https://www.scmp.com/rss/515135/feed Govi Snell is a freelance journalist based in Ho Chi Minh City. She covers Vietnam and is interested in the environment, social issues and culture. She contributes regularly to publications including Southeast Asia Globe, Al Jazeera, The Third Pole and The Ken. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Govi Snell Govi Snell The occasional water buffalo still wanders across the vacant plots of Thu Thiem, an area of Vietnam’s most populous city long promised redevelopment that is now poised for transformation on a grand, possibly Trumpian, scale. Set along the Saigon River, with the glassy skyline of downtown Ho Chi Minh City rising just 3km (1.9 miles) away, Thu Thiem could soon be home to a new Trump Tower after the US president’s middle son Eric, executive vice-president of the family’s real estate empire, scouted... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3315265/trade-war-leverage-trumps-property-empire-eyes-vietnam-mega-projects?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3315265/trade-war-leverage-trumps-property-empire-eyes-vietnam-mega-projects?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Jun 2025 00:00:12 +0000 Govi Snell Govi Snell Two of Vietnam’s largest conglomerates are vying to lead the country’s largest infrastructure project to date: a US$67 billion high-speed railway linking the northern capital, Hanoi, with the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City. Vingroup and Truong Hai Group Corporation (Thaco) have entered bids to build the more than 1,500km (930-mile) North–South high-speed rail line. But both are seeking substantial state support – either in the form of massive interest-free loans or government-backed... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3312733/vietnams-us67-billion-north-south-high-speed-railway-privately-built-public-money?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3312733/vietnams-us67-billion-north-south-high-speed-railway-privately-built-public-money?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jun 2025 09:30:10 +0000 Govi Snell Govi Snell In the quest to hasten a “new era” for Vietnam, Communist Party chief To Lam is reducing a bloated bureaucracy – including cutting the number of provinces in half – in the boldest administrative reforms in decades that experts say will also extend his influence. The plan to reduce the country’s municipalities and provinces from 63 to 34 was approved by Vietnam’s Central Committee on April 12. That means the country’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City, which currently has around 10 million... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3308103/vietnams-lam-makes-fast-and-furious-move-cut-bureaucracy-quest-lean-new-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3308103/vietnams-lam-makes-fast-and-furious-move-cut-bureaucracy-quest-lean-new-era?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Apr 2025 04:00:15 +0000 Nine bullets. That’s all Khoa* says he fired in the 16 months that he was a conscript in Vietnam’s armed forces. Most of his time was spent farming, raising pigs and marching in formation rather than soldiering. Now in his thirties, Khoa – who didn’t want This Week in Asia to use his real name because of the sensitivity of the subject – joined a standing army of some half a million soldiers when he was conscripted, but painted a picture of a rather poorly trained and underfunded force. Vietnam... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3216965/vietnam-needs-change-its-reliance-russian-arms-will-us-step-help-upgrade-its-military?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3216965/vietnam-needs-change-its-reliance-russian-arms-will-us-step-help-upgrade-its-military?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Apr 2023 01:30:08 +0000 The downfall of Vietnam’s former president Nguyen Xuan Phuc over corruption links to a Covid-19 test kit tender played out in front of a public normally forbidden from examining the mechanics of the all-powerful Communist Party. Now, as the anti-graft crackdown ricochets across the country, experts say it’s moving beyond the confines of party politics to chip away at confidence in the economy as technocrats are sidelined and officials become reluctant to sign off on new projects, fearing they... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3213141/vietnams-blazing-furnace-corruption-purge-spotlights-political-tug-war-economic-unease?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3213141/vietnams-blazing-furnace-corruption-purge-spotlights-political-tug-war-economic-unease?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:30:09 +0000