COMPARING THE CHINESE AND VIETNAMESE REFORMS ：AN INTRODUCTI

Close to a decade after the collapse of the Communist states in Eastern Europeand almost as many years after the collapse of the Soviet Union ，the Communistparties in China and Vietnam are not only surviving ；they are firmly in the saddleand can look with some satisfaction to their recent records of economic performance.While their erstwhile European counterparts have succeeded in establishing new politicalinstitutions and systems of electoral politics and are eager to adopt a capitalisteconomic structure，almost all of them remain mired in economic difficulties ：living standards are generally lower than in the 1980s，and the economies of severalof them are in a shambles.Paradoxically，China and Vietnam，the two main Asiansocialist countries ？without undergoing similar political upheavals and withoutopenly admitting that they welcome capitalism （as opposed to welcoming foreigndirect investments）？have been enjoying a period of well-publicized economic boomwhich even the current Asian crisis has not ，to date，seriously dented.China，in particular ，with an industrial growth rate unrivalled in the world this pastdecade，has been touted as a successor to the so-called East Asian miracle economies.Vietnam's economy has similarly ？taken off ì，with impressive growth rates sincethe late 1980s.

　　In certain significant respects ，they can be regarded as a pair.Both countries，after all ，have charted broadly parallel paths in their economies ？disbandingagricultural collectives in favour of family farming；moving away from the commandeconomy and toward a market economy in their publicly-owned industrial sectors；allowing private enterprises to emerge in almost all areas of the economy ；turningvigorously toward the world market and toward export-oriented industrial drives；and successfully opening their doors to investment by foreign firms.Politically，both countries have shifted quietly away from Marxist ideology and rhetoric ；havewitnessed a progressive retreat in the ambit of what their parties attempt to control；have shown tolerance for a limited degree of interest-group politics ？and yetat the same time，both countries persist in a Leninist structure of party dominance.

　　It is time to ask ，then ，whether there exists an Asian socialist reformmodel.Beyond the broadest of generalities，to what extent and in what specificareas are China and Vietnam indeed following similar paths to modernization andsimilar reform agendas？Is there a common logic to their programs？In the politicalsphere，where political reforms have been announced in tandem with economic reforms，to what extent are the two party regimes reshaping the political systems and thebases of their political legitimacy in similar ways ？And，perhaps most importantly，within the broad similarities of what is occurring in China and Vietnam ，whatare the differences ？This last question takes on special salience in that it maypoint to newinsights about each country's recent experience？insights that wouldnot be evident if a scholar were to focus only on one country.

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