Hostile forces have always put democracy at the forefront of their “Peaceful Evolution” Strategy against the Vietnamese revolution so far. Therefore, fighting against those distortions and artifices must be a routine and constant task.
Not being used separately, the issue of democracy has been intermingled with other ones, such as human rights, ethnicity, religion, and belief as the “combined strength” against our Party, State, and socialist regime by hostile forces. Distortions of democracy have been created in all fields; however, distortions of political democracy are the most important and inclusive, in the two main directions: first, distorting democratic manifestations in real life, and second, distorting the nature and root cause of “loss of democracy” and “no democracy” in our country. Distortions have been spread in various forms and via malicious methods as a “matrix” and “orchestra” against Vietnam from multiple sides by hostile forces. With many different components both at home and abroad, hostile forces combine “sublime theory” with “impolite language”, while aligning the fight against our viewpoints with direct attacks on specific individuals and organisations. They take advantage of our weaknesses and drawbacks and exploit domestic and international information to invent and integrate distortions. Within their arguments, hostile forces always try to be objective, scientific, and devoted to our nation’s destiny, but in fact, they are using the pretext of “democracy” and “patriotism” for their sabotage and distortion. They use mass media and social networking platforms to gather and train forces and create fanpages, groups, and accounts with a large number of followers to spread their distortions.
Distortions of democracy are extremely dangerous and can easily lead to doubts amongst a section of cadres, party members, and citizens about our Party’s leadership and the nature and superiority of our country’s democracy. For that reason, it is necessary to proactively fight against those distortions in the following aspects.
It is impossible to slander and deny achievements in Vietnam’s democracy and the nature of our country’s democracy; Vietnam can not be alleged to have “no democracy”, “violate democracy”, or “lose democracy”. Reality has proved that since the inception of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Vietnamese people have mastered, organised and built a new society, and taken care of their freedom and happiness by themselves; the nature and superiority of our country’s democracy have been vividly manifested in the people’s life. Vietnamese people clearly understand the great value of independence, freedom, and democracy; they fully understand human rights and what democracy is. “Socialist democracy is the nature of our regime, acting as the goal and motivation of our country’s development”. That is a great achievement of our country’s revolution and democracy. With an objective view and goodwill, we could understand achievements in democracy gained by Vietnamese people’s sweat and blood as well as know that the society in Vietnam is truly democratic.
Those who deliberately allege that Vietnam has “no democracy” or “violates democracy” should know that after 35 years of innovation, Vietnam’s position, synergy, international prestige and the people’s faith have been increasingly raised as important preconditions for Fatherland construction and protection; the people’s right to mastery has been not only stipulated in the Constitution and laws but also expressed in all fields. The people’s mental and material life has been significantly improved. In 1989, Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) was merely 6.3 billion USD; in 2022, the country’s GDP was 409 billion USD, ranking 37th in the world and 5th in ASEAN, amongst the top 14 countries in Asia. Vietnam’s per capita income in the first years of innovation was just 250 USD/year. In 2022, this figure was 4,110 USD, ranking 5th in ASEAN. The rate of poor households was drastically reduced from 58% in 1993 to 5.8% in 2016 according to the Vietnamese Government’s poverty line and below 3% in 2020 according to the multidimensional poverty line, being recognised as one of the leading countries in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations. The people’s right to freedom of belief and religion has been ruled in Vietnam’s Constitution, respected and guaranteed in real life as well as acknowledged by the international community. All Vietnamese citizens are entitled to the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, access to information, assembly, association, and demonstration. Vietnam’s press system has been robustly developed with about 50,000 people working in the field of journalism, nearly 1,000 press agencies in 4 types of print, radio, television, and online newspapers, including 165 newspaper agencies, 663 magazines, 23 independent online newspaper agencies, 2 national radio-television stations, 64 local radio-television stations, and 5 television channels. 70% of Vietnam’s population is using social networks, such as Facebook, YouTube, Lotus, Zalo, Twitter, and Instagram. Those figures help confirm the good nature of our regime and the enjoyment of our country’s democracy.
It is impossible to rate Vietnam’s elections “undemocratic”. In Vietnam, every citizen has the right to vote and the right to participate in social management directly or via representatives selected by himself/herself. Elections of deputies to the National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils constitute a form of direct democracy and a method of demonstrating the people’s will, aspirations, and right to mastery in the building of the State, representative agencies, and organs of state power from local to Central levels. In elections of deputies to the National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils, the turnout of voters was very high. The rate of deputies as women, ethnic minorities, and religious dignitaries in the National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils has been increasingly high. The implementation of democracy-related principles in elections has contributed to encouraging people from all walks of life to take part in building the State and preventing and combating corruption and negative practices. Channels for guaranteeing and promoting the people’s right to mastery have been unceasingly expanded and effective. “People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit” become an institution of democracy, a motto of the people in building the political system, and a requirement for cadres in their relationship with the people. The people are the subject of all power; their rights, obligations, responsibilities, devotion, and enjoyment are closely connected with one another. The live broadcasting of the National Assembly’s question-and-answer sessions, meetings between candidates and voters before elections of deputies to the National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils, and the collection of public opinions about the draft Constitution and laws have enabled the people to exercise their rights to direct and indirect mastery, inspection and supervision of the State’s operations as well as express their opinions and aspirations.
It can’t be denied that in our country’s democracy, “all state power belongs to the people under the alliance between the working class, the peasantry, and the intelligentsia”; our democracy guarantees the people’s right to mastery in terms of economy, politics, culture, and society, while bringing into play the people’s creativity in Fatherland construction and protection, under the CPV’s leadership and via the socialist State.
Those who call for further “expanding democracy” should know that democracy is always associated with law and discipline. Democracy, regardless of its form, can’t be unprincipled or anarchic but must be linked with discipline and institutionalised, and guaranteed by law. They also need to know that there will be no rights without obligations and vice versa. “Each citizen’s right to democracy and freedom must not be separated from obligations and responsibilities of citizenship”. Any act of using democracy to provoke socio-political instability and threaten national benefits and the people’s peaceful life is unacceptable, goes against democracy, and must be severely punished. The unprincipled exercise of democracy is contrary to the nature of socialist democracy and could lead to unpredictable consequences. “Political pluralism” and “multiple parties” promoted by hostile forces act as a “prerequisite” and “requirement” for a demagogic democracy which is, aimed at abolishing the socialist nature of our country’s democracy.
Calling on Vietnam to follow the pattern of Western bourgeois democracy is unacceptable. We don’t deny the values of bourgeois democracy; however, no matter how that democracy is “painted”, it is still a democracy built by the bourgeoisie to ensure their rule and exploitation of society and labour.
It is impossible to say that the CPV’s leadership is the root cause of the lack of democracy or no democracy. Historically and practically, the Vietnamese people have chosen the CPV as the only ruling party in our country. The Constitution – the fundamental law of our country does not create that position for the CPV; it is the recognition and confirmation of a socio-political practice that has been established in reality; therefore, there is no reason for us to invalidate Article 4 of the Constitution.
Our CPV is the vanguard of the working class, the labouring people, and the Vietnamese nation; it is the faithful representative of the working class, the labouring nation, and the nation. The CPV has no other benefits than those of the nation and the Fatherland. That the CPV is the sole ruling party is for the benefits of the nation and the Fatherland. Therefore, instead of removing the CPV’s leadership, it is necessary to affirm and strengthen that leadership in practice as the key to democracy in our country. An abandonment of the CPV’s leadership and ruling role or the exercise of political pluralism will not make Vietnam more democratic, but instead put it at risk of chaos and instability like some other countries have experienced.
Associate Prof. NGUYEN MANH HUONG, PhD.