Kevin Lee- Week 8 Blog Post

            Throughout the years, Vietnam has been trying to redevelop and re-brand itself, its people, economy and national aesthetics through many methods. One of these methods is transnationalism

and globalization. Vietnam has been accepting foreign help to redevelop itself. Through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Vietnam would be able to further the redevelopment of itself after the damage from the Vietnam War with the help of foreign countries. At first, the TPP seems like a good idea where it’s a partnership that allows many people to work together for the better of the country. However, that does not seem like the case. In Mel Gurtov’s “The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Deeply Flawed Partnership,” Gurtov talks about how the TPP is trying to form a new kind of bill that does not serve the human interest. The TPP does not take into consideration of human interests, as well as benefitting the countries that it is “supposed” to help. Gurtov states that this partnership does not provide hard evidence of environmental protection, considers profits over human rights, and considers globalization as a competition for the top. The U.S. government believes that the U.S. is the leader and that everyone else will follow suit. The TPP does not benefit anyone except the people running the show. There is no point in a partnership if the partnership is just a fraud that only benefits one side and not the other. Vietnam would not be able to benefit from the TPP if the TPP is meant to help companies against competition and not help the people and the country redevelop itself for the better.

            Through the TPP, Vietnam hopes to receive help from foreign countries, possibly the West, to help with the redevelopment of itself; however, how could Vietnam look at the U.S. the same after the terrible aftereffect of the Vietnam War. In Marjorie Cohn’s “Agent Orange: Terrible Legacy of the Vietnam War,” Cohn talks about the horrors of the aftereffects of the U.S.’s using of Agent

Orange during the Vietnam War. The U.S. got itself involved in the war and decided to use Agent Orange to help the military. However, Agent Orange was more dangerous than they thought. Many people suffered from the chemicals of Agent Orange. Vietnam is still willing to partner with the U.S. for its redevelopment, hoping that the TPP would play a role in its redevelopment. This goes to show that if a country is desperate enough to redevelop itself, it is willing to receive help from anyone, no matter the history between them.

Question: Does the TPP actually benefit Vietnam in any way, or at least help in its redevelopment? Has there been any progress with the victims of Agent Orange?

Work Cited:

Cohn, Marjorie. “Agent Orange: Terrible Legacy of the Vietnam War.” Huffington Post. 1 May. 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marjorie-cohn/agent-orange-terrible-legacy_b_7189938.html>

Gurtov, Mel. “The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Deeply Flawed Partnership.” Asian-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Vol. 13, Issue 20, No. 1. 13 May. 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kalw/files/201506/tpp.jpg

https://vabenefitawareness.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/agent-orange-5.jpg