reactionary forces, in 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born, opening an era of independence and freedom for the Vietnamese people and also starting from here, a new page of the country's history, a page in which the working people rose up to take control of their own destiny under the leadership of President Ho Chi Minh. This era is not only meaningful to the Vietnamese people but also has great international and contemporary significance, contributing to creating a revolutionary wave, opening an era of fighting against colonialism and imperialism of hundreds of colonies, becoming independent nations.

Next, we had to face the invasions of colonialists and imperialists. We carried out two strategic tasks, both fighting against colonialists and imperialists, liberating the South, unifying the country, and building socialism in the North. By 1975, we had achieved complete victory, opening a new era - the era of the whole country moving towards socialism. From 1945 to 1975 were three decades in which Vietnam played a pioneering role in the struggle for the noble goals of the era: peace , national independence, democracy and social progress. A poet has very accurately depicted the political stature of the Vietnamese people in this era: Holding a branch of Vietnamese flowers Shining in the century Holding a branch of peach blossoms of truth We go through time The third era is the whole country moving towards socialism. This era is very important because only after 1975, socialism was designed and built in the context of no more war on a national scale. But unfortunately, the socialist system at that time also began to face difficulties, stagnation, and crisis. Besides the very valuable results, during this time, the construction of socialism in Vietnam also encountered many limitations and fell into a serious crisis. Therefore, starting from 1986, we had to carry out innovation. Innovation in thinking and perception about socialism and innovation in the path to socialism. After 10 years of innovation, by 1996, our whole country had basically overcome the socio-economic crisis, entering a new period of development - the period of promoting industrialization and modernization and just a few years later, by 2010, we had escaped the state of underdevelopment to join the list of middle-income countries in the world. Thus, since 2010, we have entered a new era - an era that created the premise for Vietnam's development in the new world, in the new era. Since those milestones, we have achieved great achievements of historical significance. The country's foundation, position, prestige and strength have never been as good as they are now. It is the successes in this era that create the premise for us to start talking about a new era - the era of the Vietnamese people's rise. I think that this era of rise is very logical, objective, and is the inevitable result of previous successful steps. Looking at it like this, we can see that a new era has truly opened for our nation - the era of rise, the era of strong development, striving to become a developed country with high income by the middle of the 21st century.

"The Age of Rising" is set in a world context with many epochal movements.

PV: How is the era of national development different from the previous world context and what opportunities and challenges do we face, sir? Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao: The era of national development will have to be placed in a very new context, as General Secretary and President To Lam said, that is, a world context with many epochal movements, that is, epochal movements, with long-term impacts on the security and development of all countries and peoples, including Vietnam. Firstly, the fourth industrial revolution is creating a new economic era - the digital economy . When the economy enters a new era, all areas from society, culture, to political security must have profound movements. The industrial revolution will certainly create movements that are turning points in the history of the whole world. The second epochal movement is globalization. It has happened in the previous decades but now and in the coming decades, it will be rich, strong and of course increasingly complex. Although it is being hindered by some forces, globalization is strong enough to affirm that it is an inevitability, a trend, an irreversible process. And certainly it makes the world not only closer together but also more and more unified. All countries, ethnic groups, all different political and social regimes must comply with common rules, common values, common laws. In that context, whether each country and ethnic group can develop or not depends on the position in which it integrates and exploits that position to its advantage. The third epochal movement that I think we have not yet promoted adequately is sustainable development as a universal model in the world, sustainable in terms of economy , culture, society and ecology. That is a very comprehensive development. There are many development issues that cannot be framed within the framework of a country but must be transnational. It is very different from the past. Sustainable development today is inevitable, an imperative that cannot be delayed. We develop according to the goal of national independence and socialism but must be placed within the framework of sustainable development. Another global movement is that we must look to Capitalism. In the past 1-2 decades, Capitalism has made very strong adjustments and developments. Many scholars have spoken of a period of global Capitalism with the formation of a global capitalist production chain, transnational capital, the power of the capitalist State increasingly reaching the world, people even talk about a global bourgeoisie. Global Capitalism in the very familiar version of neoliberalism has achieved very impressive achievements in many regions of the world, but at the same time it has revealed inherent contradictions and limitations that cannot be overcome. That is the contradiction between capital and labor, polarization, mutual exclusion, deep social division... it creates very fierce and serious class contradictions. That is why working people all over the world are stepping up social struggles, criticizing capitalism in its latest version, Neoliberalism. Even in the golden age of capitalism and even in the very favorable time of capitalism when there is no longer a socialist system, capitalism is still not accepted by today's humanity as the society of the future. And the very good slogan of the current world people's movement is to seek alternatives to capitalism. Humanity will have to define more specifically what that is, but they certainly believe that overcoming current capitalism is a very clear requirement of history. Understanding the above reality will help us to be confident and steadfast on the path of national independence and socialism. Another profound global movement of the times is the reform and innovation of socialism around the world with the successes of China, Vietnam, Laos, the brave creativity of Cuba... We affirm that socialism is still an entity that cannot be ignored, an entity that participates in shaping the modern world. That not only helps us to be confident but also suggests to us the contents, directions, and tasks to continue to promote the innovation process, towards the noble goal that we have set for the mid-21st century, which is a developed country with high income.

Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao - former Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

Reaching out to overcome the middle-income trap

PV: So, sir, when is the new era - the era of rising up understood to begin? Is it marked from the 14th National Party Congress? Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao: I think that we don't have to wait until the 14th National Party Congress to understand that the new era begins now, in a world context with epochal movements, in a context where we have nearly 40 years of innovation with such great achievements and new strength, but we also face many difficulties and challenges that must be overcome. For example, first of all, we must overcome the middle-income trap - an extremely fierce and cruel trap. Most countries in the world fall into the middle-income trap after escaping poverty. Therefore, Vietnam must try very hard not to fall into that cruel trap. The middle-income trap is the state of a country's development without breakthroughs within 30 years after escaping poverty. If you don't turn into a dragon or a tiger, you will forever fall into that trap. Vietnam has been out of the state of underdevelopment since 2010. In theory, we have 16 years to break out. In the Southeast Asian region, many countries have fallen into the middle-income trap. 1-2 decades ago, they happily and eagerly welcomed the new era to become a developed country, but in the end they did not succeed. We should remember that in 1960, the average income of the people of the Philippines was twice that of the people of South Korea at that time, now South Korea. And now, we see how South Korea and the Philippines are at two levels of development. This trap is not abstract but exists around us. Therefore, we must overcome the risk of falling further behind in the level of development between us and other countries in the world . Second is the risk of not achieving success in realizing the goal of industrialization and modernization. Over the past 30 years, from 1991 to 2021, we have not yet achieved the required goals. If we do not strive and make efforts, we will continue to fail to achieve the set goals for industrialization and modernization. This is the decisive factor in the country's development level. Whether we become a developed country by 2045 or not depends on whether we complete industrialization and modernization or not. This is the material and technical basis and premise for socialism. Therefore, if we are not successful in the cause of industrialization and modernization, it means we are not successful in the cause of building socialism.

The strategic thinking of the ruling Party must be timely.

PV: Now, to overcome all these challenges, what breakthroughs does Vietnam need to make, sir? Associate Professor Nguyen Viet Thao: The first breakthrough is the leadership of the Party. Our Party is the only Party that leads and governs, and must promptly and clearly build a new vision - the vision of a nation rising up in a changing world. This vision is extremely important. The 13th Congress has just outlined Vietnam's path to the mid-21st century. That is an outline and needs to be more specific so that the entire Party and the entire people can make every effort to implement it. The second breakthrough is to have strategic thinking, implemented through national strategies. I really like a definition: Strategy is always a choice, choosing the right breakthrough, the right focus, the right key point, the right advantage, our strengths. This is not easy. Countries around the world and Vietnam have more than once failed to identify the right advantage, the key advantage. In the 30 years of industrialization and modernization from 1991 to 2021, we have not achieved the set goals and requirements. One of the reasons is that we have not identified the spearhead of industrialization, not identified our advantages. Therefore, I think that the strategic thinking of the Party leadership and the ruling party must be timely, clear, correct, appropriate, and feasible. In strategic thinking, we must definitely find a path and model of industrialization suitable for Vietnam. Finding the path of industrialization for a latecomer like Vietnam today is very difficult. We can refer to and study the experiences of Japan, China, the models of Latin American countries, East Asian countries, etc. I think that we really need to study the experiences in the era of the Vietnamese nation's rise. Of course, in this era of growth, there are many issues, not only economic but also cultural, social, national security and defense issues... Strategic competition between major countries, new generation war, traditional and non-traditional security threats... All of these must be very clear in the strategy to protect the Fatherland. Reporter: Thank you very much!

Huong Giang - Le Hoang/VOV.VN (Implemented)

Source: https://vov.vn/chinh-tri/ky-nguyen-vuon-minh-cua-dan-toc-viet-nam-la-doi-hoi-tat-yeu-cua-lich-su-post1125468.vov