Fireworks display to celebrate the victory of Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election on November 7. The Vietnamese people reacted differently to the results of the US presidential election, in which Mr. Donald Trump loved by many Vietnamese people was not re-elected.
Many Vietnamese people expressed sadness and disappointment about President Donald Trump’s failure to be re-elected after US media identified Joe Biden as president-elect before the national vote count ends while some other people rejoiced when Mr. Biden won the election which has divided many Vietnamese people and caused tension in relationships among friends and colleagues.
Based on unfinished state results data, major US news outlets on Nov. 7 predicted that Mr. Biden, the Democratic candidate running for the president post with Trump, would win in while the incumbent president does not recognize the outcome and is entering a legal battle when Mr. Trump assumes he is the winner.
This has led many Americans to support Mr. Trump in the streets of protests in several US cities while Biden supporters gather to celebrate after he was announced as the country’s newly elected president.
“Just like in the US, Vietnamese people in the country are divided into two distinct groups of opinions,” said Le Quang Huy, a Hanoi resident, to VOA. “Supporters of Donald Trump (in Vietnam) are still hoping for an inverted outcome after recounting in battlefield states.”
While the vote count continued in North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Alaska, Mr. Biden won 279 electoral votes, surpassing the required 270 votes, to be considered a victory over incumbent President Trump – currently has 214 votes.
Like the Vietnamese-American community, the Vietnamese people in the country largely supported Mr. Trump when they thought that his “anti-China” policy was in favor of Vietnam while Beijing increasingly “expanded” its strength in the region and “bullies” Vietnam in the South China Sea (East Sea).
“The Vietnamese people are very sad that it will be a situation no one can overwhelm their bad neighbor because the Vietnamese do not like the Chinese government – Beijing expands and wants to invade the territory,” Tran Lam Binh, a Hue artist who once painted about President Trump told VOA and said that the majority of Vietnamese support Mr. Trump, who has been to Vietnam twice in four years as US president.
Trump administration has been waging a trade war with China since 2018 and with the United States taxing Chinese goods and bringing global supply chains out of the country, many American companies and foreign countries have moved production to Vietnam. Many Vietnamese who support Mr. Trump also expressed their admiration for him as a successful businessman and happy family.
Ms. Vu Thuy, a resident of Hanoi, said that “many Vietnamese are disappointed” when she heard that Mr. Trump has lost, but she also said that “nonetheless, congratulate the new 46th President of the US of America. while still worried that “without Mr. Trump, China will cause troubles in the South China Sea.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Biden’s supporters, who also traveled to Vietnam with his wife when he was the vice president under Mr. Barack Obama’s administration, rejoiced at his victory. Nguyen Quan, a resident in Ho Chi Minh City, told VOA that he and a group of friends celebrated Mr. Biden’s victory as soon as he learned from the American media. He said he supports Mr. Biden because of his views on the COVID pandemic as well as the environment and free trade.
In the policies that Mr. Biden said would prioritize implementation, through his speech to celebrate victory on the evening of November 7 in Delaware, there was a response to the corona virus pandemic, bringing the US back to the Paris Agreement against climate change. Mr. Biden used to negotiate with President Obama with Vietnam and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region to implement a comprehensive partnership trade agreement in the TPP region that Trump immediately withdrew from the US after taking office in January 2016.
The US presidential election has attracted the attention of many Vietnamese in recent weeks, from conversations in cafes or at work, Quan said. But not just a debate, the Vietnamese people’s support for the candidates representing the Republicans and the US Democrats has led to “heated arguments” that many people “cut off relations.” Mr. Quan said dozens of his friends had “unfriended” him on Facebook just because he supported Mr. Biden.
As for Mr. Binh, the painter who had a portrait of the 45th President of the US exhibited in Italy last year, also “was unfriended by hundreds of friends, both in Vietnam and abroad due to his support for Mr. Trump” and said he is not angry with them because he respects their opinions.
However, there are also people who do not behave like Binh when making “swearing” or “scornful” comments, according to Le Kien, a local resident, in a Facebook post. personal.
“I have been on Facebook, some of Trump crazy fans, I found that the people who jumped up and cursed me, forbidding me to post news on Joe Biden’s win,” Mr. Kien wrote and said he has expressed dissatisfaction by many people heart and “curse, disdain” when he made prediction results “Trump will likely receive a painful outcome and Biden can win 306 electoral votes.”
However, Mr. Kien said that he supports controversial arguments and opinions because it leads to “democracy” in his opinion.
“We understand that if we want democracy we must respect the right words, even if it is different from our thoughts and desires,” Kien wrote.
And Mr. Binh said that after this US election, he saw that the Vietnamese people, from intellectuals to workers, are interested in politics and want to open debate and wish to do so for elections in Vietnam.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
