TTLA: Vietnam's cultural diplomacy policy (2009-2020)

1. Full name of PhD student: Le Thu Trang 2. Gender: Female
3. Date of birth: February 28, 1986 4. Place of birth: Hanoi
5. Decision to recognize PhD students: 3618/2018/QD-XHNV dated December 4, 2018
6. Changes in the training process: extension document 2689/QD-XHNV-DT December 6, 2021
7. Thesis topic: Vietnam's cultural diplomacy policy (2009-2020)
8. Major: International Relations 9. Code: 9310601.01
10. Scientific advisor: Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Hong Hanh
11. Summary of new results of the thesis:
Purpose and research objects of the thesis

Research objectives and tasks: With the aim of explaining why the Vietnamese government increasingly values ​​the role of cultural diplomacy and considers it an inseparable part of Vietnam's foreign policy.

ObjectThe research of the topic of Vietnam's cultural diplomacy policy and activities focuses on the period 2009-2020, the period when Vietnam implemented the "Cultural Diplomacy Strategy to 2020" domestically as well as internationally.

Research methods used

Qualitative methods are mainly applied in this study to focus on the meaning and enhance the understanding of the processes, phenomena and activities in international relations in general and cultural diplomacy in particular. Qualitative research includes a range of methods from interviews to discussions, historical analysis and multi-method research is the most common method. In addition, there are policy research, logic, comparison, etc. to approach and solve the problems raised.

Main results and conclusions
a. Main results
- Explain the reasons why Vietnamese cultural diplomacy has been enhanced in the context of modern Vietnamese diplomacy.
- Overview of the current situation and inadequate effectiveness of Vietnam's cultural diplomacy and policies despite more investment and attention in recent years; at the same time, recognize the challenges that Vietnam's cultural diplomacy faces in the 21st century, which are significantly affecting Vietnam's diplomatic policy.
- Clarifying how Vietnam's cultural diplomacy has changed in recent years and predicting how it will change in the coming years to meet strategic diplomatic goals in the current world context.

b. Conclusion
Vietnam's cultural diplomacy was formed very early and was applied creatively, skillfully and flexibly by our ancestors, contributing effectively to the construction, preservation and protection of the country. However, these cultural diplomacy activities have not been systematic and have not been carried out regularly and continuously. The birth of the Cultural Diplomacy Strategy has overcome the above limitations. Since the approval of the Cultural Tourism Strategy, policies and mechanisms on cultural tourism have been increasingly consolidated, cultural tourism activities have been implemented strongly, comprehensively and effectively, contributing positively to making the world better understand the country, people and culture of Vietnam, strengthening trust building with countries around the world, bringing the relationship between Vietnam and its partners into depth, stability and sustainability, thereby enhancing the country's position in the international arena, creating conditions to support socio-economic development, while absorbing the quintessence of human culture, enriching and deepening the traditional cultural values ​​of the country.
Cultural activities from 2009 to present have achieved many outstanding results, reflected in the following contents:
Achievements
Firstly, the viewpoints, objectives, contents... of the National Strategy for Cultural Heritage to 2020 are understood and gradually implemented in a methodical and professional manner by ministries, departments, branches, localities, organizations, enterprises, and individuals, closely linked with the National Strategy for Cultural Heritage, the National Strategy for Cultural Heritage, and with projects, strategies, and foreign affairs programs of relevant agencies and organizations, contributing to strengthening the overall strength and serving the country's foreign affairs goals.
Second, cultural work within the framework of multilateral forums in general and multilateral cultural organizations and forums in particular has been actively and proactively implemented, contributing to the country's deep cultural integration, gradually participating in building the rules of the game at forums, making specific contributions to serving the goals of peace, security, development and enhancing the country's position.
Third, cultural tourism has made positive and effective contributions, creating tangible resources, supporting industries and localities to successfully implement socio-economic development plans in specific stages. Local brands through events, festivals, and large cultural tourism activities have also been gradually shaped, consolidated, and resonated regionally and internationally, contributing to promoting local products, attracting tourism, investment, and enhancing international cooperation.
Fourthly, the work of cultural diplomacy both domestically and internationally has new initiatives, new forms and new methods in implementation. The participation of more and more organizations, enterprises and individuals shows that the work of cultural diplomacy has initially received the attention of non-state units, creating a long-term, potential and sustainable resource for this work in the next period.

Limit

However, besides the above successes, the work of NGVH in recent times also has some shortcomings and limitations that need to be resolved, specifically:
Firstly, the general awareness of NGVH is still at different levels, leading to the attention and implementation of this work by ministries, branches and localities not being really high.
Second, NGVH involves many ministries, sectors, localities and many activities at different levels, but the coordination mechanism between ministries, sectors and localities is not really tight; long-term strategies and plans of ministries, sectors and localities do not have corresponding connections to create and promote combined strength.
Third, although cultural activities have increased in quantity and content, they are still scattered and not really effective. Cultural activities at Vietnamese representative offices abroad are not uniform and continuous, often only concentrated in a few familiar locations and at a certain time or a few events during the year. Cultural activities are also only concentrated in a few localities with strengths in tourism and heritage.
Fourth, resources for NGOs are still limited, including budget and human resources. Each year, the resources for NGOs in Vietnam are very modest compared to the budget of countries in the world and the region for this work, while socialization has only been initially implemented in a number of small activities, and incentive and motivation mechanisms to attract socialization from the private sector for NGOs have just been implemented.
Reason
First of all, the above successes in cultural diplomacy come from the following main reasons: First, in the past 10 years, cultural diplomacy has always received the attention and close direction of leaders at all levels, especially the senior leaders of the Party and State; Second, awareness of the benefits and values ​​of implementing cultural diplomacy has been gradually improved, along with the results of cultural diplomacy in the first years of implementing the Cultural Diplomacy Strategy that have begun to take effect; Third, the proactiveness, positivity and creativity in the implementation of cultural diplomacy by relevant units at home and abroad; Fourth, the implementation of cultural diplomacy is consistent with the trend of applying cultural diplomacy in international relations of countries around the world.
In addition, the following reasons also cause some limitations in cultural diplomacy work: First, although the content of cultural diplomacy has gradually been shaped, it still needs to be improved, moreover, the "main message" about cultural diplomacy of Vietnam has not been built and shaped clearly; Second, the implementation mechanism between the Cultural Diplomacy Strategy and the National Culture Strategy has not been clearly defined, causing the implementation to sometimes overlap; In addition, the combination of cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy has not been specifically studied to promote the advantages and disadvantages of both forms; Third, the coordination between ministries, branches and localities in implementing cultural diplomacy activities at home and abroad is still limited; Fourth, cultural diplomacy work has not received due attention to information and communication to the public, and has not been linked with the development of Industry 4.0; Fifth, this work has not made good use of external resources.
Experience
After synthesizing reports from ministries, branches, localities and newspapers of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found a number of lessons to effectively implement cultural diplomacy work in the next phase as follows:
Firstly, there needs to be a “key message” about cultural diplomacy. In order to implement the overall cultural diplomacy strategy, enhance their image, position, and increase their influence in the world, each country has its own doctrine.
Second, countries with successful cultural diplomacy all have appropriate resource investment. For Vietnam, investment in cultural diplomacy activities from the state budget is very necessary. However, it is also necessary to frankly recognize that investment in cultural diplomacy will be at a level appropriate to the country's economic capacity, so it is necessary to make good and effective use of all social resources and have appropriate mechanisms to use and allocate resources for implementing cultural diplomacy.
Third, there needs to be large programs, all countries have large programs on cultural tourism and through that achieve the set goals. For Vietnam, we currently have large programs and projects such as: Vietnam Week/Day Program, Vietnam Cultural Week/Day Program in other countries; Project to honor President Ho Chi Minh abroad; Vietnamese language teaching program in the world... In the coming time, we can focus on building programs related to areas where Vietnam has strengths such as: cuisine, martial arts, etc.

12. Further research directions:
- Research on Vietnam's Cultural Diplomacy Strategy 2020-2030 including implementation activities, evaluation and drawing lessons compared with the period 2010-2020
- Monitor and study the practical implementation of Vietnam's cultural diplomacy in Asia, especially neighboring countries.
13. Publications related to the thesis:

1. Le Thu Trang, Do Thuy Duong, Nguyen Thi My Hanh, Ngo Tuan Thang, Bui Hong Hanh (2021), “A decade of Vietnamese cultural diplomacy: From recognition to action (2010-2020)”, International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (2), pp. 57-63

2. Le Thu Trang (2019), “Cultural diplomacy – a tool in forming intangible structure in Asia-Pacific: Case studies of Japan and Thailand”, Proceedings of the international conference “The prospect of structure in Asia-Pacific to 2025 and Vietnam's response”, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi, pp.145-154

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Le Thu Trang

2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: 28/2/1986

4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Amission decision number 3618/2018/QD-XHNV dated December 4, 2018 by University of Social Sciences and Humanities

6. Changes in academic process: n/a

7. Official thesis title: Strategy of Vietnamese Cultural Diplomacy (2009-2020)

8. Major: International Relations

9. Code: 9310601.01

10. Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Hong Hanh

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis

Thesis purpose and object

Research purpose: explaining the increasing importance of cultural diplomacy by the Vietnamese government as an integral part of Vietnam's foreign policy.

Object of thesis focuses on the period 2009-2020, which is the period when Vietnam deploys the "Strategy of cultural diplomacy until 2020" in the country as well as in the world.

Research methods

The main qualitative methods applied in this study are to focus on the meaning and improve the understanding of the processes, phenomena and activities in international relations in general and cultural diplomacy in particular. Qualitative research covers a wide range of methods from interview to observation, discussion, historical analysis and usually multimodal research being the most common., in addition to policy research, logic, comparison, etc. to approach and solve the problems posed.

Major results and conclusions
a. The major results
- Explain the reasons why Vietnam's cultural diplomacy has been enhanced in the context of modern Vietnamese diplomacy
- Generalize the current situation and the disproportionate effectiveness of Vietnam's policies and cultural diplomacy, despite more investment and attention in recent years; at the same time, aware of the challenges that Vietnam's cultural diplomacy faces in the 21st century, which are significantly affecting Vietnam's foreign policy
- Picture how Vietnam's cultural diplomacy has changed in recent years and predict how it will change in the coming years to meet strategic diplomatic objectives in the global context.
b. Conclusions
Vietnamese cultural diplomacy (VCD) was formed very early and was creatively, skillfully and flexibly applied by our forefathers, effectively contributing to the construction, preservation and protection of the country. However, these cultural activities are not systematic and are carried out regularly and continuously. The introduction of the Strategy on Cultural Diplomacy has overcome these limitations. Since the date of its approval, VCD has been increasingly strengthened, and cultural activities have been deployed strongly, comprehensively and effectively, making a positive contribution to making the world understand more about the country, people and culture of Vietnam, strengthen trust building with countries around the world, bring the relationship between Vietnam partners and into depth, stability and sustainability, through that enhances the country's position in the international arena, creates favorable conditions to support socio-economic development, and at the same time absorbs the cultural quintessence of humanity, enriching and deepening traditional culture values. values. of the country.
VCD from 2009 up to now has achieved many outstanding results, shown in the following contents:
Achievements
Firstly, the viewpoints, objectives, contents... of the VCD to 2020 have been scientifically understood and gradually implemented by ministries, departments, branches, localities, organizations, enterprises and individuals; VCD has a close connection with other projects, strategies, programs of external activities of related agencies and organizations, contributing to serve the country's foreign policy goals.
Secondly, the work of VCD forums within the framework of multilateral in general and multilateral organizations on culture has been actively and actively implemented, contributing to the country's deep cultural integration, step by step participating in formulating the rules of the game at forums, making specific contributions to serve the goals of peace, security, development and strengthening the country's position.
Thirdly,VCD has actively and effectively contributed, forming a tangible resource, supporting industries and localities to successfully implement socio-economic development plans in specific periods. The local brand through major cultural events, festivals and activities has also gradually been shaped, consolidated and resonated in the region and internationally, contributing to promoting local products and attracting tourism, investing and strengthening international cooperation.
Fourthly, VCD in and outside country achieved new ideas, methods in implementation. The participation of increasing organizations and individuals creates a long-term resource steady potentials in the next stage.

Challenges

There are existing challenges to VCD: (1) Different levels of recognition of VCD in general leads to low attention and implementation at differents ministries, branches, localities; (2) VCD requires the enrolment of lots of ministries, branches, localities but the coordination is low; long-term strategies and plans of ministries, branches and localities do not have the corresponding connection to create and promote synergy; (3) although VCD literature activities have increased in number, with richer and more diverse content, there is still scattered organization with low effectiveness. Activities in overseas Vietnamese institutions are not uniform and continuous, usually concentrated in a few familiar locations and at one time or a few events in the year; (4) resources are limited, including budget and human resources. Each year, Vietnam's resources for cultural linguistics are very modest while the new socialization has been initially implemented in a small number; (5)
Reason
The above-mentioned successes in VCD work come from the following main reasons: Firstly, the VCD in the past 10 years has always received the attention and close guidance of leaders at all levels, especially senior leaders of the Party and State; Secondly, the awareness of the benefits and values ​​of the implementation of the cultural literature has been gradually improved, along with the results of the VCD work in the first years of implementing the Strategy on VCD; Thirdly, the initiative, positivity and creativity in the way of implementing VCD of relevant units at home and abroad; Fourthly, the development of VCD is in line with the trend of cultural diplomacy in international relations of countries around the world.
In addition, VCD still has some limitations because: First, the content has been gradually shaped, but still needs to continue to be improved, especially the "main message"; Second, the implementation of strategies has not been clearly defined and overlapped; in addition, the combination of cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy has not been specifically studied to promote the advantages and disadvantages of both forms; Third, the coordination of ministries, branches and localities in the implementation of cultural language activities at home and abroad is still limited; Fourth, the work of cultural literature has not been given adequate attention to information and communication to the public, and has not been linked with the development of industry 4.0; Fifth, this work has not made good use of external resources.
Recommendations
In order to proceed the next stage of VCD, it is recommended as follow: First, it is necessary to have a “key message” about VCD. In order to implement the overall strategy, improve their image, position, and increase its influence in the world, Vietnam should form its own doctrines; Second, appropriate resource investments are required. For Vietnam, it is very necessary to invest in cultural diplomat activities with the state budget at a level that is suitable to the economic capacity of the country, so it is necessary to make good and effective use of all resources of the society and have an appropriate mechanism to use it. , allocate resources for VCD implementation; Third, it is necessary to have large programs to achieve the set goals. Vietnam has already had major programs and projects such as: Vietnam Week/Day Program, Vietnamese Cultural Week/Day Program in other countries; Project to honor President Ho Chi Minh abroad; Vietnamese language teaching programs in the world... In the coming time, it should continue to focus on building programs related to areas where Vietnam has strengths such as cuisine, martial arts, etc.

12. Further research directions

• Expand the research sphere to Vietnamese cultural diplomacy in the period of 2020-2030 in comparison to that of 2010-2020

• Examine the practices of Vietnamese cultural diplomacy in Asia, especially the neighbor countires

13. Thesis-related publications

• Le Thu Trang, Do Thuy Duong, Nguyen Thi My Hanh, Ngo Tuan Thang, Bui Hong Hanh (2021), “A decade of Vietnamese cultural diplomacy: From recognition to action (2010-2020)”, International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (2), pp. 57-63

• Le Thu Trang (2019), “Cultural diplomacy – a tool in forming intangible structure in Asia-Pacific: Case studies of Japan and Thailand”, Proceedings of the international conference “The prospect of structure in Asia-Pacific to 2025 and Vietnam's response”, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi, pp.145-154