Vietnam Fully Capable of Taking on the UN Security Council Responsibility

On the occasion of Vietnam being elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2008 – 2009 term, Vietnam Business Forum had an interview with Dr Ngo Thanh Nhan, a Vietnamese American, Computational Linguist from New York University.  

The overwhelming vote in the UN General Assembly for Vietnam to become a non-permanent UN Security Council member is quite impressive. It is a great victory for the Vietnamese people. And it is also a victory for the world’s people, including the people of the US, because Vietnam will bring to the Security Council its commitment to peace, independence of nations and social justice.

The ascension of Vietnam to the Security Council is 30 years in the making and was achieved under the watch of the Vietnamese Communist Party. It is the internationalism of the Communist Party which has allowed Vietnam to exert this level of world leadership while at the same time standing for the principles of President Ho Chi Minh. I would say, from the eyes of a Vietnamese American, the name “Communist” has become a blessing.

I think the 96 per cent vote of the UN General Assembly for Vietnam’s admission carried with it sentiment of trust and respect for Vietnam as a country, with its ability to engage in the events of Southeast Asia and in the United Nations. Vietnam won the trust and respect of other nations from its struggle for independence, reunification, peace, prosperity and human dignity. 

The duty as a non-permanent UN Security Council member will allow Vietnam to engage in achieving peaceful solutions, with a progressive people-centered socialist ideology, to the hot issues of the world, brought on by the controversial anti-terrorism campaign by developed countries. 

Thus, this seemingly symbolic duty can be turned into a respectable position of peace, justice, prosperity and human dignity.

Of course, the election of Vietnam as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council after thirty years of UN membership helps Vietnam to further integrate in the international community.

It has been a member of the non-aligned movement and being a developing country like the majority of countries in the world, integration means to share its fate and aspirations with the majority of the world’s population. To be fully integrated means to be able to contribute meaningfully to the world’s solutions with Vietnam’s principles of peace and prosperity with justice and human dignity.

As such, Vietnam is fully in the position to engage in finding solutions to current conflicts. It is a huge challenge. Vietnam does not wish to contribute more troops to UN peacekeeping forces with dubious goals and assignments, but will initiate a better way to deal with the world’s problems through peaceful and non-violent negotiations. 

Vietnam is now in a position to implement this principle. I also believe that a strong and prosperous Vietnam contributes to peace, development, and social progress of each and every country in the world. As a member of the UN Security Council, Vietnam hopes to share these visions. And Vietnam is not alone. Working with other socialist and non-aligned countries both in the Security Council and General Assembly, Vietnam can lead in building a progressive majority.

I believe being in the UN Security Council, Vietnam will hear different views from the countries and peoples in conflict and their proposed solutions. Vietnam will take part in promoting UN Security Council decisions to avoid rather than incite wars. 

In being a progressive voice, Vietnam can draw on its history of fighting for peace and on the tremendous esteem and respect it is accorded by the majority of countries in the world. In doing this, Vietnam will avoid the mistake that others have made of becoming a pawn in the superpower’s games. The world has changed drastically, and so must the UN Security Council.