13 October 2025
Integrating Cultural and Ethical Dimensions - The Case for Vietnam
Vietnam's trajectory in ASEAN since 2000 has been marked by its emergence as a bridge between traditional values and modern integration, particularly in balancing economic growth with ethical governance.
As part of the East Asian cultural sphere, Vietnam shares significant historical and philosophical values with China. These include Confucian principles such as harmony (hòa), hierarchy, reciprocity, and collective well-being, which have influenced its societal norms, governance, and diplomacy over more than 2,000 years of cultural exchange.
This shared heritage—evident in Vietnam's historical use of Chinese characters, Confucian education systems, and emphasis on social order—distinguishes it culturally from many Southeast Asian neighbours, positioning Vietnam as a unique actor in ASEAN that can leverage these affinities for dialogue with China while advancing regional cohesion. In the context of ASEAN, this cultural relevance enhances Vietnam's role in fostering mutual understanding and cooperation. It mitigates tensions like those in the South China Sea through ethical, value-based diplomacy that echoes Confucian reciprocity, even as it promotes ASEAN's centrality amid great-power dynamics.
Globethics publications on Vietnamese ethics incorporate elements of business ethics that stem from the Confucian code of conduct applicable in East Asian and Southeast Asian contexts. The ten-volume publication project, initiated by the Vietnam Hoc Institute in Geneva and led by Anh Tho Andres, aims to identify shared values of the Vietnamese people with other ASEAN members. The work focuses on the cultural transformation of Vietnamese people who had shared the same value systems with other Chinese cultural societies for thousands of years, but could not avoid the cataclysm brought by a significant historical turning point. Similar to their Indochinese neighbours, who were trapped in the intersection between India and China, Vietnamese culture also adopts the influence of Buddhism and Taoism. While still keeping eastern wisdom in their thinking, their perspectives on life have changed a lot as a result of the long thirty-year struggle. Although the Open policy had brought some stability in economic dealings, Vietnamese society still faces numerous unsolved issues in the post-war context and new challenges posed by globalising trends.
As Vietnam asserts its role as a sovereign nation, more issues arise concerning regional security due to its relationships with neighbouring countries, as well as the dilemma linked to the US-China trade war: which side should it choose, or how does it handle business partners? Shall it remain loyal to its Chinese partners who have supported the Vietnam War through ups and downs over 30 years? Shall Vietnamese people inside and outside reunite to move on to the road of freedom promised by the free world and take ownership of their sovereignty? Shall Vietnamese students opt for learning the Chinese language and prepare to serve Chinese business interests, or align with regional partners in ASEAN and be part of a stronger ASEAN community?
All these questions lead to my reflections on the ethical dimensions and Vietnam's role in ASEAN, including geopolitical considerations (e.g., Vietnam's navigation of China-ASEAN ties amid shared Confucian heritage), strategic thinking on change management (governance and rule of law infused with ethical values), and educational purposes aiming to design a curriculum for Gen Z (leveraging cultural ethics for engaging, value-based learning). The final outcome is to evaluate how Vietnam's ASEAN role exemplifies Confucian-inspired collectivism and harmony, driving regional cooperation, even as it adapts to global business ethics and geopolitical challenges.
Inspired by Globethics' work in applied ethics to Asian contexts such as the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and China, the Vietnam Ethics Series explores Vietnam's cultural ties that have shaped Vietnamese thinking for centuries, defining the most relevant aspects still present in the Vietnamese context. At the theoretical level, our research examines how applied ethics works in cultural diplomacy and regional integration. It draws inspiration from cultural contexts such as Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, focusing on how these regions deal with change and consolidate their positions as sovereign nations in the context of globalisation.
Geopolitical Considerations: Relations with China and the ASEAN Community
Vietnam's ASEAN diplomacy since 2000 has leveraged Confucian values for "harmonious" relations, as seen in its handling of South China Sea disputes. Publications like National Values in Vietnam and the World (2025) explore how Vietnamese ethics, rooted in Confucianism, inform foreign policy by balancing China's influence (shared Confucian heritage) with ASEAN centrality.
For instance, Vietnam's 2020 ASEAN chairmanship emphasised ethical cooperation amid COVID-19, echoing Confucian collectivism. Intercultural Business Ethics discusses issues related to Chinese investments in Southeast Asia, highlighting ethical tensions such as labour practices, while Vietnam seeks to foster mutual benefits with China while strengthening ASEAN ties. This geopolitical balancing act promotes regional stability, using Confucian-inspired diplomacy to mitigate conflicts.
Other ASEAN nations, including Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, also share cultural and economic values with China through significant Chinese diaspora communities, which often form a substantial portion of successful businessmen in these countries. These communities exhibit strong business ethics rooted in trust, family networks, and relational harmony—hallmarks of Chinese commercial traits—that have facilitated the integration of Vietnamese businesses into existing regional networks since the launch of Vietnam's Doi Moi policy in 1986. This integration has enhanced economic ties, allowing Vietnam to tap into diaspora-driven trade and investment flows while aligning with ASEAN's broader connectivity goals.
Vietnam's Ongoing Effort to Align with the ASEAN Concept on Shared Values
Incorporating the 2025 Globethics publication National Values in Vietnam and the World: New Contexts, Challenges, and Opportunities (edited by Nguyen Tai Dong and Christoph Stückelberger) highlights Vietnam's strategic alignment with ASEAN's foundational principles—such as mutual respect, non-interference, consensus-building, and shared prosperity—while navigating geopolitical interests in a globalised world. The book examines how Vietnam balances universal global values (e.g., human rights, sustainability, and democratic governance) with contextual ethical values rooted in its cultural heritage, including Confucianism, Buddhism, and socialism. In the context of globalisation, the discussion covers challenges like cultural erosion, economic disparities, and external pressures, offering opportunities for Vietnam to assert its national identity through ethical frameworks that promote harmony and reciprocity.
Relevant to ASEAN, the book underscores Vietnam's efforts to integrate these values into regional mechanisms, such as the ASEAN Charter (2007) and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (2019, updated 2025), where shared values mitigate geopolitical tensions with China (e.g., over maritime claims) by emphasising dialogue and collective security. This alignment has strengthened Vietnam's leadership, as seen in its push for ethical trade practices in the AEC and sustainable development goals, fostering mutual benefits across the bloc.
Change Management: Governance and the Rule of Law
Vietnam's governance reforms, influenced by ASEAN's rule-based frameworks (e.g., AEC 2015), integrate business ethics with Confucian values for ethical leadership.
Vietnam in Transition (edited by Anh Tho Andres, 2022) examines cultural ethics in economic shifts, showing how Confucian duty enhances the rule of law in anti-corruption drives. Similarly, Vietnam Integration (edited by Anh Tho Andres and Christoph Stückelberger, 2023) features teachers' voices on ethical education, linking to change management in governance—e.g., harmonising traditional values with ASEAN legal standards.
In a business context, Globethics' publications on intercultural approaches underscore how Confucian ethics support the transparent rule of law, aiding Vietnam's CPTPP accession and digital governance initiatives. The National Values book (2025) adds depth by exploring how globalisation challenges Vietnam to adapt contextual ethics to global norms, promoting resilient governance amid geopolitical shifts.
Building a Curriculum in Vietnamese Studies for Gen Z
For Gen Z learners, these publications offer tools to create engaging curricula on Vietnam's ASEAN role, blending ethics and culture.
For instance, we can use Intercultural Business Ethics for case studies on ethical dilemmas in Southeast Asian trade, incorporating Confucian scenarios via interactive simulations (e.g., role-playing Vietnam-China negotiations).
Based on the book National Values in Vietnam (2025), one can create modules on "Confucian values" by using digital podcasts or audiovisual explorations of Vietnamese history to discuss ethics in modern geopolitics, including ASEAN alignment on shared values.
We can connect with Gen Z's values by framing Confucian harmony as sustainable business ethics, incorporating group projects on ASEAN's green initiatives. The book Religion and Public Policy adds diverse angles for inclusive curricula. This approach fosters global citizenship, making Vietnamese studies relevant and action-oriented.
In particular, the volume chapter Voices of Teachers in Vietnam Integration (2023) provides a foundational proposed curriculum for a Vietnam Hoc Study Programme. The chapter outlines a comprehensive curriculum framework for Vietnamese studies as a global discipline, emphasising integration of education, cultures, and ethics to bridge local traditions with international standards, including ASEAN contexts.
It proposes a structured five-term program with specific volumes and themes, adaptable for Gen Z through online, interactive formats focusing on critical thinking, sustainability, and ethical leadership.
Key elements of our Vietnam Ethics Series aim to
- To integrate Vietnamese values (e.g., Confucian harmony, Buddhist impermanence) into global program education for Gen Z Vietnamese, and to address historical disruptions such as colonialism and war, in relation to the will to modernisation and openness, like the Doi Moi policy. Globethics Academy courses on sustainability and CSR may help address some gaps identified by Vietnamese teachers in teaching business ethics in the global context.
- To identify gaps in education for Gen Z, which include life skills such as critical thinking, values-based competencies, and cultural integration that enhance ASEAN students' competitiveness in the workplace, as well as international exposure through academic publications. The Gen Z students programme can benefit from Globethics digital tools to develop intercultural skills, initiate EQ frameworks for emotional stability, and adopt more ethical behaviour in learning about codes of conduct and international crime prevention standards.
The curriculum aligns with ASEAN's shared values through Globethics' ethical governance modules. It addresses geopolitical integration, fostering Gen Z's global citizenship through projects on cultural preservation in the context of globalisation.
Key summary points in this volume include
Economic and Social Analysis: The editor reviews Vietnam's GDP growth, Gini index, and CPI over three decades, concluding that economic restructuring has benefited most citizens but left rural populations facing infrastructure deficits, high healthcare/education costs from privatisation, and low productivity. A sustainable strategy is needed for a population nearing 100 million, with over 50% in the workforce, emphasising education reform for global competitiveness.
Ideological and Mindset Challenges: Under conservative Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) leadership since 1945, development must align with ideology. The first step is changing mindsets, working habits, and integration processes. Issues hindering growth: low labour productivity (linked to agriculture), IT deficiencies in education, inadequate business management resources, and limited humanities/philosophy materials in Vietnamese.
Post-War Management and Persistent Divides: Managing macroeconomic changes post-war was complex; cultural/political divides from ideological and geographical differences persist, denying freedoms and causing emigration. Peace remains elusive, with parallel thought systems. Southern Vietnamese educational legacies are under-recognised, representing a loss for reconciliation and global integration.
Building a Bridge Between Teachers
In our first volume, Vietnam in Transition: Education, Culture and Ethics (2022), we mentioned "Overcoming the Aftermaths of Wars" through a reconciliation process between teachers from both sides. Indeed, while the diaspora possesses a wealth of competencies and looks forward to sharing them with the people in the country, there is a real crisis at home in developing talent due to a lack of information and resources. These are due to some gaps that need to be overcome.
In our second volume, "Vietnam Integration", we propose to use education as a tool for overcoming the aftermaths of war, promoting reconciliation, and building bridges between internal/external teachers through shared ethical and cultural narratives, directly informing Gen Z curricula on ASEAN integration and resilience.
Our proposed curriculum centres on teachers' voices for authentic, values-driven learning, adaptable for Gen Z through hybrid formats and ASEAN-focused simulations.
Key summary points include:
Vietnam Hoc Institute Vision: Propose a curriculum for Vietnam Hoc that integrates general knowledge of Contemporary Vietnam with high-quality learning resources.
Our mission is to equip Vietnamese-origin students with an awareness of their cultural identity and their rights to access high-level education and work opportunities as global citizens.
Another critical mission is to introduce non-Vietnamese to Vietnamese cultural values, traditions, and perspectives on cohabitation in a peaceful environment.
The program addresses the IR 4.0 challenges related to competencies and educates students on the challenges and dilemmas in dealing with geopolitical and international trade between nations, covering peace/security, globalisation, human rights, and trade.
Alignment with International Standards: As a WTO and ASEAN member, Vietnamese education shall follow international business practices and UNESCO educational guidelines. The curriculum needs objective learning resources on Vietnam's history, geography, politics, philosophy, and literature to foster understanding of shared values.
Geopolitical and Research Focus: Understanding contemporary history and world politics while sharing common values is the priority of all citizens of the world. Exploring topics like post-communism property rights, state-owned enterprise CSR, governance ethics, and sovereignty in globalisation. The knowledge gap—beyond language, rooted in philosophical/intercultural differences—justifies the curriculum as a platform for bridging.
Global dimensions of change under the lens of Globalance
Overall, Globethics learning resources on global applied ethics could substantiate Vietnam's ethical pivot in ASEAN, where Confucian values underpin business ethics and regional harmony.
For more information on Globethics Ethics in context publications work, please consult the following link:
https://globethics.net/vietnam-ethics-series.
See you in our next post,
Anita H.
YourVietBooks is a selection of books and articles on and about Vietnam. Categories include: Culture, History, Vietnam War, Politics, Biographies, Contemporary Vietnam, International Relations, Doing Business in Vietnam, Reference and Languages, Zen Buddhism, Philosophy, Art and Literature.
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