Vietnam is a Communist Country

My ArgumentsI. Doi Moi Reforms"My opponent claims Vietnam has more of a socialist-oriented economy, however, Vietnam is still heavily in debt because of state-owned companies and banks going bankrupt. This proves they are still communist because the majority of their business' and banks are state-owned. Many people are still unhappy from their failed communist economy and are turning mutinous."Just because the majority of the banks and businesses are state-owned does not make Vietnam a communist country. Why? Because the nation is not totalitarian. The government does not have total control of their economy. The Vietnamese people were unhappy with the communist economic system and that's why the government switched to a socialist-oriented economy. Vietnam is somewhat going through a time of privatization not seen since Margaret Thatcher was prime minister of the United Kingdom. II. Free Market Index"My opponent claims that Vietnam is not "repressed" but extremely unfree. This proves that communism is still in Vietnam, because if they were socialist-oriented, they would have way more freedom than they have now. As I mentioned in my second contention, they are still oppressed with state-police officers roaming Vietnam. My opponent claims that even Wikipedia knows that it's economy is socialist-oriented, but Wikipedia isn't the most reliable source as claimed by many proffesors. If Vietnam was truly socialist-oriented, why is their economy bankrupt from state-owned banks and business'."Repressed and extremely unfree is the same. We are looking at mostly unfree meaning that it has some key freedoms in it despite large government control. Because Vietnam has these freedoms, it is not totalitarian because it does not have total control. My opponent then mentioned state-police officers, but this does little to explain how Vietnam is communist. That would be like saying Houston, Texas is communist because it has a police force. My opponent then says that Wikipedia is not a reliable force (this has been proven false by a previous debate on the subject and thus many people use Wikipedia in their debates), but I have many other sources to back Wikipedia. [1,2]Now read this:"Since the consolidation of independence and the attempt to build a new society, the Vietnamese nationalists have transformed the society from a poor, underdeveloped state to an integrated, self-reliant economy whose rapid transformation points to the positive possibilities from socialist planning. However, since 1986 when the leaders opened up to Western investors, the Vietnamese economy has been socialist in form but capitalist in content. Over the past two decades the Vietnamese leadership have steered a path similar to that of China, focusing on economic growth. In this period Vietnam recorded sustained GDP (gross domestic product) ’growth’ of 7–8 per cent, making it second in the region after China. Forecasters have observed the trajectory of the Vietnamese ‘socialist-oriented market economy’, and it is estimated that in the next 15 years Vietnam will be in the top tier of the twenty leading economies in the world." [1]My RefutationsIII. Vietnam's Communist Government"Con says that the Communist party does not rule Vietnam. This isn't true since the Communist Party is in full control of Vietnam and in fact holds a political monopoly. We can obviously see, that the Communist Party is in full control of Vietnam and has 92% of the seats."I said that the Communist Party does rule over Vietnam. The fact that it allows independent candidates to run shows that there is growing democracy and is no longer totalitarian. That would be liked saying that the Republicans would have full control with 92% of Congress and the presidency. This is false because the power is to the American people, just like in how Vietnam the power is to the Vietnamese people because they can vote.IV. People are still OppressedHaving police officers stand in front of a piece of artwork does not make the people oppressed. At Arlington National Cemetery, there are guards protecting John F. Kennedy's tomb, but that does not make it oppressed. My opponent is only looking at the media, but nothing else. As I have proven, Vietnam has several capitalist aspects to it.ConclusionI have proven that vietnam is a socialist-oriented economy. This means it has some capitalist aspects despite state-owned businesses run by the government. Canada has been proven to be more free market capitalist based on the Heritage Foundation's index. The people can vote for their representatives. Because of this, Vietnam is not totalitarian because it does not hold total control and therefore is not a communist nation based on the definition being used.Sources1. Newman, Andy. "VIETNAM: A SOCIALIST ORIENTED MARKET ECONOMY" Socialist Unity. N.p., 14 Sept. 2010. Web.2. "Socialist-oriented Market Economy: Concept and Development Solution." Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 11 Nov. 2003. Web.