Vietnam China Border Research Articles

Vocal fingerprinting reveals a substantially smaller global population of the Critically Endangered cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus) than previously thought

The cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus) is one of the rarest primates on Earth and now only survives in a single forest patch of less than 5000 ha on the Vietnam–China border. Accurate monitoring of the last remaining population is critical to inform ongoing conservation interventions and track conservation success over time. However, traditional methods for monitoring gibbons, involving triangulation of groups from their songs, are inherently subjective and likely subject to considerable measurement errors. To overcome this, we aimed to use ‘vocal fingerprinting’ to distinguish the different singing males in the population. During the 2021 population survey, we complemented the traditional observations made by survey teams with a concurrent passive acoustic monitoring array. Counts of gibbon group sizes were also assisted with a UAV-mounted thermal camera. After identifying eight family groups in the acoustic data and incorporating long-term data, we estimate that the population was comprised of 74 individuals in 11 family groups, which is 38% smaller than previously thought. We have no evidence that the population has declined—indeed it appears to be growing, with new groups having formed in recent years—and the difference is instead due to double-counting of groups in previous surveys employing the triangulation method. Indeed, using spatially explicit capture-recapture modelling, we uncovered substantial measurement error in the bearings and distances from field teams. We also applied semi- and fully-automatic approaches to clustering the male calls into groups, finding no evidence that we had missed any males with the manual approach. Given the very small size of the population, conservation actions are now even more urgent, in particular habitat restoration to allow the population to expand. Our new population estimate now serves as a more robust basis for informing management actions and tracking conservation success over time.

Vietnamese Frontier Worker Across Vietnam: China Border Case Study of Two Provinces Ha Giang and Quang Ninh

The region along the Vietnam–China border is given particular attention in terms of national security, economic security, financial security, social security, and human security. Presently, a large number of Vietnamese employees cross the border into China to find employment, and a similar number of Chinese workers enter into Vietnam. In order to assess the current state of cross-border labor, the paper chooses a case study technique with two bordering areas, Ha Giang and Quang Ninh, from which comparisons can be made about the degree of development and the direction of labor management. The study confirms that there are inequalities and development gaps that have led to differences in management and solutions in the two localities. As a result, solutions to establish sustainable and equitable development between the two localities — especially in mountainous regions and with a significant number of ethnic minorities — are proposed.

Incubating factors in the home country and job satisfaction in a host nation: An analysis on cross-border labor

Understanding the factors that affect labor satisfaction in the home country and their satisfaction in a host nation is very important. Therefore, this study investigates the job satisfaction of Vietnamese workers who frequently travel to China for employment. It utilizes Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to explore the impact of external factors, particularly the support provided by their home countries. The survey collected data from 317 respondents randomly selected from lists provided by local authorities in three provinces adjacent to China, using a combination of face-to-face interviews and Internet calls. The respondents are individuals who regularly go to China for work. The study uses four main latent variables, consisting of a total of 17 measures that encompass both endogenous and exogenous factors associated with support from the home country. The findings indicate a significant influence of post-return quality of life and the acquisition of work-related skills through training programs on job satisfaction. Additionally, the regression coefficient value reveals a statistically significant negative correlation between job satisfaction and skills acquired through short training courses. However, no statistically significant relationship is found between the latent variable of media and employees’ job satisfaction. Based on the findings, this study suggests that policymakers and authorities should always assist migrants in reintegrating into their communities by supporting convenient registration procedures, providing relevant information, and giving necessary livelihood guidance. AcknowledgmentsThis article is an output of a research project titled: Cross-border labor at the Vietnam-China border area: problems, effects, and solutions, funded by Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.

Cross-Border Ethnic Relations at Vietnam-China Border Markets since 1990

At the Vietnamese-Chinese border, markets serve as places not only for exchanging and purchasing goods but also for socio-cultural exchanges among ethnic groups on both sides of the border. The Vietnamese economic renovation in the late 1980s and the process of normalizing Vietnam-China relations in1990 have contributed to the development of the market system at the borderline between these two countries, meeting the commodity trade needs of involved ethnic groups in the region and the surrounding areas, promoting cultural exchange, and maintaining and expanding kinship relations and friendship between the ethnic groups on both sides of the border. This article explores the cross-border ethnic relationships shown in trading, exchanging goods, and developing social networks of ethnic minorities in two typical border markets - Loc Binh market in Lang Son’s Loc Binh district and Can Cau commune market in Lao Cai’s Si Ma Cai district - thereby clarifying the dynamics of ethnic relations in the Vietnam-China border area since 1990.

The Destructive Tree Pathogen Phytophthora ramorum Originates from the Laurosilva Forests of East Asia.

As global plant trade expands, tree disease epidemics caused by pathogen introductions are increasing. Since ca 2000, the introduced oomycete Phytophthora ramorum has caused devastating epidemics in Europe and North America, spreading as four ancient clonal lineages, each of a single mating type, suggesting different geographical origins. We surveyed laurosilva forests for P. ramorum around Fansipan mountain on the Vietnam-China border and on Shikoku and Kyushu islands, southwest Japan. The surveys yielded 71 P. ramorum isolates which we assigned to eight new lineages, IC1 to IC5 from Vietnam and NP1 to NP3 from Japan, based on differences in colony characteristics, gene x environment responses and multigene phylogeny. Molecular phylogenetic trees and networks revealed the eight Asian lineages were dispersed across the topology of the introduced European and North American lineages. The deepest node within P. ramorum, the divergence of lineages NP1 and NP2, was estimated at 0.5 to 1.6 Myr. The Asian lineages were each of a single mating type, and at some locations, lineages of “opposite” mating type were present, suggesting opportunities for inter-lineage recombination. Based on the high level of phenotypic and phylogenetic diversity in the sample populations, the coalescence results and the absence of overt host symptoms, we conclude that P. ramorum comprises many anciently divergent lineages native to the laurosilva forests between eastern Indochina and Japan.

Review: Market Frictions: Trade and Urbanization at the Vietnam-China Border, by Kirsten W. Endres

Review: <i>Market Frictions: Trade and Urbanization at the Vietnam-China Border</i>, by Kirsten W. Endres

The tonkin snub-nosed monkey &lt;i&gt; Rhinopithecus avunculus &lt;/i&gt; population in the Quan Ba forest, north-east Vietnam: an identification of priority habitat for conservation

The Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus avunculus is among the World’s 25 most endangered primates. At present, the species is found only in few forest areas in Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang Provinces, north-east Vietnam with a total number not exceeding 250 individuals. The forest block in Cao Ma Po, Ta Van and Tung Vai Communes of Quan Ba District, Ha Giang Province (the Cao - Ta - Tung forest) harbors the second largest population of Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey. This population was estimated to be conisted of about 30–35 individuals in 2007. However, it faces a number of serious threats (wildlife hunting, habitat degradation by widespread forest farming of Tsao-ko cardamom plant, etc.) that may lead the population to be extinct in near future. The population was reduced to 15–21 individuals in 2016 due to these threats. In 2017–2018, we conducted a study to identify a priority habitat area to establish the Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Conservation Area. The results of our study show that the distribution of the Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey population is confined to a small area (about 5,000 ha) belonging to the Theng Chu Phin, Dao Dan Chai, Ta Lay mountains, the Hill 754 and a forest patch along the Vietnam-China border from the Post 283 to Post 295. This area harbors the best forest of the Cao - Ta - Tung area. The forest covers 92.3% of the area, and only 7.7% of the area is a non-forest land. There are two types of forest: evergreen broad-leaved forest (50.0% of total area) and limestone evergreen broad-leaved forest (42.3%). The evergreen broad-leaved forest has been degraded to medium and restoration status. Tsao-ko cardamom Amomum tsao-ko fields are widespread. The limestone evergreen broad-leaved forest of almost primary status remains in very steep slopes and limestone mountains. The Cao - Ta - Tung forest was designated as a watershed protection forest that allows farming of agricultural and medicinal plants inside the forest and the forest farming of Tsao-ko cardamom is widespread becoming the most serious threat to the long-term survival of the Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey population. In order to ensure long-term survival of the Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey population, the area of the Theng Chu Pin, Dao Dai Chai, Ta Lay, Tung Lau mountains, the Hill 754 and a forest patch along the Vietnam-China border from the Post 283 to Post 285 must be designated as a special-use forest, i.e. to establish a Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Conservation Area.

The tonkin snub-nosed monkey &lt;i&gt; Rhinopithecus avunculus &lt;/i&gt; population in the Quan Ba forest, north-east Vietnam: an identification of priority habitat for conservation

The Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus avunculus is among the World’s 25 most endangered primates. At present, the species is found only in few forest areas in Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang Provinces, north-east Vietnam with a total number not exceeding 250 individuals. The forest block in Cao Ma Po, Ta Van and Tung Vai Communes of Quan Ba District, Ha Giang Province (the Cao - Ta - Tung forest) harbors the second largest population of Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey. This population was estimated to be conisted of about 30–35 individuals in 2007. However, it faces a number of serious threats (wildlife hunting, habitat degradation by widespread forest farming of Tsao-ko cardamom plant, etc.) that may lead the population to be extinct in near future. The population was reduced to 15–21 individuals in 2016 due to these threats. In 2017–2018, we conducted a study to identify a priority habitat area to establish the Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Conservation Area. The results of our study show that the distribution of the Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey population is confined to a small area (about 5,000 ha) belonging to the Theng Chu Phin, Dao Dan Chai, Ta Lay mountains, the Hill 754 and a forest patch along the Vietnam-China border from the Post 283 to Post 295. This area harbors the best forest of the Cao - Ta - Tung area. The forest covers 92.3% of the area, and only 7.7% of the area is a non-forest land. There are two types of forest: evergreen broad-leaved forest (50.0% of total area) and limestone evergreen broad-leaved forest (42.3%). The evergreen broad-leaved forest has been degraded to medium and restoration status. Tsao-ko cardamom Amomum tsao-ko fields are widespread. The limestone evergreen broad-leaved forest of almost primary status remains in very steep slopes and limestone mountains. The Cao - Ta - Tung forest was designated as a watershed protection forest that allows farming of agricultural and medicinal plants inside the forest and the forest farming of Tsao-ko cardamom is widespread becoming the most serious threat to the long-term survival of the Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey population. In order to ensure long-term survival of the Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey population, the area of the Theng Chu Pin, Dao Dai Chai, Ta Lay, Tung Lau mountains, the Hill 754 and a forest patch along the Vietnam-China border from the Post 283 to Post 285 must be designated as a special-use forest, i.e. to establish a Quan Ba Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Conservation Area.

Industrial Development, Liberalisation and Impacts of Vietnam–China Border Trade

Successful industrial development among third world countries is rare. In the past century, only a handful of countries were able to make the big leap to become industrialised countries more or less equal to the US and Europe. This is because industrialisation requires resources, state planning, coordination, resilience to external shocks and sustained performance of firms. These requirements are extremely difficult to achieve in the context of a weak state, low levels of skilled labour, underdeveloped credit markets and timid economic demand for goods and services. This paper assesses the development of the textile and garment industry in a transitional economy, Vietnam, from the political-economy perspectives of state intervention and trade liberalisation. The paper analyses in depth (1) Vietnam’s industrial policies for the textile and garment industry and (2) Vietnam–China border trade and impacts of China’s economic rise on the industry’s development. It illustrates Vietnam’s multiple failed attempts in implementing industrial policies, the political economy of Sino-Vietnam border trade and the penetration of Chinese industrial surplus in the Vietnamese market. The analysis suggests that the Vietnamese model of liberalisation exposed its industries to excessive competition, making them unable to reach the technological level and production scale needed to be globally competitive.

Contested Sovereignty: Local Politics and State Power in Territorial Conflicts on the Vietnam-China Border, 1650s–1880s

This article analyzes territorial disputes and political relationships at the border between China and Vietnam from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Predominant Western scholarship argues that, owing to the tributary relationship among states and polities, there was no territorial boundary in premodern Asia; furthermore, it suggests, the concept of the “geo-body” of a nation or sovereign state only arose with the transfer of new mapping technology from Europe. This article argues instead that the absence of lines of demarcation on Vietnamese and Chinese maps before the late nineteenth century does not connote a lack of consciousness of the existence of borders. The quest for autonomy throughout history by local communities living between China and Vietnam gave rise to border conflicts, which led to the intervention by and expansion of these two states, as well as negotiations and territorial division between them. The transformation of the China-Vietnam border from a premodern to a modern form thus did not depend solely on its cartographic representation; it also involved the power of the state to control space. Additionally, this article demonstrates that tensions over the border did not simply involve central governments but often resulted from a combination of local conflicts and the complicated relations between local actors and the state. The article suggests a new approach to exploring the history of state borders from the perspective of local people, in which the “in-between communities” are not seen as passive objects of border demarcation but are also a driving force in the establishment of a frontier. While the “in-between communities” discussed in this article were behind conflicts over land and its division into national territories, their manipulations of ethnic identity and transgressive mobility also helped blur the border between the two countries.

Constructing the Neighbourly Other: Trade Relations and Mutual Perceptions across the Vietnam–China Border

The normalization of post-war relations in the late 1980s has transformed the Vietnam–China border from a line of demarcation between two hostile neighbours into a zone of profitable economic opportunities. At the Lao Cai central market, Vietnamese small-scale traders and Chinese citizens interact with one another on a daily basis. Their narratives reveal that processes of constructing self-identity and otherness at the Vietnam–China border are ambiguous and multivocal. They attest to historically rooted stereotypes linked to China’s claim of civilizational and economic superiority as much as they are conditioned by face-to-face commercial transactions that challenge essentialized assumptions about the cross-border Other.

‘Lộc Bestowed by Heaven’: Fate, Fortune, and Morality in the Vietnamese Marketplace

Drawing on six months of fieldwork in Lào Cai City at the Vietnam-China border, this paper explores how the intersecting notions of fate, fortune and luck play out in the Vietnamese marketplace and intertwine with moral ideas expressed in economic choices and ethical conduct. Whereas small-scale traders agreed that one needs to work hard in order to prosper, the ways in which economic success is conceptually framed reveal that discipline, rational calculation and personal skills were often downplayed. Instead, a person's propensity for trade and the wealth generated by it were narratively constructed as part of a person's fate decreed by heaven. Moreover, a trader's success in business was referred to as lộc—a key concept in Vietnamese thought that relates to good luck, fortune, prosperity and divine benevolence. Together, rather than fostering a fatalistic attitude towards life, the notions of heaven/trời and fortune/lộc reinforce ideas of moral responsibility for the wellbeing of both present and future generations and thus, indirectly, for the welfare of society as a whole.

Making Law: Small-Scale Trade and Corrupt Exceptions at the Vietnam-China Border

In Vietnam's postreform era, the proliferation of profiteering opportunities have, in addition to creating new forms of corruption, transmuted previously prevailing types of corrupt acts in multiple ways across different levels of state–society relations. Everyday corrupt practices have thus become an essential means of economic survival for many. Starting from the metaphorical framing of petty bribery as “making law,” I propose the notion of what I term “corrupt exception” as a conceptual tool to explore the power dynamics of petty corruption between state agents and small-scale traders at the Vietnam–China border. Whereas bribery is felt by local traders to create better profit opportunities, the corrupt exception likewise pushes them into a de facto illegality where they remain subjected to arbitrary “lawmaking” and excluded from legal protection. I show that the metaphors employed by small-scale traders to negotiate complicit relationships with corrupt state officials both contest and reinforce the exercise of a localized form of sovereign power in a permanent state of corrupt exception in which “law” is “made” in exchange for bribes.

Negotiating Remote Borderland Access: Small‐Scale Trade on the Vietnam–China Border

ABSTRACTThis article explores the cross‐border trading networks and practices of highland residents in north‐west Vietnam. It reveals how such individuals, of highland minority and majority Kinh ethnicities, negotiate the political reality of an international border in highly pragmatic ways as they augment their livelihoods by trading commodities with inhabitants in south‐west China. We follow four particular commodities, traded across different political tiers of border crossing (each with specific rules, regulations and negotiations), by a diverse range of traders. In doing so we argue that border access is mediated by a complex and multifaceted set of social and structural components including not only state policy, but ethnically‐embedded social relations and specific geographic variables that, in turn, are engendering disparate economic opportunities.

Closely related HIV-1 CRF01_AE variant among injecting drug users in northern Vietnam: evidence of HIV spread across the Vietnam-China border.

To investigate the nature of recent HIV outbreaks among injecting drug users (IDUs) near the Vietnam-China border, we genetically analyzed 24 HIV-positive blood specimens from 2 northern provinces of Vietnam (Lang Son and quang Ninh) adjacent to the China border, where HIV outbreaks among IDUs were first detected in late 1996. Genetic subtyping based on gag (p17) and env (C2/V3) sequences revealed that CRF01_AE is a principal strain circulating throughout Vietnam, including the provinces near the China border. The majority of CRF01_AE sequences among IDUs in Quang Ninh and Lang Son showed significant clustering with those found in nearby Pingxiang City of China's Guangxi Province, sharing a unique valine substitution 12 amino acids downstream of the V3 loop. This particular subtype E variant, uniquely found among IDUs in northern Vietnam and southeastern China, is designated E(v). The genetic diversity of CRF01_AE distributed in Quang Ninh (1.5 +/- 0.6%) and Pingxiang City (1.9 +/- 1.2%) was remarkably low, indicating the emerging nature of HIV spread in these areas. It is also noted that the genetic diversity of CRF01_AE among IDUs was consistently lower than that in persons infected sexually, suggesting that fewer closely related CRF01_AE variants were introduced into IDUs and, conversely, that multiple strains of CRF01_AE had been introduced via the sexual route. The data in the present study provide additional evidence that HIV outbreaks among IDUs in northern Vietnam were caused by the recent introduction of a highly homogeneous CRF01_AE variant (E(v)) closely related to that prevailing in nearby southern China.

HIV type 1 subtypes in Guangxi Province, China, 1996.

81 HIV-1 INFECTION WAS FIRST DOCUMENTED IN China in 1985; by 1997, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that there were 200,000 to 400,000 HIV-infected persons living in China among a population of 1.2 billion.3 To date, most infections have occurred among injection drug users (IDUs), primarily in ethnic minority communities in Yunnan, a southwestern province bordering Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Vietnam. This province can be seen as an extension of the a Golden Triangleo region of northern Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos, one of the world’ s foremost opiumand heroin-producing areas. In recent years, HIV-1 transmission has extended to new areas of China, and sexual transmission has increased in importance. The HIV-1 epidemic among IDUs in Yunnan province was primarily due to env subtype B strains, both typical North American/European-like subtype B strains and strains that clustered on phylogenetic analyses with subtype B strains found among IDUs in Thailand, termed B 9 (formerly Thai B).9±11 Subsequently, subtype C viruses were identified among IDUs in Yunnan. More recently, both subtype C and subtype E strains have been reported among geographically separate groups of IDUs in Guangxi province.13 There also appear to have been multiple other introductions of subtype E strains in China10,14 and subtype A has also been identified.10 We investigated the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in Guangxi, a southwestern Chinese province bordering Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces and northern Vietnam. Guangxi, a mountainous, subtropical area, has a population of approximately 45 million, of whom about a third are ethnic minorities. From April through July 1996, blood samples were collected from HIV-seropositive persons identified at blood donation centers, drug treatment centers, and other testing locations. Specimens were obtained from 44 persons: 25 commercial blood donors (mean age, 24.5 years [range, 18±36]; 21 male and 4 female), 16 IDUs from drug treatment centers (mean age, 22.8 years [range, 16±38]; 14 male and 2 female), 2 men (aged 29 and 35 years) who had traveled to Thailand and reported sex with female sex workers, and 1 female (aged 36) who did not inject drugs and whose husband had AIDS. Fifteen of the 16 IDUs were identified in Pingxiang, a city near the border with Vietnam; the other IDU was located in Nanning, in central Guangxi. The other 28 persons were identified from throughout the province. All specimens were HIV-1 positive by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and Western blot when tested at the Guangxi AIDS Surveillance and Testing Center, Nanning. Unlinked serum specimens were transferred to Nonthaburi, Thailand, and then to Atlanta, Georgia for further characterization. In Thailand, specimens were tested with 14-amino acid V3loop peptide enzyme immunoassays (PEIAs) highly specific for subtypes B 9 and E from Thailand.15±17 Serum specimens were later sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA) for genetic characterization. RNA was prepared with a blood kit from Qiagen (Chatsworth, CA). RNA from each sample was reverse transcribed (primer JH35R) and subsequently amplified by nested PCR (outer primers JH44F/JH35R and inner primers JH33F/JH48R). The 525-bp nested C2±V4 PCR product encompasses the V3 loop. The sequences of these HIV-1 group M env (gp120) gene-based degenerate/inosine primers with coordinates on HIV-MNCG sequence (in parentheses) are as follows: