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William Mc—-For this week’s discussion I chose topic number two, examining a country’s economic development, and for this I chose Vietnam. Vietnam is often known as being not a very wealthy country but has actually had great improvement economically in the last 30-40 years. Since the launch of Đổi Mới in 1986, and accompanying global trends, Vietnam from one of the poorest nations of the world to that of one of a largely middle economy. From 2002 to 2020 Vietnam has gone from 14 percent poverty rate to just 3.8 percent and proving to be quite resilient during economic crisis. In fact, economic growth is projected to be around 5.5 percent in 2025 and further increasing to a projected 6 percent in 2026. Even planning for the future, Vietnam has plans in mind to become a high-income country by 2045, all while increasing their green efforts as well as deforestation decreases. Vietnam’s “Renewable energy development project”, began to support its first large scale private sector developments for implementing renewable energy into Vietnams power grid, with 19 hydroelectric power plants being built. They have also increased in their efforts for water management by improving and modernizing both irrigation systems and the countries dams. Another big development for the country is in agriculture, creating a better infrastructure for water for the residents of rural populations and for farmers of the nation, which Vietnam relies so much on. I enjoyed reading and researching into this topic, as I had no idea Vietnam was making such large strides in becoming an economic powerhouse. Travis—-Back in 2012, I had a position in the Navy where I traveled quiet a bit. One of the places I had a mission in was Singapore. Singapore was not what I expected. It was a very modern country with some of the most beautiful scenery I have every seen in a city. It kind of looked like the city and the forest were fused together which was unique to any place I have ever been. I also saw the busiest port I have ever seen. Hundreds of ships going in and out. It was a sight I wont soon forget as I was a Navigation specialist during the first part of my Navy career. One of the things that is different in both Singapore and the rest of South Asia to varying extents depending on the country is how human rights are interpreted. To put it bluntly, they do not mess around. Think your password to your accounts are secure and you don’t have to give them up? Nope. In June Kristen Han is facing a $5000 fine and up to 6 months in jail for taking a picture a prison for refusing to surrender the passwords to her social media account. This is not a place that you want to commit a crime or get involved in a political protest. The death penalty is used far more liberally than we do back here in the U.S. There is also a lot of issues with the exploration of foreign laborers and migrant workers. There rights and ability to move about is extremely limited and the wages are barely enough to eat on in some cases. In short, human rights are different where ever you go in the world and while Singapore in very beautiful and clean with a lot of things to do, if you mess up, expect to face a far harsher punishment than you will in the U.S.
