Japanese & U.S. Exploitation of Vietnam

Following the ceasefire agreement in Vietnam and Laos, problems and possibilities for international investors having speculative practice opened up. The Vietnam War has created one of the biggest parasitic industries in South Vietnam. Profit from armaments and from black-market deals amounted to several hundred million dollars a year. Within this hectic enclave of human misery and vice, peripheral earnings from 'entertainmnet' and 'public service' ranging from sales of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes to prostitution, constituted large proportions.

Having made some 12,000 million dollars profit out of U.S. war contracts throughout the Vietnam War, Japan, in the view of U.S. Administration, should now use the profit for reconstruction and rehabilitation of Vietnam under the current internation scheme. Japanese business circles are opposed to this as an indication of a clash between U.S. and Japan. They instead offered 850 million dollars as the basis of aid from all the joint international sponsors. Moreover, they consider rehabilitation and reconstruction of South Vietnam in the context of direct credit grants to the South Vietnamese regime. The requirements are set to export large volumes of consumer goods and equipment from Japan to South Vietnam. It is noted that some 800 million dollars of U.S. aid subsidies were spent by South Vietnamese regime in the past year importing Japanese-manufactured motor cycles, refrigerators, TV sets etc. This however, is considered as misapplication of aid subsidies.

Japan and U.S. are undoubtedly intending to seize the profits in Vietnam in their talks on aid to South Vietnam in the near future. To survive a war is not easy. To survive economic exploitation could be difficult as well. After the war in Vietnam, the profit-seeking investors continue seizing opportunities to accumulate wealth by exploiting South Vietnam and her people.