Protests erupted across Vietnam on Sunday against government plans to introduce a concession on new special economic zones (SEZs) that would allow land to be leased to foreign investors for a 99-year periods.
By the afternoon, tens of thousands of demonstrators had occupied the centers of Hanoi, the capital, and Ho Chi Minh City, the southern economic and financial hub. Large rallies also took place in a handful of other provinces, while solidarity protests were held abroad, from Paris to Tokyo.
In the face of mounting opposition, the ruling Communist Party has said it could delay or even scrap the SEZ plans, a rarity for a government that seldom solicits or heeds public opinion. But some political analysts say that this might not necessarily ease tensions nor win the Party support.
Pham Chi Dung, a prominent independent journalist, likened the events to the “Arab Spring,” writing that June 10 could go down as “one of the most historic days in [Vietnam's] postwar history.”
The SEZ policy hit on a sensitive nationalistic nerve. Last year, the government announced that it would open three new SEZs in different areas of the country. Vietnam currently has 18 SEZs but, unlike the others, this particular deal would allow foreign investors to lease land for up to 99 years in the three new sites. To many, that meant selling land to Chinese interests.
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