COVID-19 and security-development nexus : Vietnam’s perspectives

Abstract

Covid-19 is considered as an important factor that impacts largely on the security and development. Covid-19 has caused the shiftin the definition of the national security and significance of new emerging non-traditional security issues, for instance the health security, and human security. Accordingly, Covid-19 has had devastating effects on the poor and human development, due to the economic recession and diversion of resources to focus on coping with the virus, stressing the accomplishment of sustainable development goals. It is anticipated that the entanglement of security and development issues gives rise to more complex challenges to ensure the stability and progress of sustainable economic development. This context has raised a question of how countries, especially lower middle-income countries like Vietnam, could cope with arising challenges and opportunities in the new context. This research concludes that Vietnam, as a perfect case study, has strongly supported global and regional cooperation to reset development agenda to focus on quick economic recovery towards resilient, green inclusive, and sustainable development. Internally, Vietnam was successful in controlling the pandemic, and become one of few countries that achieved positive GDP growth in the region in 2020. The key to overcome these challenges remains with the Communist Party of Vietnam’s strong political leadership to control Covid-19, and to take advantages of development trends such as globalization, shifting of supply chain, digital economy, and green recovery and green growth.