The 9^th Party Central Committee, in the report on documents of the 10^th National Party Congress, affirmed, “Our Party has always considered ethnic issues and ethnic unity a strategic, fundamental and long-term concern of our revolution.”

Vietnam consists of many ethnic groups. In thousands of years of national construction and defence, they have stood shoulder to shoulder in the common struggle against foreign invaders and natural calamities to work towards national construction. Ethnic groups in Vietnam constitute a richly diverse but unified Vietnamese civilisation. Ethnic unity is the guideline that our Party adhered to immediately after its establishment and throughout the revolutionary process.

This assessment proceeded from a profound analysis of major characteristics of all ethnic groups in Vietnam: (1) Ethnic groups in Vietnam have experienced a long-term history together in the national building and defence process. (2) Ethnic groups nationwide have mingled with each other, and most of minority people live in mountainous, highland and border areas, which have political, economic and defensive importance. (3) The historical development process has created a socio-economic development gap among ethnic groups. (4) Although the size of ethnic groups is not equal, their unique cultural identities have added to the diversity of the Vietnamese culture. (5) Ethnic groups have shared a national history, and are closely connected to the establishment and development of a unified Vietnam.

Early in the 20^th century, ethnic issues in Vietnam emerged from different ideologies. After the Can Vuong movement, patriotic scholars launched a struggle against colonialist rule to wrest back national sovereignty and maintain the rule of the absolute monarchy, which followed Confucianism and feudalism. Meanwhile, some other strong-willed patriotic scholars represented by Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh and Nguyen Thai Hoc followed some western democratic republic countries at that time and launched a struggle with bourgeois ideology to wrest back national independence and develop the country. The third trend was the struggle for people’s freedom and democracy following guidelines of the Vietnam Communist Party. Struggle movements in many decades at the end of the 19^th and early 20^th century showed that the nation’s destiny could only be ensured and national freedom, democracy and equality could only be obtained through a revolution led by the working class.

The “Party’s brief Political Platform and Strategy” written by Ho Chi Minh pointed out the Party’s stance on ethnic issues by examining the dialectical relations between the nation and social classes, the nation and the world, and the nation and the era. He found the motivation for our revolution, which was compatible with the national and social liberation idea. With a scientific and revolutionary thinking profoundly imbued with Eastern culture, he made a policy to address ethnic issues in our country on two aspects:

- As Vietnam was a colonial and semi-feudal country, the first issue was to wrest back independence and freedom for the entire nation and allow people of all ethnic majority and minority groups become masters of the country, not slaves.

- As Vietnam is a multi-racial country, it is necessary to define guidelines and policies to help people of all ethnic groups get rid of poverty and outdated practices and build a prosperous and happy life in a fair, democratic and civilised society.

The Vietnamese Party and State have creatively applied Marxist-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s Thought in the revolution process. They have reviewed specific historical periods and policy changes, leading methods of implementing policies on ethnic groups in general and ethnic minorities in particular in order to bridge the economic, cultural and social gap between them, and fully realise the idea of “Equality, unity and mutual respect for common progress.”

To make policies compatible with characteristics of each region and ethnic group and accelerate policy enforcement, Vietnam has categorised ethnic minority-inhabited regions by natural geographic conditions and socio-economic development level. Initially, we categorised them according to the nature of the terrain: mountainous, highland, or plain area. After that, we divided the ethnic minority-inhabited areas into three sub-categories according to socio-economic development level (which followed five criteria on living standard, infrastructure, social factors, production conditions and environment). From this system, Vietnam has developed and implemented Program 135 on the socio-economic development of especially difficult communes in mountainous, remote and inaccessible areas since 1998.

This pledge of investment for the poorest and most disadvantaged areas illustrates our proactive dedication to ethnic policy-making and implementation. In the past, these areas had a lower investment priority. Now, we are specifically targeting them for investment and assistance. This new approach has greatly impacted on bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, and in particular helps ethnic minorities who live in mountainous, remote and inaccessible areas improve their lives. This is the crux of Vietnam’s current renewed policy on ethnic issues.

It has brought about major changes, particularly in infrastructure development, and people of all ethnic groups who live in poorer remote areas are entitled to the regional policy under the Programme. However, the Programme does not cover all neighbouring villages, which may be in a similar socio-economic situation. This may lead to grievances and complaints from the people and local authorities in these villages. Hostile forces may exploit the situation to accusations of unequal treatment and incite social disorder. So, in granting assistance to ethnic minorities in these areas each village and even each household is assessed individually. The State’s direct subsidy to small ethnic groups such as Brau, Ro Mam, Si La, Pu Peo, O Du is necessary to help them preserve their cultural identities. It is also required to promote the ethnic policy on minority groups with special characteristics such as the Khmer, Cham, Hoa and Mong.

From our observation of outcomes, lessons learned from ethnic issues in our country can be generalised as follows:

- Ethnic equality could be achieved only after Vietnam wrested back its independence, freedom and unification. Ethnic equality is intrinsically linked with national liberation, independence, unification, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

- Ethnic unity should be built on national equality and human liberation, and aim for prosperity, freedom and happiness. In essence, it is universal social equality.

- National equality and unity go hand-in-hand with mutual respect, trust and assistance between ethnic groups for common progress.

- Ethnic issues cannot be solved in a day. It takes time and effort to bridge the development gap between ethnic groups.

Using Marxist-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s Thought as a starting point, our Party made ethnic guidelines and policies with equality, unity and mutual assistance for common development as their major theme.

Our Party has further defined, complemented and affirmed ethnic issues and ethnic unity. The 8^th National Party Congress said, “Ethnic issues have a great strategic position". The 9^th National Party Congress confirmed, “Ethnic issues and ethnic unity have always maintained their strategic position in the revolutionary cause”. Afterwards, the 7^th plenum of the 9^th Party Central Committee held in January 2003 stated, “Ethnic issues, ethnic work and ethnic unity have an important strategic position”. And the 10^th National Party Congress held in April 2006 said, “Ethnic issues and ethnic unity are a strategic, fundamental and long-term concern of our revolution”. These statements are very important to the formation and implementation of Vietnam’s ethnic policies.