South Asia and Beyond

Vietnam’s COVID-19 Success Story, Despite Scarce Resources

NEW DELHI: While many countries with a far better health infrastructure have been struggling to contain the spread of COVID-19, Vietnam has charted a success story despite having far less resources at its command. It’s not had a single death since the coronavirus first came knocking at its doors in January and had recorded only 268 COVID-19 positive cases until April 22. The southeast nation’s ambassador to India, Pham Sanh Chau spoke to StratNews Global’s Deputy Editor Parul Chandra on how Vietnam managed to contain the virus despite sharing a 1,400 km long porous border with China where COVID-19 originated in the city of Wuhan. Asked if his country hoped to gain if manufacturing units moved out of China in the wake of the pandemic, the envoy said while Vietnam wants to play a bigger role in global supply chains, it didn’t want this to happen at the cost of others. With Vietnam also having to deal with Chinese muscle-flexing in the South China Sea in the midst of the pandemic, Ambassador Chau rejected Beijing’s moves to once again claim what he said is rightfully his country’s territory. Watch this interview for more:

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Parul Chandra

Professional newshound, have navigated through typewriters, computers and mobile phones during my over three-decade-long career working in some of India's finest newsrooms (The Times of India, Financial Express). Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan are my focus, also Sri Lanka (when boss permits). Age and arthritis (that's a joke) have not dimmed the thrill of chasing a story. Loves music, animals and pasta.

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