The beginning of the relationship between America and Vietnam: Historical lessons

Abstract

America is a powerful nation whose potentials and international influence are
so great that every country, in its policy making process, has to take America and
its relationship with America as a factor into consideration. Under the current
rapid and highly intensive but extremely complex internationalization and globalization, there exists an idea that there is a danger of identifying Globalization with Americanization. This poses a serious problem to us - scholars in East Asia, a
region with different cultural traditions from others - to think over and exchange
ideas to find out the best solutions that can both cope with the common trend and
bring into play the advantages of the traditional cultural values. Looking back
ovei' the first contacts between America and Vietnam is not only meaningful to
historians but also useful to the current as well as the future knowledge. In this
article, an attempt is made to look objectively at the nature of the first
contacts between Vietnam and America so as to draw some historical lessons.
Hopefully, what will be discussed below will, more or less, a s s is t our thoughts in
the current complex changing world.