#PolyPod

To better understand the world seen from Hanoi, listen to the conversation between:

• Le Hong Lam, Ambassador to Norway, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
• Stein Tønnesson, Research Professor, Peace Research Institute Oslo and board member of PF Internasjonal politikk og økonomi

In a conversation with Ambassador Le Hong Lam of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Peace Researcher Stein Tønnesson gauges what the world looks like from Hanoi. The Ambassador tells about how it was to grow up in Hanoi during the Vietnam War, when most visiting foreigners were from the Soviet Union, and how Hanoians experienced the Doi Moi market reforms in the 1980s–90s. Tønnesson and Lam recall their first meeting in 1989, and then walk through Hanoi’s historical and current perspectives on a rising China, a declining US, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Hanoi’s view of Norway as a country that recognized Vietnam’s socialist regime 50 years ago, and worked side by side with Vietnam in the UN Security Council during 2021.

This episode is a recording from a seminar in the Polytechnic Society. The seminar is part of the series "The world seen from…", supported by The Fritt Ord Foundation.