Major international issues and Vietnam

The major obstacle to achieving the economic goals of doi moi was the continuing occupation of Cambodia by Vietnam and the political isolation it generated; paralleling this was the barrier posed by difficult relations with China and the U.S. (also complicated by the MIA issue)

In 1989, Vietnam moved to improve relations on all fronts:

January 1989: Vietnam announces the withdrawal of all its troops from Cambodia by September
During 1989 and into 1990, Vietnam and China engaged in negotiations to settle the Cambodian question

At the same time as the efforts to resolve international questions, the Vietnamese government was deeply shaken by the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 and then in the Soviet Union in 1991

These events prompted a renewal of debate over the wisdom of doi moi

Some reactionary steps were taken, such as tightening press controls

In June 1991, the Seventh Party Congress debated and then endorsed again the policy of continued doi moi - accepting "market socialism" and rejecting pluralism

The majority of the ruling circles of the Vietnamese communist party understood that the only path to the survival of the party and the nation was that of reform

The party tried to ignore the many contradictions in their situation: glasnost and rejection of pluralism and continuation of centralized control; state control and much greater role for markets