The thing is Vietnam doesn’t even have a particularly poor relationship with China. Yet it seems like bashing China is a national pastime. There are border disputes, yes, but they have those all over the world, like for instance between the US and Canada.
At least a plurality of people in Vietnam seem to really hate China, and while I disagree I also struggle to blame them given the history that a number of them experienced personally or had parents who did. For example, if you look at one of those “which country is the biggest obstacle to world peace?” maps, iirc Vietnam’s most popular answer is consistently China. I would guess that’s not a supermajority but just a plurality saying that – while others might say the US, Myanmar, Russia (depending on when), Israel, or . . . India, maybe? But I don’t really know anything
The thing is Vietnam doesn’t even have a particularly poor relationship with China. Yet it seems like bashing China is a national pastime. There are border disputes, yes, but they have those all over the world, like for instance between the US and Canada.
At least a plurality of people in Vietnam seem to really hate China, and while I disagree I also struggle to blame them given the history that a number of them experienced personally or had parents who did. For example, if you look at one of those “which country is the biggest obstacle to world peace?” maps, iirc Vietnam’s most popular answer is consistently China. I would guess that’s not a supermajority but just a plurality saying that – while others might say the US, Myanmar, Russia (depending on when), Israel, or . . . India, maybe? But I don’t really know anything