Dr Le Hong Hiep is a Senior Fellow at the Regional Strategic and Political Studies Programme and Coordinator of the Vietnam Studies Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. He is also an editor of the institute’s flagship journal Contemporary Southeast Asia.
Hiep holds a BA from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, a MA in International Relations and a Master of Diplomacy from the Australian National University. In 2015, Hiep earned his PhD in Political and International Studies from the University of New South Wales, funded by the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Award.
Before joining ISEAS, Hiep worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and taught at the Faculty of International Relations, Vietnam National University-HCMC.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a successful trip to Washington, which should go some way to advance Hanoi's foreign policy goals and domestic priorities.
While there are indications that the Vietnamese government is serious about tackling corruption even in the top ranks of its military, obstacles remain in the fight to eradicate graft. This poses questions about Vietnam’s ability to effectively handle future security threats.
Vietnam is finding it increasingly hard to continue its policy of buying military equipment from Russia. Hanoi is aware of the rationale for securing weapons from other countries, but doing so will not be easy.
The recent corruption scandal involving Viet A Corp’s inflation of Covid-19 test-kit prices and payment of kickbacks shows that Vietnam’s intensified anti-corruption efforts have quite some way to go.
