Degrees of Statelessness
and 1980 constitutions), the 1992 version continued the socialist tradition in a
‘more moderate manner’ in particular promoting economic liberalisation. 105
Indeed, it was post Doi Moi that prompted the amendments to the 1992
Constitution. 106 As a result, the Vietnamese diaspora began to be seen as
‘important resources’ to the state of Vietnam. 107 This openness to incorporating
Vietnamese emigrants (and, importantly, their descendants who were not born in
Vietnam) into the nationality discourse (and laws — see, for example, art 18 in
the Constitution and art 7 in the 2008 Nationality Law) necessitated a
‘rehabilitation’ of the Vietnamese diaspora. ‘Viet Kieu’ — the term used to
describe Vietnamese emigrants emphasises cultural and racial heritage. 108
Indeed, ‘notions of nation, bloodlines and race [have been combined] into official
discourse to make nationalistic claims on emigrants’. 109 One can see this clearly
in Vietnam’s nationality laws, which invoke the consanguinity principle to link
‘overseas Vietnamese “to their primordial origins, even in a globalised era of
widespread long-distance mobility and out-migration”’. 110
Against this context, the phenomenon of marriage migration ‘constitutes part
of the contemporary out-migration trends’. 111 As an issue, marriage migration ‘has
been written into the narrative of international integration and economic
development in Vietnam’s emigration policy’. 112 At the national policy level,
marriage migration is accepted as a valid strategy. The Vietnam Women’s Union
for example which previously regarded marriage migrants as opportunistic, now
works closely with them on the issue. 113 By contrast, a common theme in the
discussion of women’s role in marriage migration in Vietnamese media (noting
that mass media in Vietnam is state-controlled) is the link to the nation-building
project and national identity: 114
The most salient media content about marriage migration is that involving
discussions and criticisms about women’s sexuality and roles as wives and mothers,
which encapsulate tensions around the search for national identity. According to
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
ibid 529.
Koh (n 78) 181.
ibid.
ibid 183 (emphasis added).
ibid.
ibid 183, citing Ivan Small, ‘Embodied Economies: Vietnamese Transnational Migration and
Return Regimes’ (2012) 27(2) Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 324, 239. See also
2008 Nationality Law (n 69) art 3(3).
Koh (n 78) 178.
Kneebone, ‘Nationality and Identity in Regulation’ (n 5) 14.
This reflects a change in response between interviews conducted in 2014 and 2015. Susan
Kneebone, Interview with Anonymous, Consultant with the Vietnam Women’s Union (Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 3 October 2014); Susan Kneebone and Brandais York, Interview
with Anonymous, Consultant with the Vietnam Women’s Union (Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam, 24 November 2015). See also Decree Detailing the Implementation of a Number of
the Marriage and Family Law Regarding the Marriage and Family Relations Involving
Foreign Elements (No 24/2013 ND-CP, 2013) (Vietnam), under the Marriage and Family
Law of 2000 (No 22/2000/QH10, 2000), permits the Vietnam Women’s Union to establish
Centres of Consultancy and Assistance.
Danièle Bélanger, Khuat Thu Hong and Tran Giang Linh, ‘Transnational Marriages between
Vietnamese Women and Asian Men in Vietnamese Online Media’ (2013) 8(2) Journal of
Vietnamese Studies 81–84.
89