A test machine is used at the Quang Ninh provincial Center for Disease Control. (Photo: VNA)

In the article, author Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished intellectual at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, highlighted differences between East Asia and western countries in the fight against the pandemic, saying that the most striking disparity is death tolls.

According to him, Vietnam’s track record is all the more astonishing given the country’s low starting point. From a war-torn country with one of the world’s poorest populations, by opening up to foreign trade and investment, Vietnam subsequently became one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

The author spoke highly of Vietnam’s global economic integration policy, clarifying that Vietnam has joined many of East Asia’s existing regional bodies, including ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. The country learned quickly from its neighbors, he said.