Through the associations and organisations, overseas Vietnamese have been increasingly promoting their role and responsibility in the cause of national construction and defence and contributing to boosting friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and international friends.
The role of overseas Vietnamese associations and organisations in the cause of national construction and development was actively grasped and promoted by President Ho Chi Minh right from the first years of his participation in revolutionary activities. Beginning his journey abroad to find a way to save the Vietnamese nation and people in 1911, in the countries he arrived, President Ho Chi Minh actively propagated, mobilised, and established overseas Vietnamese associations and groups. For example, he and several patriotic young people in France founded the Group of Patriotic Annamese (the predecessor of the Vietnamese Association in France today) in June 1919 to call for solidarity in the Vietnamese community in France. In June 1925, he established the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association in Guangzhou (China) to work against the French colonialists in Indochina and propagate Marxism-Leninism. Since the birth of the Communist Party of Vietnam (1930) and throughout the development of the Vietnamese revolution, President Ho Chi Minh always paid special attention to the overseas Vietnamese community.
During the historical periods of the Vietnamese revolution, the overseas Vietnamese associations and organisations have always played an important role. Notably, during the resistance war against the oppressive domination of the French colonialists, overseas Vietnamese in France actively participated in serving and protecting the Vietnamese Government Delegation to negotiate at the Fontainebleau Conference while strengthening the mobilisation of the French public opinion and people to support Vietnam. During the resistance war against US imperialism, overseas Vietnamese associations and groups in many countries around the world promoted people-to-people diplomacy activities and actively mobilised the people of colonial and progressive countries to unite to support Vietnam.
Since 1975, overseas Vietnamese associations and organisations effectively promoted people-to-people diplomacy and performed well in the task of "going ahead to pave the way, break the siege and embargo" together with Party and State diplomacy. They have also strengthened relations between Vietnam and socialist countries, mobilised assistance from the international community to overcome the consequences of war and socio-economic stagnation. During the Doi Moi (Renewal) period, overseas Vietnamese, actively lobbied the governments of many countries to remove embargo barriers and establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam while contributing resources to the country's development. Many overseas Vietnamese intellectuals returned home to work for large organisations, corporations, and businesses in the country. The Party's resolutions and directives, especially the Politburo’s Resolution No.36 and the Secretariat’s Directive No.45 and Conclusion No.12, always affirm that Vietnamese people living abroad are an integral part and a resource of the Vietnamese ethnic community, is a factor contributing to strengthening friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries. Therefore, the promotion of the role of overseas Vietnamese associations and delegations abroad has become even more important in contributing to national construction and defence.
According to a survey conducted by Robert Walters Recruitment Consulting Group in July 2023, 71% of Vietnamese people living abroad are considering the possibility of returning to their homeland to live and work within the next five years. Experts assess that this will be a "gold mine" of high-quality human resources for domestic businesses. In addition, the third and fourth generation of overseas Vietnamese are integrating and promoting their role very well in the host countries and are increasingly raising awareness of preserving and spreading Vietnam's traditional cultural identity to international friends. Thanks to the growth of the overseas Vietnamese community, along with meeting the criteria of quantity, time of living, and complete integration into the host society, overseas Vietnamese are playing an increasingly important role, and have been recognised as an ethnic minority community in some countries. Most recently, in June 2023, the Government of Slovakia officially recognised the overseas Vietnamese community as the 14th ethnic minority group in the country.
It is impossible not to mention the time when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, Vietnamese people all over the world wholeheartedly contributed to the COVID-19 Vaccine Fund mobilised by the government and donated many medical equipment and supplies to support people in the country to fight against the epidemic. This partly demonstrates the deep patriotism of overseas Vietnamese.
There are currently more than 1,000 Vietnamese associations and organisations around the world, of which more than 500 maintain close ties with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad and are active in linking overseas Vietnamese together. They act as important bridges to boosting friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and countries around the world and attract many resources for national construction and development.
Stemming from practical needs and desire to strengthen cohesion and develop practical activities to support each other and work towards the homeland, many overseas Vietnamese associations and organisations have been established in recent years. For example, the Vietnam-Australia Association of Intellectuals and Experts was officially established in Australia in May 2023 with about 300 members on the basis of merging Vietnamese intellectual clubs in the states. In Europe, the Vietnamese Women's Union in Europe was formed in September 2023. The Overseas Vietnamese Union held a Congress regarding its establishment in December 2023.
The increasing number of associations and unions of overseas Vietnamese shows the awareness, responsibility, and great need of the community in forming their own organisations to increase cohesion and mutual support while contributing to preserving Vietnamese cultural identity and language for future generations living far from the Fatherland. However, some difficulties and obstacles still exist in the activities of some associations and groups of overseas Vietnamese, such as a lack of proper attention from agencies, limitations in coordination between associations and unions of overseas Vietnamese with domestic authorities, and connection with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad.
Worryingly, there have been a number of extremist elements and political opportunists who have taken advantage of the naivety, credulity, and lack of information of certain overseas Vietnamese to entice them to participate in associations and groups sabotaging the country.
This reality poses new requirements for the work related to the overseas Vietnamese, in which the activities of overseas Vietnamese associations and groups play an important role. In the context of strong international integration, diversity and flexibility are essential in mobilising and promoting the resources of overseas Vietnamese and are considered to be among the effective solutions. Accordingly, it is necessary to persistently mobilise overseas Vietnamese who still have prejudices to strengthen their trust and confidence in the Fatherland, and promptly honour and encourage overseas Vietnamese to make positive contributions to the cause of Fatherland’s construction and defence, paying special attention to the young generation who are studying and working away from their homeland.
At the same time, it is crucial to further promote the operational efficiency of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad as well as diplomats and specialised foreign affairs officers who directly participate in the work of mobilising overseas Vietnamese. The propaganda of the Party's policies, viewpoints and guidelines on national unity must be focused to raise awareness and sense of responsibility of the community and associations and unions. In addition, the benefits of technology and the role of digital transformation need to be maximised to promote policy propaganda on social networking platforms, and regularly provide updates on domestic situations to help overseas Vietnamese easily access current information. As a result, overseas Vietnamese can strengthen connections, form cooperative associations and groups, support together, and strengthen patriotism, such that sabotage and hostile subjects will not have the opportunity to approach, instigate, nor deceive them to participate in activities that go against the interests of the country and people.
