Hoa Protests Reach New Heights?

Hoa Protests Reach New Heights? Vietnam News Agency Jason Flick

HANOI, VIETNAM – Tensions between the Vietnamese and the Hoa People, native Chinese who immigrated to Vietnam during the Qing Dynasty and Republic of China period, seem to be reaching levels that have not been seen in recent years. These tensions come in the midst of Phạm Vũ Luận, the Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training, facing allegations of embezzlement from the national scholarship fund to send Vietnamese students to study abroad. If allegations of embezzlement are indeed true, Phạm Vũ Luận funneled these funds into a program created to “improve vocational programs in China”. Further questions have been raised by the general lack of knowledge from the program’s Director in regards to the funding for the program. A significant portion has been unaccounted for, and many have begun to ask where the funding came from.

Calls for action from the masses have left the capital in a unique situation. Public opinion has placed the majority of the population in assuming Phạm Vũ Luận to be of Hoa descent. These public opinion polls come to light as protests for economic equality reach what many have said to be the most widespread to date. Protesters have pointed toward the statistically higher education and income levels of the Hoa people compared to the general Vietnamese public. Despite making up only 0.96% of the population, the Hoa people make up a high percentage of Vietnam’s middle and upper class and conjugate themselves in densely populated communities in southern regions of the country.

This is not the first time in Vietnamese history that such a divide has been apparent. In the 1970’s, the ethnically Chinese people controlled approximately 75 percent of the economic activity in South Vietnam. Since that time, the Hoa people have experienced repression, and a considerable loss of their property and prosperity. Only recently has this gap been closed and the situation has been arguably flipped.

As protests continue in the coming days, all eyes go towards Vietnamese-Chinese relations. Continued suspicion by Vietnam toward China has only been heightened by the actions of the Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training and his treatment towards the Vietnamese and Hoa people. One has to question which side will make the next move in response to recent events and whether the interactions between the two states will be made in a diplomatic manner.