What would happen if Southern Vietnam won the Vietnam War?

Question

Would the country be richer? If so, what country will it resembles in economic power?

~i heard they say that Vietnam can rival that of Japan, if the communists did not start....is that true?

Answer 1

Code,  

   The easiest and most obvious comparison to me would be North and South Korea.  

   They are separated at the 38th parallel through the middle of the country.   They started out fairly equal.  In the last 50 years or so since the war,  North Korea has remained a poverty stricken third world country with a megalomaniac in charge.  South Korea has economic influence on a worldwide basis and is an industrialized and literate nation.  Talk about a big difference.

   If you want to isolate communism from the Asian aspect, think of East and West Germany.  The economy of East Germany before the wall was brought down was pathetic.  Average income was at the poverty level.  Per capita output was low.   West Germany became an economic powerhouse and worldwide exporter of some of the finest cars in the world.  

-Kevin

Answer 2

Good question! I have wondered about this too.  I think Vietnam's economy would not be as good as it is today because they would never completely stop fighting.  

Answer 3

There is always the possibility that SVN would have suffered the fate of other US-"proteges". What happened to Haiti, what happened to Zaire, what happened to Somalia, what happened to Afghanistan - all of these countries had governments at one time that were recipients of US support too at one time or another, sometimes numerous times!