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Vietnamese irredentism, also known asIdeology of Greater Vietnam (Vietnamese:Chủ nghĩa Đại Việt Nam orChủ nghĩaĐại Việt), sometimes may be referred to asBaiyue Nationalism (chủ nghĩa Dân tộcBách Việt) is anirredentist andnationalist claim concerning redemption of former territories ofVietnam and territories outside Vietnam that the Vietnamese have inhabited for centuries. Notable claims are usually made concerning territories ofLaos,Cambodia, andLiangguang of China.[1]
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TheBaiyue people, from which the modernVietnamese people (also called "Viet" or "Kinh") are descended, have long inhabited a vast variety of land of what would be known as modern China, Vietnam and Laos. As for the result of migration, the Viet tribes moved southward and eventually established itself in what would be known as northern Vietnam and southern China today, which became the ancestral homeland of Vietnamese people.[2] Later, there were northern expansions toward Chinese territory, and sea expeditions to gain control over theMalay peninsula, though it was short-lived. Nonetheless, during these expansions, Vietnamese imperial rulers adoptedVietnamization policy, hoping to subjugate and Vietnamize people from the land they conquered.[citation needed]
French imperialism at the 19th century resulted in the establishment ofFrench Indochina, where French colonial rulers adopted adivide-and-rule policy, but this also resulted with Cambodia and Laos being fully absorbed into a much-larger Vietnamese nation. Though being equally ruled by France, in reality, the Vietnamese dominated political will in both Laos and Cambodia, and the economy of Vietnam was far bigger than its fellow French Indochinese colonies.[3] This trend continued even when the French were expelled from Vietnam following theFirst Indochina War, only to be disrupted by theVietnam War later on. However, once the Vietnam War ended, theVietnamese communists, who emerged victoriously in this conflict, managed to control Laos and Cambodia through its communist puppets,[4][5] as well as trying to expand into Thailand. In 1979, theCambodian–Vietnamese War broke out when theKhmer Rouge underPol Pot invaded Vietnam,[citation needed] but this resulted in a10-year occupation of Cambodia by the Vietnamese. FollowingĐổi mới in 1986, when Vietnam reformed and rejoined the global community, Vietnam started to focus on its internal affairs and retreated from Laos and Cambodia.
Due to historical conflict and numerous territorial changes withChina, especially regardingBaiyue, some Vietnamese nationalists have irredentist claims to parts of southern China. Some pushed far as claiming the first founding civilization in the Yellow River Basin including theXia, theShang, and theZhou dynasties being of Vietnamese/Baiyue origins.[6]
Being fellow neighbors,Laos andCambodia have long been seen as backwaters of Vietnam due to being strongly under prey of Vietnamese influence,[citation needed] even though Laos and Cambodia are culturally distinct from Vietnam.
In the past, Vietnam had fought and managed to control and influence both Laos and Cambodia, with the former experienced longer Vietnamese domination afterseveral conflicts. Meanwhile, the latter was slowly absorbed to Vietnamese influence in 17th century, but it was not until 19th century that Vietnam finally established its control and wrecking Siam together.[7] In all of Vietnam's irredentist sentiment to Laos and Cambodia, its sentiment toward Cambodia is the strongest and most hostile one, often led to conflict between two countries. The most recentCambodian–Vietnamese War was an example.[8]
Meanwhile, in recently, theEast Laos (Vietnamese:Đông Lào) meme, which was made as a joke corresponding to the fact that Vietnam is the only countrybordering Laos to the East, is often being used to (sarcastically) represent Vietnam and is frequently used by Vietnamese internet users during its looming tensions with China.[9] Although the meaning is mostly memetic, it sometimes caused controversy that Vietnam attempted to reinforce its control of Laos by mimicking the latter's name, given Vietnam's large population and the state of Lao PDR is generally under significant Vietnamese influence, sometimes even considered as a Vietnam'spuppet state by a number of Laotianultra-nationalists and/oranti-communists.
There are also half-jokes made by Vietnamese ultranationalists about reviving a so-calledIndochinese Union with Vietnamese dominance over Laos and Cambodia, comparable to the idea ofRussia's major influence inside theSoviet Union.
Vietnamese irredentism is also sometimes pointing toThailand,Malaysia andMyanmar, though it directs the most to the former.
Itsconflict with the Siamese, which began in 18th century, had been one of the prolonged war, in which Vietnam slowly transformed to become a Southeast Asian power despite Siamese efforts to prevent it.[10] This had fostered a significant national fear of Siamese and later Thais about growing Vietnamese irredentist threat, which was enhanced by the outcome of Cambodian–Vietnamese War and subsequent Vietnamese military raids and occupation in Thai border.[11] Thus, in Thailand always ran a fear of Vietnamese eventual occupation, leading to the country supportingKhmer Rouge to deter Vietnamese expansionism.
Vietnamese irredentism toward Malaysia was much weaker and less significant, and it was never documented in Vietnamese historical accords. However, during the 15th century, the Vietnamese, which proceeded the most powerful army in Southeast Asia, had planned for a naval expedition againstMalacca Sultanate and launched naval attacks on Malay ships and sailors. Following the pressure by theMing dynasty, the Vietnamese backtracked and eventually abandoned the plan to conquer Malacca.[12]
The Kingdom ofChampa was once an ancient kingdom in what would be modern-dayCentral Vietnam, influenced by the extension ofIndian civilization. The relationship between two, if not to say, often fluctuated between peace and hostility. However, with the end of theFourth Chinese domination of Vietnam, increasing Vietnamese militarism andsouthward expansion had led to the demise of Champa and its eventual fate of being conquered at the end of the1471 war. Since then, there had been a number of rebellions against Vietnamese rule by the Chams since and was marred by growingIslamization ofChams, the most severe happened in the 19th century whenKatip Sumat uprising coincided withJa Thak Wa uprising, whereIslam was introduced as a weapon of resistance against Vietnamese Empire;[13] and in 20th century when theUnited Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races (FULRO) was established to fight off Vietnamese persecution. In response, the Vietnamese military began persecuting Chams and drafted them into its rank, while there were persecutions over their Hindu and Islamic faith.
TheCentral Highlands was incorporated into Vietnamese territory by the end of 18th century but only got formal control from 19th century onward. For the first decades underNguyễn dynasty, the Vietnamese paid little interest to the region and prohibited Vietnamese settlers from ever going here. But with the French conquest, the Vietnamese had taken significant interests due to large natural resources in the region.[14] Its strategic location is also another important reason for Vietnam to begin to increase its control over the land.[15] To counter growingVietnamese nationalism, the French supportedChristianization ofMontagnards, which would serve as a pretext for future conflict.
Eventually, the outbreak ofVietnam War erupted the demographic imbalance when Vietnamese settlers became increasingly populous, displacing the indigenousMontagnards. This had influenced these people to take up arms and rebelled against Vietnamese, no matter the north or south. TheUnited Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races was established with object of fighting against Vietnamese imperialism. In response, bothNorth Vietnam andSouth Vietnammaltreated the Montagnards, and the United States was accused of doing nothing to prevent it.[16] The persecution trend continued even after 1975, and remains extremely severe. In addition, to finally reinforce its control, Vietnamese government, both in the past to present, has directly sponsored Vietnamese migration to Central Highlands, much to the dismay of Montagnards.[17]
TheMekong Delta had been historically under theKhmer Empire, where theKhmer Krom, a subgroup of the largerKhmer people, inhabited the land. Up until 17th century, the land had been mostly marked with little interests even during the height of the Khmer civilization. However, due to thedecline of Cambodia and wars with Siam, the Cambodian court had to take refuge and neglected the Mekong Delta's interests. On the same time, due to southern expansion, Vietnamese settlers had begun to takeover the Mekong Delta. The takeover began with most of its population were settlers, and later doubled by a large number of Chinese refugees fleeing from the ManchuQing dynasty.[18] These Chinese refugees went Vietnamized in majority and helped expanding Vietnamese military and political privileges over the Delta with the blessing fromNguyễn lords.[19] There had been several attempts by Cambodian Court to restrict Vietnamese migration to even recovering of territory, but was unsuccessful.[20] As for the result, Cambodia was never able to make any significant step, and lost the territory in the end of 18th century. The conquest meant that Vietnam acquired the longest sea border for any mainland Southeast Asian countries.
TheKhmer Krom, which had traditionally aligned itself with Cambodia, were dissatisfied with Vietnamese rule and had tried to re-incorporate the land to Cambodia. As a consequence, EmperorMinh Mạng decided to Vietnamize the Khmer population "We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Han [Sino-Vietnamese] customs."[21][22] The trend was not prevented by the French even after French colonization. In 1949, French PresidentVincent Auriol, in a move that favored Vietnamese irredentism, granted the land to Vietnamese control. The Khmer Krom's dissatisfaction led to the fight against Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and allied with the FULRO. Ultimately, Khmer Krom began to face persecution, though in comparison to the Montagnards and Chams, was less severe.
Like many nations involving in the islands' disputes, Vietnam has been a major participant. For the Vietnamese, controlling these islands have been instrumental in reinforcing historical claim in a very divisive series of islands' claims containing thePeople's Republic of China, theRepublic of China (Taiwan), thePhilippines, Malaysia, andBrunei.
In Vietnamese irredentist version, theParacel Islands were first discovered by a group of naval force working under the Nguyễn lords, known asHoàng Sa group (hence the Vietnamese name), and this was done at 1686, while China was busy concentrating on its internal affairs.[23] The same issue came with Spratly islands, with Vietnamese source claims to have been traced from 17th century.[24][25]
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnam ceded its territorial claim over these islands to China, although China did not have any major military activities there until 1973, probably in order to maintain support from the Chinese and Soviets to reinforce for its military against the south and the United States.[23] However, the 1974Battle of the Paracel Islands was instrumental on letting the North to eventually withdraw its recognition of China's claims and rekindled back the territorial disputes over these islands, as the unified communist authority of Vietnam decided to inherit both the claim of the late Republic against China.[26] Since then, the two nations later fought for control in theJohnson South Reef Skirmish, this time ended with another Chinese victory, but has left a denting legacy on eventual tensions between the two countries asSouth China Sea disputes evoked back from 2010s and further boosting irredentist sentiment.[27]
