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Location of Vietnam in Indochina
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about 331,000 square kilometres (128,000 sq mi) and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's fifteenth-most populous country. One of the two Marxist–Leninist states in Southeast Asia, Vietnam shares land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Its capital is Hanoi and its largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (commonly known as Saigon).

Vietnam was inhabited by the Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the Red River Delta in modern-day northern Vietnam. The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam under Chinese rule from 111 BC, until the first dynasty emerged in 939. Successive monarchical dynasties absorbed Chinese influences through Confucianism and Buddhism, and expanded southward to the Mekong Delta, conquering Champa. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was effectively divided into two domains of Đàng Trong and Đàng Ngoài. The Nguyễn—the last imperial dynasty—surrendered to France in 1883. In 1887, its territory was integrated into French Indochina as three separate regions. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the nationalist coalition Viet Minh, led by the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnam's independence from the Empire of Japan in 1945.

Vietnam went through prolonged warfare in the 20th century. After World War II, France returned to reclaim colonial power in the First Indochina War, from which Vietnam emerged victorious in 1954. As a result of the treaties signed between the Viet Minh and France, Vietnam was also separated into two parts. The Vietnam War began shortly after, between the communist North Vietnam, supported by the Soviet Union and China, and the anti-communist South Vietnam, supported by the United States. Upon the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified as a unitary socialist state under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1976. An ineffective planned economy, a trade embargo by the West, and wars with Cambodia and China crippled the country further. In 1986, the CPV initiated economic and political reforms similar to the Chinese economic reform, transforming the country to a socialist-oriented market economy. The reforms facilitated Vietnamese reintegration into the global economy and politics.

Vietnam is a developing country with a lower-middle-income economy. It has high levels of corruption, censorship, environmental issues and a poor human rights record. It is part of international and intergovernmental institutions including the ASEAN, the APEC, the CPTPP, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OIF, and the WTO. It has assumed a seat on the United Nations Security Council twice. (Full article...)

Emblem

The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; Vietnamese: Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, lit.'Military of and for the people of Vietnam'), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (Vietnamese: Quân đội Việt Nam, lit.'Military of Vietnam') or the People's Army (Vietnamese: Quân đội Nhân dân), is the national military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wing of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The PAVN is the backbone component of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and includes: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard and Coast Guard. Vietnam does not have a separate and formally-structured Ground Force or Army service. Instead, all ground troops, army corps, military districts and special forces are designated under the umbrella term combined arms (Vietnamese: binh chủng hợp thành) and are belonged to the Ministry of National Defence, directly under the command of the CPV Central Military Commission, the Minister of National Defence, and the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army. The military flag of the PAVN is the National flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam defaced with the motto Quyết thắng (Determination to win) added in yellow at the top left (or by the side of the flagpole).

During the French Indochina War (1946–1954), the PAVN was often referred to as the Việt Minh. In the context of the Vietnam War (1955–1975), the army was referred to by its opposition forces as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA; Vietnamese: Quân đội Bắc Việt), serving as the military force of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This allowed writers, the U.S. military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, called Viet Cong (VC), or more formally the National Liberation Front. However, both groups ultimately worked under the same command structure. The Viet Cong had its own military forces called the Liberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV). It was practically considered a branch of the PAVN by the North Vietnamese. In 1976, following the political reunification of Vietnam, LASV was officially disbanded and merged into the so-called NVA to form the existing incarnation of PAVN, serving as the national military of the unified state of Socialist Republic of Vietnam. (Full article...)

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Vietnam News

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21 October 2024 –
The National Assembly of Vietnam appoints army general Lương Cường as the country's president, succeeding Communist Party General Secretary Tô Lâm. (VOA) (AP) (VnExpress)
17 October 2024 –
A court in Vietnam sentences tycoon Trương Mỹ Lan to life in prison for fraud, in addition to a death sentence that Lan received in April for embezzlement. (Radio Free Asia)
13 September 2024 – 2024 Pacific typhoon season
The death toll from Typhoon Yagi in northern Vietnam increases to 233 people, with more than 820 others injured, and 103 people still missing. (AP)
11 September 2024 – 2024 Pacific typhoon season
The death toll from Typhoon Yagi in northern Vietnam increases to 179 people, with 145 others still missing. The majority of the victims were killed by floods and landslides in Lào Cai, Yên Bái, and Cao Bằng provinces. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
9 September 2024 – 2024 Pacific typhoon season
The death toll from Typhoon Yagi in northern Vietnam increases to more than 64 people, with 24 others still missing. (Al Jazeera) (AP News)
7 September 2024 – 2024 Pacific typhoon season
Four people are killed and at least 78 people are injured by Typhoon Yagi in Hải Dương and Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam, as it makes landfall in Hanoi. (BBC News)

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