Thayer Anti-American and Anti-Western Sentiment Surfaces on Vietnam’s Internet

Thayer Consultancy Background Brief
ABN # 65 648 097 123

[email protected] Anti-American and Anti-
Western Sentiment Surfaces on
Vietnam’s Internet
November 24, 2024
We request your assessment regarding Vietnam's anti-American and anti-Western

propaganda policy on the internet.
A U.S. veteran recently shared that he wanted to return to Vietnam for a few days to
see how the country had changed since the war. But he changed his mind when he
heard about the extreme anti-Western propaganda campaigns online in Vietnam.
Question 1: What do you think about Vietnam's anti-American and anti-Western
propaganda policy on the internet?
ANSWER: Vietnam’s anti-American and anti-Western propaganda on the internet
social media is not representative of the views of the majority of Vietnamese. Public
opinion polls reveal that the United States is a highly respected country. President
Donald Trump was admired during his first term and he is likely to be popular when
he takes office again in January.
I have visited Vietnam forty-nine times since my first visit to reunified Vietnam in
August 1981. Public views of Americans have changed over time to the better,
particularly after normalisation in 1995 and in more recent years.
However, we know from the release of Politburo Directive 24 “On Ensuring National
Security in the Context of Comprehensive and Deep International Integration” that
there are deep suspicions about ulterior American motives in engaging with Vietnam
to promote “peaceful evolution” or a “colour revolution” (popular uprising).
Directive 24 asserts that “Hostile and reactionary forces have thoroughly taken
advantage of the international integration process to increase their sabotage and
internal political transformation activities, impacting policymaking and legislative
development, creating linkages, developing forces, forming ‘civil society’ alliances and
networks, independent trade unions, … creating the premise for the formation of
domestic political opposition groups.”
Politburo Directive 24 draws particular attention to United States insistence on labour
rights in free trade agreements with Vietnam such as the Obama-era Trans-Pacific
Partnership and Biden Administration’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The key
concerns are provisions letting workers form their own independent unions.
Directive 24 also set out concerns arising from international integration and the role
of foreign governments, aid agencies, and non-government organisations in
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promoting civil society, political reform, human rights, democracy and religious
freedom. According to party propagandists these are “hostile forces” seeking to
support domestic groups and individuals in Vietnam to carry out “street revolutions.”
The threat from America and other Western countries and organisations is
compounded, according to Directive 24, “by the failure of Vietnamese party and
government officials to properly monitor and control threats to national security.”
Politburo Directive 24 prescribes nine separate orders that must be carried. Order no.
6 states:
Effectively manage and overcome limitations and inadequacies in cultural activities,
information, media, the press and foreign cultural products, promote the role of the press
and media in fighting populist trends, civil disobedience, wrongful views and sabotage by
hostile forces and efforts to promote hybrid culture that does not conform to the customs
and traditions of the nation. Strictly handle the act of taking advantage of information
communication infrastructure and social networks to spread false propaganda that
sabotages the Party, State, People, and our country’s socialist regime.
Order No. 9 directs all party organizations under the Central Committee to develop
“specific plans and programs of actions and regularly evaluate implementation of the
directive.”
In summary, the anti-American propaganda that is spread on Vietnam’s social media
is part of a concerted campaign by security forces and party members to protect
Vietnam’s one-party state at a time when Vietnam is stepping up its efforts at
international integration through the elevation of its relations with the United States
to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
In addition, cyber-warriors in Force 47 set up in 2016 by the military’s General Political
Department have been implicated in anti-American and anti-Western blogs on social
media (Facebook, Tiktok and YouTube) to demonstrate their patriotism.
Question 2: According to you, what are the benefits or disadvantages of Vietnam's
anti-American and anti-Western propaganda policy on the internet that they still carry
out?
ANSWER: From the viewpoint of party officials, especially those with responsibility for
national security, the benefit of anti-American propaganda is to discredit internal
activists and dissidents as dupes of “hostile forces” outside Vietnam. This also serves
to intimidate ordinary Vietnamese from forming their own opinions on domestic
advocacy of political reform, human rights and religious freedom. In other words, the
Vietnam Communist Party knows best.
There are two main disadvantages. First, anti-American and anti-Western propaganda
may undermine relations with the very countries that Vietnam needs to support its
efforts to become a developed country with a modern industry and upper middle
income by 2030 and a developed high-income country by 2045. For example
congressmen and parliamentarians in the U.S. or western-styled democracies could
move to restrict assistance and other forms of cooperation with Vietnam. In the case
of the United States, Vietnam’s harassment of three Vietnamese participants in the
U.S.-sponsored Young Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) and media attacks on
3
Fulbright University could lead to the disruption of programs designed for human
resource development.
The European Union’s Free Trade Agreement with Vietnam contains a democracy
clause that empowers the EU to partially or fully suspend an agreement unilaterally in
case of a breach by the other party (Vietnam).
A second disadvantage of conducting anti-American propaganda is that it may
be counterproductive to Vietnam’s savvy youth generation who are active on
social media and who have studied abroad, particularly in the United States. The
disconnect between their personal experiences and propaganda could turn
them into cynics of the regime and lead them to seek alternate sources of
information such as Meta-owned Threads.
Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Anti-American and Anti-Western Sentiment

Surfaces on Vietnam’s Internet,” Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, November 24,
2024. All background briefs are posted on Scribd.com (search for Thayer).
Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially
registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.
Contact: [email protected]

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Thayer Consultancy Background Brief

ABN # 65 648 097 123

We request your assessment regarding Vietnam's anti-American and anti-Western

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Anti-American and Anti-Western Sentiment

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