International Relations and Diplomacy (ISSN2328-2134) Volume 7, Number 4,2019

International Relations
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Volume 7, Number 4, April 2019 (Serial Number 67)
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Editorial Board Members of International Relations and Diplomacy:

★Abdel-Hady (Qatar University, Qatar); ★Martha Mutisi (African Centre for the Constructive
★Abosede Omowumi Bababtunde (National Open Resolution of Disputes, South Africa);
University of Nigeria, Nigeria); ★Menderes Koyuncu (Univercity of Yuzuncu Yil-Van,
★Adriana Lukaszewicz (University of Warsaw, Poland); Turkey);
★Ahmed Y. Zohny (Coppin State University, USA) ★Myroslava Antonovych (University of Kyiv-Mohyla
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Rome); ★Nazreen Shaik-Peremanov (University of Cambridge,
★Ali Bilgiç(Bilkent University, Turkey); UK);
★András Mérei (University of Pécs, Hungary); ★Nermin Allam (University of Alberta, Edmonton,
★Anna Rosario D. Malindog (Ateneo De Manila University, Canada);
Philippines); ★Nadejda Komendantova (International Institute for
★Basia Spalek (Kingston University, UK); Applied Systems Analysis, Austria);
★Beata Przybylska-Maszner (Adam Mickiewicz University, ★Ngozi C. Kamalu (Fayetteville State University, USA);
Poland); ★Niklas Eklund (UmeåUniversity, Sweden);
★Brian Leonard Hocking (University of London, UK); ★Phua Chao Rong, Charles (Lee Kuan Yew School of
★Chandra Lal Pandey (University of Waikato, New Public Policy, Singapore);
Zealand); ★Peter A. Mattsson (Swedish Defense College, Sweden);
★Constanze Bauer (Western Institute of Technology of ★Peter Simon Sapaty (National Academy of Sciences of
Taranaki, New Zealand); Ukraine, Ukraine);
★Christian Henrich-Franke (Universität Siegen, Germany); ★Raymond LAU (The University of Queensland,
★Christos Kourtelis (King’s College London, UK); Australia);
★David J. Plazek (Johnson State College, USA); ★Raphael Cohen Almagor (The University of Hull, UK);
★Dimitris Tsarouhas (Bilkent University, Turkey); ★Satoru Nagao (Gakushuin University, Japan);
★Fatima Sadiqi (International Institute for Languages and ★Sanjay Singh (Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law
Cultures, Morocco); University, India);
★Ghadah AlMurshidi (Michigan State University, USA); ★Shkumbin Misini (Public University, Kosovo);
★Guseletov Boris (Just World Institute, Russia); ★Sotiris Serbos (Democritus University of Thrace,Greece);
★Hanako Koyama (The University of Morioka, Japan); ★Stéphanie A. H. Bélanger (Royal Military College of
★Kyeonghi Baek (State University of New York, USA); Canada, Canada);
★John Opute (London South Bank University, UK); ★Timothy J. White (Xavier University, Ireland);
★Léonie Maes (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium); ★Tumanyan David (Yerevan State University, Armenia);
★Lomarsh Roopnarine (Jackson State University, USA); ★Zahid Latif (University of Peshawar, Pakistan);
★Marius-Costel ESI (Stefan Cel Mare University of ★Valentina Vardabasso (Pantheon-Sorbonne University,
Suceava, Romania); France);
★Marek Rewizorski (Koszalin University of Technology, ★Xhaho Armela (Vitrina University, Albania);
Poland); ★Yi-wei WANG (Renmin University of China, China);
The Editors wish to express their warm thanks to the people who have generously contributed to the
process of the peer review of articles submitted to International Relations and Diplomacy.
International Relations
and Diplomacy
Volume 7, Number 4, April 2019 (Serial Number 67)
Contents
Migrant Workers
The Indonesian Women Migrant Workers: Redefinition and Termination of Sending

Them Abroad 139
Sukawarsini Djelantik
Solidarity
Visual Manifestations of the European Discourse on Solidarity of Refugees and Migrants 150
Efharis Mascha
Maritime Asia
Asia-Pacific Powers in Maritime Asia, 1850-1972: A Perspective from Taiwan 162

Man-houng Lin
Cultural Heritage
Cultural Heritage in Vietnam With the Requirements of Sustainable Development 172

Từ Thị Loan
International Relations and Diplomacy, April 2019, Vol. 7, No. 04, 139-149
doi: 10.17265/2328-2134/2019.04.001
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The Indonesian Women Migrant Workers: Redefinition and

Termination of Sending Them Abroad
Sukawarsini Djelantik
Parahyangan Catholic University, West Java, Indonesia

Indonesian diplomacy criticized as “to slow, too weak, and too late” to protect its migrant workers. Indonesian
migrant workers that consist 80% of women, sent to fulfill the high demand for domestic workers and low level
labor in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The qualification of workers that mostly uneducated and lack of job experience
caused many social-economic issues in receiving countries. Moreover, lack of training led to problems related to
violation of human and workers’ rights, even in many cases turned as the victim of human trafficking. The
problems at domestic level are related to corrupt government officials, weak of bureaucracy, and lack of
coordination amongst government’s institutions. In addition, the business interests of recruiting agents both at home
and host countries added to complexity of issues. Problems during recruitment, preparation and sending process
also caused legal, social and cultural problems that need diplomatic efforts both at bilateral and multilateral level.
Due to diplomatic failure that undermined Indonesian reputation in receiving countries, in addition to unresolved
domestic problems, this article proposes the Indonesian government to terminate the sending of domestic workers.
Furthermore, the immigration policy needs to be reevaluates. In the future, the Indonesian government should only
send legal, documented workers, with skilled or semi-skilled qualifications.
Keywords: diplomacy, women migrant workers, human rights, effective diplomacy, negotiation
Introduction
Indonesia is the biggest dispatcher of informal migrant workers to oil-rich countries in the Middle East
region, especially Saudi Arabia, and to its neighboring country, like Malaysia. After more than five decades of
sending Indonesian women migrant workers (“workers”), the problems are greater compared to the benefits.
The workers are beneficial in providing foreign exchange in the form of remittance from the workers, which
has contributed significantly to Indonesia’s economy. The remittance from the workers’ sectors is the third
biggest after oil and tourism. In 2015, the World Bank reported that remittance amounted USD 10.5 million or
approximately Rp 140 billion. The Bank of Indonesia reported the remittance amounted USD 119 billion in
2015; while in the period of November-October 2016, the amount had reached USD 7.47 or Rp. 97.5 billion.
This is the reason why the government has been referring the migrant workers as “the heroines of foreign
exchange”.
Despite its contribution to the national economy, problems have existed related to human and workers
rights from pre-departure up to returning. These problems were due to the fact that they fulfilled the so-called
Sukawarsini Djelantik, Ph.D., International Relations Department, Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, West Java,
Indonesia.
140 THE INDONESIAN WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS
4D jobs: “demeaning, dirty, dangerous, and difficult”. Media coverage on issues in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia
is like the tip of the iceberg, as the actual problems were more massive than media publication exposed. The
workers that are mostly working in a domestic environment, informal and private in nature, are most vulnerable
to human and worker rights forms of abuse. The national and international media often published news on the
abuse of workers’ rights, being overstayers, and facing death penalties after serious criminal acts in receiving
countries. The media publications only responded when the problems had been reported to the authorities and
published by the media.
Despite the significance of workers to Indonesia’s economy, even after more than five decades of having
dispatched workers, the government failed to improve its performance in terms of migration management.
Inability to overcome the problems has also undermined the Indonesian government’s reputation internationally.
Several issues at the domestic level could not be resolved internally and turned to be international issues. The
basic issue was related to the departure process which is full of conflicts of interest amongst the government,
business sector, and individuals. Moreover, the workers often suffer from a lack of pre-departure training and
preparation. The recruitment process had violated government regulations, reflected by the corrupt government
officials, which made problems more complicated.
The qualifications of workers that are mostly uneducated and lack job experience have caused
social-economic challenges in the receiving countries. The workers remain among the most vulnerable
members of society as they are often the first to lose their job when the destination countries experience an
economic downturn. They also often work for less pay, for longer hours, and often become the victims of
human trafficking. Menozzi and Hovy (2015) stated that even though the conditions are frequently unfavorable,
migration remains one of the few options for women to find decent work and escape poverty, persecution, and
violence. Even though there have been many negative issues around workers, there were success stories of the
returnees that have encouraged others to migrate. No doubt the biggest percentage of workers has been able to
make a good living and provide a brighter future for their family, and this has encouraged others to take all
risks involve in working overseas.
Issues at the domestic level have undermined bilateral relations with host countries. The Indonesian
diplomats often blamed for being ineffective, unresponsive, and not proactive enough. Considering the above
arguments and unresolved problems, the author is proposing the complete termination of sending migrant
workers. The discussion will start with domestic issues that undermined diplomatic relations with receiving
countries, followed by analyzing the performance of Indonesian diplomacy in receiving countries. Diplomatic
analysis will particularly examine negotiation and results of agreements both at bilateral and multilateral levels
as legal mechanism of protection. The negotiation will particularly deal with the over-stayers and workers
waiting for execution of the death penalty, which considered as most challenging.
Through bilateral and multilateral point of views, this study argues that in general, diplomacy has failed to
protect. The discussion is limited to the two biggest recipients namely Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, and “the
workers” are limited to women. The destination countries are limited to Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, because for
five decades since the 1970’s, Indonesian women fulfilled about 80% of the informal-domestic work sectors in
Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Saudi Arabia hosted as much as 34%, while Malaysia reached 17% (Osaki, 2003).
The article focuses on the period of 2010-2018, which covered two administrations, President Soesilo Bambang
Yudoyono and President Joko Widodo. First of all, the article introduces the Indonesian domestic issues and
the problems in the receiving countries related to workers.
THE INDONESIAN WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS 141
Literature Review
Several articles relate to the issue of migrant workers, e.g., Ananta and Arifin (2004) discussed various
aspects and issues of Indonesian migrant workers. Another article is the book chapter written by Pan-Long Tsai
and Ching-Lung Tsay, on the economic effect of labor migration to four ASEAN countries. Sukamdi,
Satriawan, and Haris (2004) wrote an article related to the impact of remittance to the Indonesian economy, and
Tirtosudarmo (2004) analyzed the cross-border migration in Indonesia, especially focusing on the Nunukan
tragedy in Malaysia. Even though the mentioned articles are related to Indonesian migrant labour, these exclude
the role of diplomacy, as this article is suggesting.
Another study by Ford, Lyons, and Schendel (2012) is related to the impact of migration to Indonesian
workers. On concluding chapter, the book discussed workers that are vulnerable human trafficking victims. The
study examines law makers’ response to a range of internal and external pressures. The volume did not discuss
the role of the Government of Indonesia (GoI) to overcome the issues. A study by Koesrianti (2012) zoomed in
on domestic issues using the concept of the state responsibility. The article focuses on female migrant workers
and on state responsibility which is relevant to the current study as it reviews the government’s aspect and
protection policy during the entire process of employment, including the stages of pre-departure, employment,
and arrival. Even though this article deals with government policies, regulations, and institutions, the focus is
more on domestic aspects. This article did not touch on the role of diplomats, whereas the article would be
complementary. The purpose of this article is to provide a better understanding of the complexity of the issue as
well as making the stakeholders involved pay more attention to both domestic and receiving countries.
Research Question and Methods

Research has been conducted through document analysis, policy papers, diplomatic notes, and interviews
with workers stakeholders. The question to answer is: “Why does the Government of Indonesia (GoI) need to
redefine and to stop sending its migrant workers?” The migrant workers will be limited to women migrant
workers as the most vulnerable ones compared to their male counterparts.
This research uses the qualitative approach by collecting data through in-depth interviews with
stakeholders and focused group discussion with former female migrant workers during field studies in Jakarta
and Bandung. To obtain data on diplomatic activities and performances, interviews were also conducted with
diplomats at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign affairs (MFA) and an activist of Migrant Care, a
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) focused on migration issues. Further data were obtained through
conference and seminar papers and power point presentations.
Results
The urgency to terminate the sending of women domestic workers was supported by a series of facts. The
first is the failure to overcome domestic issues related to decrease the unemployment rate and to implement the
poverty eradication program. Because labor migration is created not only by pull factors in destination
countries, the push factor which is a domestic issue is also contributed (Osaki, 2003). The pull factors are Saudi
Arabian economic development and the oil boom turned it into an affluent country, followed by the increasing
demand for foreign workers. Saudi Arabia has become increasingly dependent on foreign labor, especially
domestic workers from Indonesia.
Malaysia as a newly industrialized country is the third wealthiest in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and
Brunei Darussalam. The average standard of living is also higher than Indonesia with its highly diversified
robust economy (Shukry & Chong, 2017). Migrant workers are essential parts for the Malaysian economy,
especially since the country aims to chase the high income status in 2020 (World Bank, 2017). Its economic
nature has made it difficult for the government of Malaysia to avoid foreign workers, especially in the area of
domestic services, plantation, manufacturing, and construction. The industrialization process and the changes of
gender role demanded the significant numbers of domestic workers that have so far been fulfilled by
Indonesians.
The high unemployment rate in Indonesia has been the major push factor, which derived from the
economic downturn since the 1998 Asian monetary crisis. The world economic crisis in the 2010 had
contributed more to economic issues that had not fully recovered from the previous one. The high rate of
unemployment had forced Indonesians to work overseas. Further discussion serves to identify domestic issues.
Almost 80% of the issues in receiving states started at the domestic level. During recruitment, only small
percentage involved the government of Indonesia in the process, namely the supply-demand mechanism
applied between recruiters, the agents (both in sending and receiving countries), and the workers. The first line
of actors consists of personal recruiters, which obtain fees based on a certain percentage. The more one recruits
workers, the more fees one obtains from the agents. The agencies start to charge the workers since the first day
of arrival at training centers. The fees are often overcharged to workers, using all types of modus, e.g., dubious
pre-departure training fees, and/or setting the debt/bondage trap. The debt during training process and migration
paperwork would be cut-off from workers’ incoming salary. All consumption and services during recruitment
and training process are charged fully to workers, and deducted for as much as their first 10 months of working
salary. The workers are further required to sign debt statements that would be repaid with the incoming salary.
Not all agents have the qualifications to provide training and/or courses to bridge the cultural gap, language
proficiency, working skills, and other essential information.
The agents are most responsible for the legal status of workers. Often the ignorant workers who applied to
illegal agents would be trapped in human trafficking. Compared to male migrant workers, the women are more
liable to become the victims of human trafficking due to their marginal position. The women could easily be
deceived and forced by agents with the promise to work overseas legally. Several cases indicated unpaid
workers, or if paid, far below the national salary standard, work as commercial sex workers, forced to pay off
debt by labor or being physically and mentally exploited. Despite slavery as an illegal practice, this condition
remains part of workers’ fate. In most conditions, the workers were not aware of their illegal status holding
fraudulent documents. The practice of Corruption, Collusion, and Nepotism (CCN) between the government
official, agents, and individuals is common in Indonesia, and even considered as part of the culture. Another
issue is related to the weakness in law enforcement. The government has regulated the minimum requirements
of workers (minimum age, level of education, and health conditions) which are often violated. These issues
created problems in host countries, as discussed in the following parts.
The Criminal Charges, Imprisonment and Death Penalties
The workers working in new environment have problems related to their inability to cope with the local
culture and language skills, in other words, is the inability to cope with cultural differences and language
barriers. Because the majority of workers is illiterate at a low level of education (some hold only primary
school graduate certificate), they often suffer from a lack of professionalism and work ethic. The condition
where agents did not adequately provide job training, adds to the lack of professionalism from the employers
point of view. Moreover, the position of domestic workers is not covered by the Saudi Arabian labor act, which
make them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation both by agents and employers. Miscommunication and cultural
differences often lead to physical abuse, in some cases, even to injuries and death. Generally, justice is not
being enforced in Saudi Arabia as the abusers rarely face punishment heavier than a fine. The Saudi Arabian
government has faced criticism related to the treatment of foreign workers. Some of these cases have attracted
worldwide attention. Under these circumstances, the Indonesian diplomats were required to provide protection
by arranging legal assistance, accompanying accused workers during court trials, jail visits, and negotiating
with employers and government officials to represent workers facing the death row penalty.
The Indonesian diplomats have conducted several meetings to provide more proper legal framework, both
in bilateral and multilteral contexts. The most prominent was the Indonesian-Saudi Arabian Preliminary Senior
Official Meeting (SOM), on labor cooperation for protection and placement. The meeting aimed to support the
MoU that had been initiated by the Statement of Intent (SoI) on 28 May 2011 in Jeddah, at the international
level of labor ability and competence. Both countries cooperated on a partnership program to promote job
opportunities and developed a scholarship and the “training for the trainer” program, and data exchange. An
agreement was reached to reorganise labor agencies in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Both parties had
established a Joint Working Committee (JWC) in Riyadh, July 10-13th 2011, to follow up the above mentioned
plenary meeting. The SoI was renegotiated along with the basic points to be implemented on the MoU, its
mechanism, and implementation.
The domestic worker problems are related to private working space, which lies beyond the official
capacity to monitor. Even though several legal frameworks have been agreed on, the challenge lies in its
implementation. Moreover, the Saudi Arabian culture perceived the domestic workers as slaves,
non-professional, and depending on the employer’s mercy. Any family issues would be considered as
private-domestic matters, where external intervention is unwelcome. The way to terminate this problem is to
implement the moratorium agreement of sending domestic workers.
Repatriation of Over-stayers
Overstayers are those who extend their stay after the tourist visa has expired. The first type concerns
intentional over-stayers, with support of a third party, workers’ agents, or individuals. The workers’ illegal
status is perceived as providing greater economic advantages, as they did not apply immigration procedures, by
neglecting to pay work permits document fees. The second type is “unintended”, due to previously having
problems with employees, or escaped from unbearable work conditions. Both of over-stayer types wander in
the main streets and use city bridges as shelter (Kompas, 2010). These over-stayers have been creating serious
social and economic problems with Saudi Arabian government.
This issue challenged Indonesian diplomats, especially after the local government’s policy in Jeddah
applied a deportation program in 2011. A report from National Agency for Placement of Indonesian Labor
Protection (BNP2TKI) stated that the deadline from the immigration authorities to register was September 14th,
2011, which meant the GoI has to repatriate approximately 18,000 workers. Before deportation, the workers
temporarily resided at Tarhil (immigration shelters). The high number of overstayers was increased due to the
absence of any bilateral agreement. After several government efforts, the number of over-stayers in Saudi
Arabia increased during the period of 2010-2017, which indicated a lack of diplomatic effectiveness (Razak,
2012).
The basic law of the GoI to provide protection is Act No.37/1999. Chapter 5 of this act states that workers
are entitled to protection, legal assistance, and repatriation, which are covered by the government’s budget. The
basic law did not discuss technical issues, where new agreements would be needed. The previous bilateral
negotiation is covered only by the Statement of Intent (SoI), the Joint Working Group, and an MoU on special
Labor. The MoU specified the implementation of government regulations of Saudi Arabia, the protection of
labor rights, the limit imposed on working overtime, the right to have one day off, and other aspects.
The establishment of a Labor Task Force was criticized by the media and Migrant Care, a migrant
worker’s NGO, as redundant and wasting the government’s time and energy. The GoI has already had
BNP2TKI bearing similar responsibility, whose role has not been effective in resolving migration issues (Susilo,
2011). The position of BNP2TKI falls under the Ministry of Manpower, the same ministry that provides
permits to labor agents, which operates at the provincial, city, and village level. To strengthen and empower the
role of BNP2TKI is preferable rather than to form the new body. Migrant Care further proposed to develop
better coordination at the provincial level. The establishment of this Task Force has demonstrated the
government’s reactiveness to counter the national media’s extensive criticism.
As stated by BNP2TKI, In Malaysia, issues regarding overstayers and illegal imigrants (PATI) also remain
unresolved. The Consul General at Johor repatriated 13 illegal workers in March 2012. The PATI issue could
be resolved after coordination with the Immigration Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of
Manpower and Transmigration. All parties agreed on the establishment of a Comprehensive Management
Program for Illegal Immigrant Workers on April 24, 2011. In 2016, almost 18,000 workers were deported after
serving jail sentences for various legal offences. In the Indonesian border town of Nunukan in North
Kalimantan, there was mass deportation of hundreds of illegal workers who had served their jail sentence and
were deported in early 2017. Tension continued when Malaysia delayed deportation of hundreds of workers
due to lack of funds.
Defending the Death Penalty Charges
Saudi Arabia’s policy is based on Islamic Law where the death penalty is the severest form of punishment.
Four countries in the Middle East, namely Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, and Syria, have the highest number of
death sentences imposed on Indonesian workers. The main cases involved workers who had endured years of
abuse before they committed act of murder. The workers mainly argued self defence or confronting life
threatening circumstances, unbearable working hours, and physical, mental, or sexual abuse in their defense.
The GoI formed a Task Force on the death penalty in 2011 with the main task to advocate at every legal
process. The GoI allocated a budget, provided lawyers, and mediated with victim’s family to ask for official
clemency or reduce the amount of Diyat (blood money). Further efforts included using all communication
channels to relevant institutions, including sending clemency letters to the Saudi Arabian King. The Task Force
also mediated communication between the Indonesian President and the Saudi Arabian King. Since it ratified
the UN convention of 1990 regarding migrant workers and family members in April 2013, the GoI has
increased its ability to negotiate and initiate diplomatic actions in Saudi Arabia (Drajat, 2015). However, the
case of the unnecessary execution of Ruyati, in addition to continuing human and workers rights violations
triggered the imposement of a moratorium on sending workers on August 1st, 2011. The moratorium had
effectively decreased the number of workers, from 437,708 to 146,048 people in 2011.
The significant impact of this moratorium in the Saudi Arabian economy had made the host country
renegotiate. The Indonesian economy was similarly affected, as indicated by the significant decrease in
remittance (Bisnis Indonesia, 2012). The moratorium was released after the GoI signed an MoU on “the
protection and social security” in Jakarta on February 22nd, 2012. However, the agreement was illegal
considering the imbalanced representation of actors. The Saudi Arabian side was represented by a private sector,
the International Social Security Program (ISSP), versus the Ministry of Manpower on behalf of the GoI.
Considering the reciprocity principle in diplomacy, the agreement should have been between two government
representatives. The under representation indicated the weakness and failure of Indonesian diplomacy (Susilo,
2011). The nature of the private institution focused more on business considerations and economic transactions
is incompatible with the government’s interest to protect. Both governments should negotiate policies where
the private sector serves to implement.
Discussion
Migrant workers became a main issue in bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia since the signing of the
manpower export agreement in 1983. Indonesia’s majority Muslim population (90%) made Saudi Arabia, the
birthplace of Prophet Muhammad into the most favorite destination. Working in Saudi Arabia potentially
provides an opportunity to actuate pilgrimages (Hajj) or religious visits (Umrah), as required in the fifth Islamic
pillar. Migrant workers flooded to Saudi Arabia after the Asian monetary crisis in 1998. The high demand for
workers and the agent’s economic interest often neglected proper administrative procedures that led to
disadvantages in terms of legal protection. Saudi Arabia in particular and other Gulf countries in general are not
equipped with a legal framework as the recipient of domestic migrant workers.
With many issues related to workers-related issues, the Indonesian diplomats in Saudi Arabia and
Malaysia are often blamed for incapability to protect their nationals. Bilateral problems with Malaysia start
when the influx of illegal and undocumented Indonesian workers outnumbers legal and documented workers.
From about 2.5 millions of Indonesian workers in Malaysia almost half are illegal. The issue has been causing
considerable bilateral friction with Malaysia. Because the issues in host countries are rooted on the domestic
level, the diplomats describe the situation as “cleaning up the mess after someone else’s party” (Razak, 2012).
The diplomatic failures are also due to lack of coordination between the government institutions and private
companies. Several government bodies, along with sending and receiving agents were involved, each with its
own interests has added to complexity of issues. One way to solve coordination issue, the GoI had established
the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) in 1975.
Since 1998, the management of migrant workers has been handled by the National Workers Recruitment
Agency (PJTKI). Other than the government-owned ones, there are private agencies that operate in most
Indonesian provinces.
Extensive media publications on various human right violations led to the moratorium on Saudi Arabia in
2011, and had been applied until 2018. The moratorium on Malaysia was in a relatively short period of time,
from 2009 to 2010 (Rahman, 2011). During the moratorium, the sending process continued to both countries,
which indicated the ineffectiveness of the agreement. The violators were not punished accordingly, and so
illegal migration and people smuggling increased. Weak border control and lack of coordination also add to
security issues. People smuggling are often supported by security forces at airports and seaports, as well as
avoiding documents fees and pre-departure training course requirements. In 2015, the GoI had successfully
prevented the sending of 1,584 illegal migrant workers to Saudi Arabia and 1,310 workers in 2016. No reports
on criminal charges were made concerning violators.
The problems were not completely surmounted, as conflicting parties only negotiated on a case-to-case
basis. For example, the absence of security cooperation and border patrol. Indonesia and Malaysia shared long
and porous land borders, incomparable to the very lucrative nature of labor recruitment business (Ananta &
Arifin, 2004). The GoI showed a lack of effort to protect its borders that has allowed the continuity of people
smuggling. The practice of corruption, collusion, and nepotism, still exists and has even become part of the
Indonesian bureaucratic culture.
The GoI has established several services to address the workers’ problems, but they did not solve the root
causes. For example, within the Embassy structures both in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, citizen service units
have been established to provide legal advocation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) reported in 2012
that in cities where the workers’ issues are prominent, experienced career diplomats with negotiating skills
were assigned. Another effort was the establishment of the Directorate of Protection of Citizens and Legal
Entities (PPWNI-BHI). The institution within the MoFA is considered as a significant effort which indicates
strong commitment to provide maximum protection and represent workers’ interests. The result is, among
others, an MoU on formal workers in 2004 and the one on informal workers in 2006 with Malaysia. The MoU
was signed on May 10th 2004 in Bali on the recruitment and placement of domestic workers. The MoU also
agreed on the right to open a bank account, to provide identity cards (KTKLN), and to bear one’s own passport
(Pramono, 2014). Even though both parties had agreed on bearing individual passports; however, in reality, the
employer keeps the original. Renegotiation has been conducted related to this matter (Rahman, 2011). The
office also facilitates the Joint Working Group (JWG), an inter-ministerial meeting to coordinate the
government’s function in handling excess of migration issues, such as death penalties, overstayers, and
repatriation. The performance of the Joint Working Group (JWG) was reviewed on July 6th, 2009 (Rahman,
2011).
Even though several problems had been finalized; however, unpaid wages, criminal issues, illegal labor,
sexual harassment, and the repatriation process of over-stayers have not been finalized. The two ministers
signed the MoU regarding the placement and protection of domestic workers on May 30th 2011. The
agreement included working contracts, wages, payment method, weekly day off, passport bearers, recruiting
agents, the cost structure, competence training, conflict resolution, the journey performed (JP), visas, and the
direct recruitment process. The 7th Joint Working Group (JWG) and Joint Task Force (JTF) were established to
control the implementation of the amended MoU. The MoFA also implemented multi-track diplomacy, by
involving non-state actors and individuals to support the tasks at hand. The MoFA further applied strategies to
increase bilateral relations with receiving countries by providing a Mandatory Consular Notification (Razak,
2012).
The GoI also increased its efforts to provide consular services (including passport extension, publishing
birth and marriage certificates), and to advocate general issues. Further efforts included the establishment of
task forces for the Protection and Service to Indonesian citizens, which are attached to the Embassy (The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, 2009). Considering the sporadic nature of the
Consular offices’ accredited area, the diplomats were being proactive by visiting workers. In 2010, the embassy
had finalized 1382 cases, the most prominent of which were related to unpaid workers. The issues have saved
workers’ income amounting to approximately Rp.300-500 million. This program is supported by the
immigration officers and staff of the Ministry of Education. Even though the MoFA claimed its optimal efforts,
the number of issues is far beyond the diplomats’ competence to handle.
The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia, reported (2011) that both Indonesia and Malaysia
have agreed on several issues, e.g., to provide a “smart card” and hotline service (15,999) to respond to issues
related to domestic and other types of physical abuse. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) also reported on
agreement to provide information about black-listed agents with a previous history of violating the laws. The
amendment was followed by the sign of a Letter of Intent (LoI) on May 18th, 2009, addressing the issues of
keeping passports, one day off weekly, and a better organised departure process. However, Malaysia disagreed
on points related to the monthly minimum wage (RM 600) (Triaji, 2011). The issues of minimum wages
remained unresolved, where Indonesia wanted to provide maximum protection, while Malaysia was criticized
for taking advantage of the low cost of migrant labor.
Workers issues were also addressed in the multilateral diplomacy mechanism, especially within the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members. The association’s members are divided into two
categories, the sender (Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar), and the
destination/recipient (Singapore and Brunei). Malaysia and Thailand are considered as both origin and
destination members (Ananta & Arifin, 2004). The two parties have different economic levels which are
reflected in the interest and negotiation processes. The association had conducted several meeting on migrant
workers as early as 2007 in Cebu-the Philippines. The “Cebu Declaration” agreed on the mechanism to handle
the issues on documented (legal) and undocumented (illegal) status. Further agreement was reached on three
main issues to protect workers from exploitation, discrimination, and physical abuse. Secondly, to promote
workers’ rights and thirdly to abolish the problem of human traficking in the region.
To follow up the agreement, the ASEAN Senior Official Meeting (ALMM/SLOM) had established the
Committee on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant
Workers (ACMW). Another meeting held in Jakarta in 2007 by the Senior Labour Officials Meeting (SLOM)
agreed on the establishment of the ASEAN Forum on Migrant Workers. The ASEAN committee also
formalised regulations for protection and increased the rights of migrant workers. However, negotiation on
draft instruments for the ASEAN working group on the protection and promotion of migrant workers rights
ended in deadlock (Drajat, 2015). Malaysia as the receiving state rejected sending countries proposed points on
providing equal treatment of documented or undocumented migrants’ status.
The association also formed The Task Force for ASEAN Migrant Workers (TF-AMW), supported by the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in 2006-2010. The task force consists of civil society
members, labour organizations, NGOs for Human and workers’ rights, and the assosciation of migrant workers
(Drajat, 2015). The activities involved a solidarity network for regional advocation of Society ASIA (SAPA),
consisting of the Asian Forum for human rights and development (FORUM-ASIA), the Migrant Forum in Asia
(MFA), the ASEAN Trade Union Council (ASETUC), and a National Working group to coordinate national
advocation in ASEAN. The TF-AMW central principles were regardless of migrant workers’ origin or current
documented or undocumented status, that migrant workers shall be guaranteed non-discriminatory “national
treatment” in both their conditions of work and life outside of work.
As sending countries, Indonesia and the Philippines proposed a draft instrument on ACMW’s 3rd meeting
in December 2009. Unfortunately, the draft was rejected by Malaysia and Thailand, especially on the point of
undocumented migrant workers and the application of instruments as binding regulations. The rejection led to
further deadlock. The negotiation team returned its mandate to ACMW (Drajat, 2015). Vietnam as ACMW
leader did not respond to Malaysia’s draft rejection, and left the case unresolved. The drafting process was
discontinued since its substantive point had not been finalized. After the issue was taken over by the highest
level of governments the discussion would be continued (Drajat, 2015). If Indonesia and other sending states
wanted to finalize the draft, approaches to other sending countries should be continued. The lobbying process
should be accompanied by other forms of political pressure at the regional level. Indonesia had conducted a
special ACMW session and proposed the involvement of a neutral third party. Another effort was to strengthen
the regional migrant workers forum to campaign through seminars and workshops.Indonesian diplomacy had
failed to negotiate a migration policy at the regional level. The undocumented workers in Malaysia were still
facing a vulnerable position. Therefore, the Indonesian government along with other interested parties should
find ways to prevent the sending of illegal, undocumented workers.
Conclusion
The above discussion on failure to negotiate worker issues demonstrates the necessity to redefine its
workers. Indonesian diplomatic efforts have generally failed to protect female Indonesian migrant workers in
Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The diplomatic failures were attenuated by challenging domestic issues that
involved certain actors with strong economic interests that complicate diplomatic challenges. These failures
were mainly due to domestic issues that could not be resolved through negotiation only. The GoI should
terminate the sending of domestic and only send legal, documented, or skilled and semi-skilled workers. Better
protection could be provided if the workers sent to both countries were all sent under a legal mechanism and
bearing proper documents. Realization of these conditions would require close cooperation and strong
coordination with the Ministry of Manpower, the provincial government, and the private sectors. Lack of
coordination and cooperation has led to the general public belief that Indonesian diplomacy is too weak, too
slow and too tardy to protect its migrant workers. Sending informal workers as domestic workers has proved to
cause many issues related to human and workers’ rights. The weakness of law enforcement is another
consideration for termination, apart from implementing the principle of equality before the law.
Some adequate conditions should be provided to support diplomatic success. Firstly, only competent
formal workers with language skills should be sent abroad. Adequate skills and completed documents would be
pre-requirements to minimize potential problems while overseas. Secondly, a system to eliminate the
possibility of sending illegal workers should be developed. This effort will include close cooperation with the
security forces especially in border areas, and to implement strong law enforcement to deal with these issues.
Thirdly, negotiation and communication skills should be developed, including the language proficiency of
accredited countries. This effort would include broad knowledge of the host country legal system, regulations,
and socio-cultural knowledge. Last but not least, public diplomacy and image building should be developed.
Public diplomacy should be conducted through close cooperation with external actors, such as private sectors,
NGO, academics, research, and the mass media.
Ethical Clearance
The author respect the confidentiality and anonymity of respondents involved in this research.
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doi: 10.17265/2328-2134/2019.04.002
D
DAVID PUBLISHING
Visual Manifestations of the European Discourse on Solidarity of

Refugees and Migrants
Efharis Mascha
Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
The paper aims to examine different visual manifestations of the European discourse on solidarity during the
immigration crisis (2015-2017). International Organizations such as UN (United Nations), IOM (International
Organization for Migration), and EASO (European Asylum Support Office) following a set of European policies
reflect solidarity in practice among the European Union (EU) states. Policy makers, apart from implementing and
drafting different sets of policies in moments of emergency due to the immense migrant flow, have also accompanied
these practices with visual representations in the form of posters and photos. These visual representations feature the
organizations themselves and the discourse on solidarity towards the migrants. Hence, examining this material we
can have a clear picture of the identity of the organizations but also, and most importantly, how they visualize their
understanding of solidarity discourse. The paper is unfolded in the following way. Firstly, the theoretical framework
of solidarity and the European Union’s perspective of solidarity are discussed in detail. Then, the focus is moved
towards a theoretical discussion of emotion, the role of affect, and the role these Organizations play in the creation
of European policies on migration. Thirdly, the analysis of the material, photos, posters, and a leaflet will be
discussed in conjunction to the aforementioned theoretical framework of solidarity and affect.
Keywords: solidarity, emotion, affect, refugee policy, Greek Asylum Service
Introduction
The paper was inspired by the museum exhibition A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece 700 BC-200 AD
which was initially presented at the Onassis Cultural Center in New York in March 2017 and was later
exhibited in the Acropolis museum in autumn 2017. Both, Dimitrios Pandermalis, President of Acropolis
museum and Dr. Antonis Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation, agree on the fact that “emotions
were present everywhere in the culture and lives of the ancient Greeks and that they also have a special place in
understanding ancient Greek art, literature, history, political life, society and religion” (“Exhibition Brochure”,
2017, p. 4) and that the exhibition’s mission is “to help us empathize with the ancient world and the emotions
that ruled it” (“Exhibition Brochure”, 2017, p. 5). So, emotions and empathy as a vehicle to understand culture
were central at the particular museum exhibition.
The paper aims to address the issue of visual manifestations of refugees and migrants and the role of affect
in the analysis of the aforementioned representations as a methodological approach to the European discourse
of solidarity. So far there has been a vast array of research and published articles with regards to solidarity,
policy making, refugee law, human rights, and international relations, but there is limited work dedicated to
Efharis Mascha, Ph.D., Adjunct Lecturer, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece. Email: mascha.efcharis@ac.eap.gr
VISUAL MANIFESTATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN DISCOURSE ON SOLIDARITY 151
what is by prima facie said and felt, and that is, the role of affect in refugee policy.
Firstly, the paper discusses the role of solidarity in the European discourse, and then moves to a theoretical
encounter on emotion. Emotions are seen as the link between the individual and the social. Emotions cover a
vast array of human expressions from happiness to grief and sorrow. They are discussed not from an
individualistic, personal perspective but from a social-cultural one. Having this background knowledge, we will
move forward to a thorough investigation of the role of affect in politics. Our claim is that affect plays a
significant role in the construction of a political discourse about refugees and migrants. Moreover, it is affect
that can lead us to cultural empathy and enhance policy making with values such as solidarity, understanding,
openness, and integration.
Secondly, a twofold empirical analysis is displayed. On the one hand, a set of photos and a published
leaflet will be presented and analyzed in conjunction with the role of affect in discourse theory. The analysis
will be assisted by a set of interviews, which were conducted with the head of public relations of the Greek
Asylum Service, Eleni Petraki, the photographer, Andrea Bonetti, and the graphic designer, Christina Tsevis.
Solidarity as Concept and Discursive Construction

Solidarity in Theory
Solidarity is used in a vague and undetermined sense, somehow hidden within the political rhetoric of
actors, political parties, and/or institutions such as European Union (EU) members and institutions
(Kontochristou & Mascha, 2014, p. 51). Theoretically speaking, the notion of solidarity could be addressed and
conceptualized by drawing on Quentin Skinner. According to Skinner (1980), solidarity requires a threefold
study. First, the society within which this idea is formulated. Second, the term itself, which refers to the use of
the different equivalents of the same word (e.g., brotherhood, fraternity, unity). The third is the context, which
can be divided into the conceptual context, the political context, and the historical or structural context. The
conceptual context refers to the relationship between the concept in question and other concepts; the political
context refers to the relationship between political parties and alternative strategies whereas the
historical/structural context refers to the economic boundaries nationally or internationally (Stjernø, 2005).
Similarly, and more importantly, a post-structural discourse theory understands solidarity and the
dominant metaphors of solidarity. Therefore, as Honohan (2005, p. 2 in Stjernø, 2005) suggests, we could
understand solidarity either as a membership of bounded entity or from the spectrum of social capital. In both
cases the basic principle that prevails is that the discursive construction of solidarity emphasizes the
relationships among individuals and groups and problematizes the wholeness of solidarity within specific
boundaries (family, nation, ethnicity, culture).
If we problematize social boundaries, then solidarity brings to the fore an important sociological issue:
inclusion versus exclusion. Classic social theorists such as Emile Durkheim and Georg Simmel considered
solidarity to be the constitutive element that made society possible in the first place (Durkheim, 1893; Simmel,
1908; Wilde, 2007 in Stjernø, 2005). While Durkheim distinguished between mechanical and organic types of
solidarity1, Simmel noted the role of religion as the binding factor for social order. Marx himself and the
1
In Emile Durkheim’s Division of Labor in Society (1893), “mechanical solidarity” characterizes primitive societies. The
members of that society are more likely to resemble each other and share the same beliefs and morals. Solidarity becomes more
organic as these societies develop their divisions of labor. In particular, “organic solidarity” is understood as a natural outcome
resulting from social interactions generated by the division of labor in modern societies.
152 VISUAL MANIFESTATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN DISCOURSE ON SOLIDARITY
Marxist tradition understood solidarity in the form of class solidarity. This was later developed further and both
in terms of structure and ideology, the use of solidarity within the Marxist arena was discussed exclusively as
the solidarity of the working class (Kautsky (1915), Gramsci (1971), and Lenin (1902) in Stjernø, 2005) .
However, the exploration of the use of solidarity within the recent European political spectrum is crucial.
Solidarity as a concept has historically changed2 and focused on broadening democratic participation. The
Social Democrat solidarity concept poses the issue of individualism versus collective action (Freeden, 1996, p.
443). Since the late 1980s, many Social Democrat political programs tried to reconcile the freedom of the
individual to pursue his or her interests and the needs of the community. The Christian Democrat agenda
emphasizes subsidiarity and personal responsibility and confers a weaker role upon solidarity (Stjernø, 2005,
240ff). However, there is a sector within Christian Democrat discourse that pays particular attention to
solidarity issues (i.e., Social Christians). In other words, both parts of the European discourse on solidarity face
the issue of individualism versus collective action but from different perspectives.
Generally speaking, the issue of individualism is raised due to the increased level of social mobility, the
change in education to more individualist patterns, and the acute concerns with the specialization of science,
which consequently has led to increased specialization in the work arena as well (Kontochristou & Mascha,
2014, p. 51). Furthermore, due to the debt crisis within the Eurozone and the contested practices of the welfare
state, the Mediterranean countries are faced with distrust from the Centre-North EU countries. Hence, a
discursive analysis of solidarity would enable as to see clearly that solidarity is an unbounded entity and there
are certain salient relationships/policies among the EU states, which clearly detest the basic solidarity principle.
European Solidarity “Faces”
So, the question remains what solidarity means in the European context, if it’s a question of self-interest or
community, and whether democracy and sovereignty during the migration crisis were put into question.
Moreover, if there is a moral imperative in terms of reciprocity among inter-state policies, then how is the
responsibility and coordination of the huge immigration wave shared among states? Although solidarity was
one of the constitutional principles3 of the creation of the European Union, it’s unclear the legal, political,
economic, and moral limits of European solidarity. And in particular, in the context of migration policy how
much solidarity has been exercised thus far? Sofia Fernandes and Eulalia Rubio (2012, p. 4) in their study for
the think tank Notre Europe argue that European solidarity in the EU is organic solidarity, that is, functional
than emotional. More specifically, they maintain that a distinction can be made between two different rationales
inspiring inter-state solidarity in the EU, namely, direct reciprocity (I help others so that they will help me in
the future in case of need) and enlightened self-interest (I help others because I know that acting in the interest
of other EU members or in the interest of the EU as a whole ultimately serves my own self-interest)
(Kontochristou & Mascha, 2014, p. 52). The direct reciprocity solidarity logic in the EU underpins the classic
insurance-type schemes: for example, the EU Solidarity Fund, which comes to the aid of any member state
affected by a natural disaster, or the Lisbon Treaty’s “solidarity clause” according to which member states
“shall act jointly in a spirit of solidarity if a member state is the object of a terrorist attack or the victim of a
2
Stjernø(2005, 93ff) suggests three possible explanations for the historical change in the use of solidarity. First, it is a change in
the class structure and the need for electoral alliances. Second is the cultural change after 1968 that rendered the need for social
democracy to broaden the concept of solidarity acute, and third is the nature of political symbols and programs.
3
“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first
create a de facto solidarity” (Robert Schuman, The Schuman Declaration, May 9, 1950).
natural or man-made disaster” 4 (Fernandes & Rubio, 2012, 4f). The ultimate purpose of this solidarity
arrangement is to provide reciprocal aid in face of a risk that is evenly spread across all the EU member states.
All EU countries then are potential givers and receivers of help and today’s provider of help can be tomorrow’s
beneficiary (ibid.). However, solidarity is not a one-way approach but has to include commitments of
responsibility. As noted by Jérôme Vignon (2011), any solidarity act has a counter-part element of
responsibility from the country receiving the aid, and solidarity only grows stronger with consequent
responsibility. Moreover, the exercise of inter-state solidarity in the EU concerns coordination. Coordination
can serve to diagnose, prevent and redress divergences within a group and can help reduce risks such as the
current debt crisis (Kontochristou & Mascha, 2014, p. 52).
Solidarity and coordination were debated in two contrasting visions: Germany and France. The French
position was reflected in Art 103 TEU, which stated that member states should regard their economic policies
“as a matter of common concern”, whereas the German position was mainly reflected on the introduction of a
“no bail-out” clause (Art 104b TEU), which actually forbids the European Union from helping an Economic
and Monetary Union country that fails to meet its financial obligations. The latter seems to contradict, to some
extent, the vision of Europe envisaged in the TEU and the Lisbon Treaty, where the European Union “shall
promote economic, social and territorial cohesion, and solidarity among Member States” (Kontochristou &
Mascha, 2014, p. 52).
At this point, it’s worth mentioning a set of policies, which were built by the EU in order to deal with the
massive wave of migrants and refugees residing the Mediterranean coasts mainly of Greece and Italy during
2015. More specifically, the Dublin Convention, entails family reunification and the relocation scheme. I have
previously presented a detail analysis on these policies and pointed out dislocatory elements of the European
solidarity (Mascha in Martilla, 2018, pp. 209-216).
Having seen this theoretical encounter on solidarity, we will now move forward to the discussion of
emotions and affect from a discourse theoretical perspective so as to build the necessary methodological
framework for the analysis of the empirical material. Our aim is to see how emotions and affect play a
significant role in the discourse of solidarity
Theoretical Encounter on Emotions

Emotions had been considered to be infantile and uncivilized, hence need to be controlled so as society to
work properly and rationally (Planalp, 1999 in Pribram & Harding, 2004). In a sense emotions were believed to
be destructive and non productive for social order. However, social sciences and humanities have recently
showed a great interest in the study of emotions as sociocultural products and a more in depth analysis can
actually reveal emotions as products of power relations. Therefore, we will discuss this theoretical standpoint
based on Raymond Williams’ concept “structure of feeling” and Lawrence Grossberg’s concept “economy of
affect”.
How Raymond Williams considers “structure of feeling”? For Williams “the structure of feeling is the
culture of a period: it is the particular living result of all the elements in the general organization” (Williams in
4
“The Union shall mobilize all the instruments at its disposal, including the military resources made available by the Member
States, in order to: prevent the terrorist threat in the territory of the Member States; to protect democratic institutions and the
civilian population from any terrorist attack; assist a Member State in its territory, at the request of its political authorities, in the
event of a terrorist attack” [Art 222 1(a) TFEU]; “to assist a Member State in its territory, at the request of its political authorities,
in the event of a natural or man-made disaster” [Art 222 1(b) TFEU].
Harding & Pribram, 2009, p. 36). As Pribram and Harding (2004) put it, structure of feeling “is an attempt to
formulate the place of emotions in culture”. In order for Williams to provide an operative account of the
concept “structure of feeling” he studied in detail English literature during the 17th and 18th century and he
reached a set of conclusions with regards to the role of emotion as “structure of feeling” which are useful and
significant.
Firstly, and most important, he considers the structure of feeling unique to every culture through time and
place and non-transferrable from generation to generation. In his own words, one generation may train its
successor, with reasonable success, in the social character or the general cultural pattern, but the new
generation will have its own structure of feeling, which will not appear to have come “from” anywhere
(Williams in Harding & Pribram, 2009, p. 36).
Secondly, Williams uses structure of feeling as a “class-linked concept, analyzing what he believes are the
principle structures of feeling for each class in a particular era” (Pribram & Harding, 2004, p. 4). Hence, traces
of the structure of feeling can be linked to the dominant class and as it is very difficult to revive the structure of
feeling of a past society we need to dig deeply in its tradition, documentary, and literature.
Thirdly, Williams links structure of feeling with “experience” (Williams in Pribram & Harding 2004, p. 6).
In what sense? Firstly, because experience represents an authentic expression of feeling and for Williams, it is
very difficult if not impossible to capture this feeling, when talking about societies in the past. And secondly,
experience for Williams is real and immediate and thus credible.
Having these dimensions in mind Pribram and Harding (2004) moved a step forward and chose to
emphasize, and Ι definitely agree on this, the productive process that jumps out from the analysis of structure of
feeling in every social order. More specifically, following Pribram and Harding “in the notion of structure of
feeling, the emotions are culturally constituted and culturally shared [...] with structures of feeling, the emotions
become a widely held cultural experience, not solely an individual (biological or behaviorist) one” (2004, p. 8).
As mentioned earlier on, Williams didn’t seem to link structure of feeling with power relations and thus,
following Pribram and Harding (2004), it is imperative to see Lawrence Grossberg’s account of “economy of
affect” in order to have a fuller theoretical encounter on emotion.
Grossberg’s work mainly explores how power operates through affect. At the same time, influenced by
Foucault, he believes that power is subsumed in meaning and that “meaning must be located as a function or
effect of power” (Grossberg in Pribram & Harding, 2004, p. 8). He is highly critical of the postmodernist both
of the positive and negative account of affect as pleasure and argues that they tend to ignore the complex
relations of power that exist between pleasure and ideological formations. Also, they ignore or there is a lack of
understanding between pleasure and form of resistance. In a sense, following Grossberg we need to describe
pleasure and then return to the question of political articulation (Grossberg in Harding & Pribram, 2009, p. 76).
So, let us map out what is “economy of affect” for Grossberg.
Similarly to Williams, Grossberg links “the individual with the social formation through the activities and
energies of affect” (Grossberg in Pribram & Harding, 2004, p. 10). For Grossberg affect is a constitutive part of
popular culture and he differentiates it from emotion. Specifically, he states that “emotion exists when affect is
mediated with ideology, and specific emotions exist when specific combinations of affect and ideology merge
or clash” (Grossberg in Pribram & Harding, 2004, p. 11). So, for Grossberg affect is a energy and an
investment, constitutive to popular culture.
To sum up, having this theoretical discussion in mind, we will move towards a better understanding of
what is known as affect from a discourse theoretical point of view.
The Transition From Emotion to Affect in Discourse Theory
Why affect is not simply emotion? The answer is simply because of fantasy. Discourse theory has been
systematically engaged in psychoanalytic terms and affect is one of its Freudian categories, which will be
discussed here in further detail. First of all, we need to clarify that Freud’s ideas about affect have had an
important place in analytic work. He went on to explain how idea and affect follow separate paths. Whilst ideas
remain at the level of consciousness, affect corresponds to the process of discharge. Lacan, on the other hand,
dismissed the Freudian notions of idea and affect (Benvenuto & Kennedy, 1986, p. 168). Hence, for Lacan, the
reference should be made to jouissance and not to affect. Therefore, if we need to examine the notion of affect,
we need to put it within the psychoanalytic spectre of the Symbolic—the imaginary and the real and we need to
tackle the issue of fantasy.
But let’s begin with the notion of fantasy. Having in mind Laclau and Mouffe’s thesis that “Society
doesn’t exist”, we then follow Zizek who explicitly asserts that “Society as a corporate Body is the fundamental
ideological fantasy” (Zizek, 1989, p. 126). And he explains further, “fantasy is a means of an ideology to take
its own failure into account in advance”. In other words, fantasy is the domain where all possible antagonisms
or antagonistic relationships take place. Moreover, there is a whole network of symbolic overdeterminations
that suffice in the realm of fantasy. Fantasy is “what links the subject affectively to socio-political reality”
(Ruitenberg, 2010, p. 50). As Stavrakakis (2012) mentions, fantasy and identity formation is based on the
promise of a lost jouissance signified as a total fullness. However, this total fullness entails an imaginary
fullness or wholeness (beatific side of fantasy) and a disaster (horrific side of fantasy) (Glynos, 2011, p. 376).
The latter is similar to the “theft of enjoyment” (Glynos & Mondon, 2016, p. 7). Hence, when studying fantasy
and the role of affect, the important part of identity formation is whether it is constructed positively around
emotions of enjoyment or it is formulated as a loss of enjoyment. Similarly as Marttila (2015, p. 88) has
pointed out, affective attachments cannot explain any particular social outcome such as the presence of a
particular set of positive identities. Therefore, identity formation is not caused by affect but during the process
of identification there is a certain affective attachment.
So, in a sense our discussion about affect goes through the notion of fantasy and the process of
identification where affect plays a particular role. In practical terms, affect is a sticky substance in the realm of
fantasy, which in Lacanian terms works as a promise to fulfill the absent fullness of the real. As very well
stated by Glynos and Stavrakakis (2008, p. 9), “fantasy links the ‘dry’ socio-symbolic field (through a reference
to its official insignia) to the ‘sticky’ affects of the subject”. And they go on to point out that “a key aspect of
understanding the significance of emotions in the organization of social practices involves trying to map them
in relation to the underlying fantasies which organize a subject’s affective enjoyment” (2008, p. 12). During the
empirical analysis of the specific visual manifestations of refugees and migrants, we wish to point out this
spectre of fantasy—enjoyment—lost fullness and their affective attachments, which are linked to the discourse
of solidarity.
Empirical Study
Following a theoretical framework on solidarity, the EU faces of solidarity and an understanding of
emotions as constitutive parts of culture together with an approach of affect in discourse theory we will now
present two projects released from the Greek Asylum Service. The first one refers to a project initiated by the
Greek Asylum Service and the financial support of EASO (European Asylum Support Office), so as to decorate
pictures and banners from refugees and migrants homogeneously to the headquarters of the Asylum Service in
Athens and the 14 Regional Offices. The second one refers to a leaflet made for unaccompanied minors and is
funded by the EU and the Asylum Service.
The Research Outcomes
The first project, the photos were meant to become posters and decorate the main building of the Asylum
Service and the Regional Offices. The aim was the Asylum Service to have a homogeneous picture in all
premises and to be closer to the images and lives of the asylum applicants. The project was funded by EASO
and the pictures were donated by Andrea Bonetti. Due to the limits of the particular work, I selected few
pictures to present here. Pictures refer mostly to the travel, the family reunification, and the relocation program.
Figure 1. Leaflet of Greek Asylum Service by C.Tsevis.
I had the chance to discuss the whole project with the head of public relations of the Greek Asylum
Service, Eleni Petraki, who was clearly dissatisfied with EASO’s support to the specific project. She actually
told me that they had placed the order for printing to EASO twice, but they did a lot of cropping in the pictures
while printing and instead of placing the photos in a nice frame, they simply posted them in paper form. Hence,
the project hasn’t finished yet and only some posters and banners are put in place throughout the main building
of the Greek Asylum Service. Talking with the photographer, Andrea Bonetti, who actually donated his
pictures to the Asylum Service, he also mentioned this mishap with EASO’s printing and the cropping as well.
He also talked about the pictures and the moment he took them, mainly in Moria—Lesvos in November 2015
and some of them featuring the first day, the relocation program was launched in 2015. He mentioned that he
tried to capture a very harsh moment of people’s lives, their experience, and the moment they get out of the
boat is really difficult, actually tragic. As Williams (2004) noticed, experience entails emotion. Bonetti chose
black and white so as to show this difficulty. Most of them were happy and thrilled that they were safe, some
were crying, and others did not want their picture to be taken. He also mentioned that he wanted to show the
tragic moment they lived during their travel. The second project I had the chance to discuss with Eleni Petraki
was a much more successful project and well delivered in all Non Governmental Organizations with regards to
unaccompanied minors and their rights as asylum applicants. This project was launched on the 26 January 2017;
it is teens friendly, pocket size leaflet and written in six different languages (English, French, Farsi, Dari, Urdu,
and Bengali). The pictures are all real ones and instead of using typewriting, handwriting was used to all
leaflets. Petraki was proud and happy about this project, showed clearly her sensitivity about minors and the
need to convey to them in a teens friendly leaflet their rights and duties. She pointed out “the Asylum service
girl” and the “boat”. Talking with the graphic designer, Christina Tsevis, about the particular project, received
the same feelings of pride and satisfaction about the project and especially collaborating both with Petraki and
Stavropoulou, the former director of the Asylum Service. She mentioned that she was free to choose the
pictures and do all the graphic designing. She also pointed out that she wanted to show clearly the difference of
the unaccompanied minors, who are different, who feel alone and strangers. She focused on positive emotions
and she drew pictures from real people and places within the Asylum Service so as for the minor who reads the
leaflet to feel safe and at home with the place. She also talked about the girl inside the boat (Figure 3), who
seems to be dreaming about her future. She said: “I didn’t want any child to have an unease look” but also “not
to look very happy”. She aimed to neutrality and to realism. She explained that the situation is really bad and
dull but the emotions minors have are powerful and intense. She wanted to do a project that any
unaccompanied minor could identify himself/herself with the ones in the drawings.
The Travel. Nothing could capture better the fantasy of the travel than the Mexican dram film directed by
Spanish-born Mexican director Diego Quemada-Dí ez, The Golden Dream (Spanish: La jaula de oro; literally:
5
“The Cage of Gold”) . The travel is a golden dream for most immigrants and refugees either they are meant to
escape from any type of persecution or maltreatment or they want to escape from poverty and make a new
beginning. The promise of a “golden land” where welfare state policies are implemented, integration program are
in hand and people wait for them full of emotions of solidarity, openness and understanding is the promise of a
lost fullness, thus fantasy. The affective investments of this fantasy makes the travel possible and jouissance
present, because it is generally full of misfortunes, military push backs, hunger, sexual exploitation, drowning,
and theft. The following two pictures, Figure 2, Bonetti captured in Moria and Figure 3 Tsevis presented in the
leaflet, represent this promise, the travel through a horrific to a beatific land, where a new beginning is awaiting.
Moreover, Chevis’s little boat, named hope on Figure 4, affectively invests this promise. Hope is an emotion and
an idea; it’s an empty signifier that can keep the dream open and possible; hope of a different world, a peaceful
world, a world more colorful than the grey life of war and the grey colors of travelling in between mines, military
push backs and smugglers. During this travel, minors become adults even if the journey last a couple of months or
even days, the experience is harsh as Bonetti mentioned and the moment they reach a European coast they are
happy, pleased, and feeling safe. This is the affective investment of the traveler/migrant/refugee. He/she does not
have a clue of what comes next, but he/she is pleased to be safe from the obstacles of the travel. Many times,
while interviewing asylum seekers, they narrate the conditions of the journey as the most difficult part of their life
is even worse than the persecution they escaped from their homeland. For young members or siblings or
unaccompanied minors reaching Europe equals to be united with a family member or being themselves the means
for their family to get together.
5
Three teenagers from Guatemala, Samuel, Sara and Juan decide to leave poverty and flee to the United States. Their journey is
full of misfortunes, challenges but manifests in every detail their dream for the Unites States, where actually a golden cage is
awaiting for them.
Figure 2. Bonetti’s picture donated to Greek Asylum Service.
Figure 3. Leaflet of Greek Asylum Service by C.Tsevis
Figure 4. Leaflet of Greek Asylum Service by C.Tsevis.
Family Reunification. Family reunification is part of Dublin Convention III (604/2013), which states in art.
8-11 asylum seekers whose family members live in EU countries are eligible to the family reunification scheme.
According to the official figures of the Greek Asylum Service6 from 2015-31/08-2017, 8,657 approvals by EU
states have been received; 3,944 rejections and 4,170 transfers have been done. For the purpose of the scheme
family members are only considered the members of nuclear family and not the extended family. Also, minor
6
http://asylo.gov.gr/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Greek-Dublin-Unit_gr.pdf [accessed 30/09/2017].
members and not the adult members even if they belong to the nuclear family are accepted to the program. For
instance as mentioned in the Report of Actionaid,
a Syrian woman, 53 years old, reached the island of Lesvos on 1st April 2016, she has two sons in Germany, age 24
and 21 years old, she asked for family reunification but the authorities told her that her sons are too old for that. She
travelled with her niece, who decided to leave Greece illegally, so as to reach Germany7. (2017)
Hence, she could not be reunited with her sons as they are considered adults now and her mother should be left
alone in another country coming out of a war zone and without her wish. Moreover, in terms of time processing
the applications of family reunification, it seems that the state bureaucracy and the mechanisms applied are time
consuming8. Thus, applicants were not properly informed and had to undergo a minimum of seven months to a
year or even more for being transferred safely. It should be noted that
the Special Rapporteur was informed that the Dublin procedure is often lengthy and that it may take 15 to 18 months
for children to be reunited with their family members, due to DNA tests required by the receiving States. This is
unacceptable and the procedure should be shortened9. (UN Human Rights Council, 2017)
This has led to many cases to the choice of illegal transfer as both child and parent could not reside to unsafe
structures or for unaccompanied minors to be exploited or violated. Bonetti’s picture (Figure 5) which is the first
banner situated in the headquarters of the Greek Asylum Service envisions through an affective moment of
father-child, the need to treat and examine applications of family members together by the member states. A
strong affective moment such as this reinforces the unforeseen mistreatment migrant and refugees undergo at this
particular moment. The procedure is lengthy and the adult family members are still part of the family and there
applications should be considered together. Hence, if we consider that the European discourse on solidarity is
based on European values and documents safeguarding human rights, then such an affective investment points
out the lack of solidarity and in fact the lack of a total fullness that initiated within the margins of the family.
7
http://www.actionaid.gr/media/1367115/Relocation_Report_AA_GR_FINAL_spreads.pdf [accessed 06/09/2017].
8
http://www.actionaid.gr/media/1367115/Relocation_Report_AA_GR_FINAL_spreads.pdf [accessed 06/09/2017].
9
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants on His Mission to Greece, 24
April 2017, A/HRC/35/25/Add.2, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/593a8b8e4.html [accessed 30 September 2017].
Relocation Program. Last but not least, the relocation program took place in 2015 and lasted for two
years following the EU Council of Europe Decision 2015/1601 [22/09/2015]. This scheme was initiated based
on the principle of solidarity among EU member states, battling illegal transfer, smugglers, and unsafe
conditions of movement. It aimed to the relocation of 160,000 asylum applicants. It was considered a “safe and
legal way for asylum seekers to be transferred”10 from Greece and Italy to the rest of EU countries. In other
words, if an applicant arrived in Greece or Italy, the relevant authorities in cooperation with the authorities of
the rest of the EU countries were able to relocate the applicant, establishing a safe transfer and the new host
state would process his/her application. While initially only few EU member states participated in the program,
it was entered by further member states during 2016. The program referred to asylum seekers, whose country of
origin had a 75% average recognition rate of international protection within the EU countries.
Bonetti’s picture (Figure 6), which was taken on the very first day of relocation scheme depicts through
the child’s gaze the vision of a safe and legal travel bypassing the obstacles of the illegal route. The child’s eyes
above the plane seat affectively engage the viewer (immigrant/refugee) to a process of identification and to the
promise of fantasy. The route is safe and legal.
Conclusion
The paper aimed to reveal how affective investments trigger and may support the discourse of European
solidarity. Having discussed the theoretical framework of solidarity and emotions we moved to the analysis of
empirical data. Visual manifestations of immigrants and refugees are emotionally invested and reveal a set of
issues referred directly or indirectly to European solidarity such as the migrant’s travel, family reunification,
and the relocation scheme. The fantasy of a European discourse, where all member states share common
principles with regards to solidarity towards migrants and refugees together with the fantasy of a golden
homeland, is presented in the pictures.
Affectively investing the identity of refugee and migrant succeeds in constantly posing the question of
solidarity. Emotions reflect the culture of a particular social group and form ontologically parts of a human
identity. Without emotion humans are empty and the gap between jouissance and fantasy is stressed. This
journey in terms of solidarity can be bridged by cultural empathy.
10
https://www.easo.europa.eu/about-relocation [accessed 12/09/2017].
Looking at both projects, Bonetti’s photos and Tsevis graphic designing, it is clear that the aim is
identification and cultural empathy through affect. Colors, faces, gazes, and postures signify the world of
difference and the discussion between insiders/outsiders. Minors are fragile and different but have rights and
need a brighter future from the one they escaped from. European treaties and documents referring to Child
Protection, family unity, are prolific, but their implementation is not a fact but a question in practice. Children’s
trafficking, smuggling, exploitation, violence, and racism are more of a routine. European solidarity discourse
should tackle these issues. Affect is a vehicle to empathy and, thus, to fantasy.
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doi: 10.17265/2328-2134/2019.04.003
D
DAVID PUBLISHING
Asia-Pacific Powers in Maritime Asia, 1850-1972: A Perspective

from Taiwan
Man-houng Lin
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
This paper will take 1850-1972 as a time frame to depict how maritime Asia had been penetrated or even
dominated by the Asia-Pacific Powers, mainly the US and Japan. The time range starts from 1850 when the US had
extended its territories to reach the Pacific coast. 1972 was the year that the US handed over the administrative right
over Okinawa and Senkaku/ Diaoyutai to Japan while sending the Republic of China in Taiwan a note verbale
foretelling this change, and ensuring that the ROC keeps the underlying claim over Senkaku/ Diaoyutai, under the
circumstance that the US would like to allow the involved parties to settle the sovereignty issue among themselves.
Also in 1972, Japan recognized the PRC on diplomatic front and the US further approached with the PRC after the
PRC had replaced the ROC in 1971 to represent Chinese mainland. The main part of the paper is divided into three
sections. The first section deals with the decline of China relative to other powers such as the United Kingdom and
Japan for maritime Asia in the late 19th century. The second section describes the rise of the Pacific for the world
and the dominance of Japan in maritime Asia in the early 20th century. The third section proceeds to the
replacement of the US for Japan in maritime Asia before 1972. The conclusion summarizes assets that China and
the Asia-Pacific Powers both have for maintaining peace and international order in today’s maritime Asia.
Keywords: sovereignty, Taiwan, Senkaku/Diaoyutai, South China Sea, China-UK-Japan-US historical relations
Introduction
In maritime Asia, there lies the East China Sea and the South China Sea in Western Pacific Ocean. Are
they the territorial seas of China (the People’s Republic of China, PRC)? Meanwhile, the Philippines and
Vietnam respectively call the South China Sea as West Philippine Sea or East Vietnamese Sea (Lee, 2016, p.
1).1 This paper will take 1850-1972 as a time frame to depict how maritime Asia had been penetrated or even
dominated by the Asia-Pacific Powers, mainly the US and Japan. Today, with the outstanding trade surplus
enjoyed by the PRC in international finance, and the preeminence of the military power of the US, an era of
Sino-American condominium or Chinamerica or G-2, which symbolizes a bipolar system in current
international politics, has come into being (Cooper, 2017). While the seesaw is at some balanced position
between China and the Asia-Pacific Powers, understanding the former down slant of the seesaw for the
Asia-Pacific Powers could help the contemporary players on this water to reconcile with historical legacies.
The evidence to depict the last slant is based mainly upon this Taiwan-based author’s previous works on
Man-houng Lin, Ph.D., Research Fellow and Professor, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
1
For the Philippines, see Government of the Republic of the Philippines, “Philippine Paper on ASEAN-China Zone of Peace,
Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZoPFF/C) in the WPS [West Philippine Sea] (SCS [South China Sea])”; for Vietnam, see:
http://vietnamembassy-usa.org/news/2001/03/fm-spokespeson-for-control-over-east-sea, accessed on October 20, 2016.
ASIA-PACIFIC POWERS IN MARITIME ASIA, 1850-1972 163
China’s or Taiwan’s maritime history. Hence, it is merely a perspective from Taiwan.

The time range starts from 1850 because the US had extended its territories to reach the Pacific coast. The
exact year that California was turned into a state of the US is 1848 or 1849 as the state capital was not fixed at
the beginning. 1972 was the year that the US handed over the administrative right over Okinawa and
Senkaku/Diaoyutai to Japan while sending the Republic of China in Taiwan a note verbale foretelling this
change, and ensuring that the ROC keeps the underlying claim over Senkaku/Diaoyutai, under the circumstance
that the US would like to allow the involved parties to settle the sovereignty issue among themselves. Also in
1972, Japan recognized the PRC on diplomatic front and the US further approached with the PRC after the
PRC had replaced the ROC in 1971 to represent Chinese mainland.
The main part of the paper is divided into three sections. The first section deals with the decline of China
relative to other powers such as the United Kingdom (UK) and Japan for Maritime Asia in the late 19th century.
The second section will describe the rise of the Pacific for the world and the dominance of Japan in maritime
Asia in the early 20th century. The third section proceeds to the replacement of the US for Japan in maritime
Asia between 1945 and 1972. The conclusion summarizes some assets that China and the Asia-Pacific Powers
both have for maintaining peace and international order in today’s maritime Asia.
Decline of China Relative to Other Powers in the 19th Century

The start of California was related to the gold rush. This gold rush originated from the global silver
insufficiency which had seriously undermined Qing China’s state capacity (Lin, 2006, pp. 3, 111, ch.3). Qing
China was more trapped by this silver shortage than other countries because its finance and economy was
mainly based upon the silver supply from the other side of the Pacific Ocean-Mexico. China was more
desperate for silver against the backdrop of global silver shortage in the early 19th century, as most of the
Chinese people were paid in copper coins while taxes and many necessary goods had to be paid in silver, which
appreciated relative to copper coins two and a half times in the period of the 1810s to the 1840s. Grudges
between the government and the people and the general deflation gave rise to China’s great civil war in the
period from 1851 to the early 1870s.
While Mexico and other Latin American states were engaging in independence wars against Spain, the
global silver supply decreased substantially as Latin America was the main silver supplier for the world in 19th
century. Even after the independence wars were over in the 1830s, it was not until the 1850s that China and
India, two main silver using countries in Asia, could share the increasing silver supply, which bounded back to
the production level of the 1810s in 1860 and increased all the way in the late 19th century thereafter.
Particularly, when the Euro-American economy needed more gold for setting up gold-standard monetary
system, silver flowed back to China and India. Silver flowing back to China in the late 19th century was much
used by the government to pacify the rebellions.
Unlike China, which used silver as main currency without much domestic supply, Japan had its own stable
silver supply. Between 1550 and 1650, Japan supplied three fourths of silver needed by China and exchanged
much know-how from China. With sufficient domestic silver production, Japan was not hit by the silver crisis
initiated by the Latin American Independence Movement in the early 19th century. While China was occupied
with the Taiping and other rebellions, which killed at least one twentieth of the total population and consumed
about 10 years’ annual government revenue, Japan had set off on the Meiji Restoration.
When Okinawa’s fishermen were killed by aborigines of Southern Taiwan in 1874, Okinawa asked
164 ASIA-PACIFIC POWERS IN MARITIME ASIA, 1850-1972
fruitlessly for help from Qing China. Japan sent navies to punish those aborigines. In 1879, Japan put all of
Okinawa under its jurisdiction. In 1895, Japan took only eight months to defeat Qing China in the first
Sino-Japanese War and Taiwan was ceded to Japan as a result.
Before the Japanese war with China, the UK was the most important foreign power in China. The UK was
China’s most important trading partner since the establishment of the British East India Company in 1776. The
Opium War ignited by silver outflow ended with the Treaty of Nanjing that opened five ports for the foreigners
to trade with China. From the mid-18th century, the British Royal Navy was the world’s most powerful navy
until it was surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The British Royal Navy drew
nautical charts for maritime Asia. The longitude and latitude for the Pescadores to be ceded together with
Taiwan from Qing China to Japan in the Shimonoseki Treaty was based upon the British Royal Navy’s charts
(Record of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1895, archive no. 811167). Also, based upon their charts,
Senkaku/Diaoyutai was on Taiwan side rather than on Japan side (Liu, 2016. p.37). These islands and rocks
were ceded to Japan together with Taiwan in 1895 (Lin, 2015b, p. 73).
The Dominance of Japan in the Early 20th Century

After Japan defeated Qing China in 1895, it won over Russia in 1905 and was one of the winning
countries in the First World War. After 1895, the Japanese government first subsidized the Jilong-Kobe
navigation line. It took one week by passing through Okinawa. At the very beginning, three steamships of
1,000 tons had been used. Later, it was using steamships of 3,000 tons, and then 6,000 tons. The line changed
from Jilong to Moji, which took three days, and it took four days to arrive at Kobe. In December 1908, the
Sakuramaru, which could sail 46 miles per hour, started to be used and thereby it took two days to sail to Japan
(Taiwan Sōtokufu Kōtsūkyoku Teishinbu, 1930, p. 6). In the early 1940s, between Japan proper and Taiwan,
every other day, a 10,000 ton steamship of Japan Post Steamship Company and Osaka Commercial Steamship
Company sailed between Kobe and Jilong (Hisashi, 1943, pp. 53-54). Taiwan-Japan proper’s trade was 16
times of that of Taiwan and China (Lin, 2005, p. 218).
Taiwan-Hong Kong economic relations in the period of 1895-1945 could illustrate the emergence of the
Pacific Powers based upon US and Japan, with Japan’s eclipsing the UK in maritime Asia (Lin, 2010, pp.
1053-1080). Hong Kong was the number one port in East Asia in the 1910s in terms of shipping tonnage. Its
rise in maritime Asia was ushered in by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which reduced by one third the
sailing distance between Europe and Asia. Its passage through the Red Sea stimulated the expansion of the
steamship as the sail boats for the global trade could not sail across this relatively windless sea. Steamships
burned coal at that time, which needed various ports to refuel. Hong Kong was the extreme East port for the
UK to acquire coal for its steamships which led the world in the late 19th century. Hong Kong turned into the
entrepot for goods trading among China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asian colonies, India, and Euro-American
countries. Oolong tea, Taiwan’s most important export for New York, was shipped through Xiamen, Hong
Kong, and London via the Atlantic Ocean in the period of 1868-1895. Taiwan’s camphor, mainly sold to
Germany in the same period, was also sent through Hong Kong and the Atlantic route.
While Taiwan was ruled by Japan in 1895-1945, more and more of Taiwan’s Oolong tea was sent through
the Pacific Ocean to New York. Also, the US replaced Germany as Taiwan camphor’s chief market. Instead of
going through Hong Kong, Taiwan’s products were sold to the US through Kobe. In the 1930s, in terms of ship
tonnage, Kobe ranked next to New York, London, and turned into the number three port in the world. Number
four was Rotterdam and number five was Osaka. Hong Kong was number seven. With the outbreak of the First
World War in Europe and the opening of Panama Canal in 1914, the US, the UK, and Japan developed Pacific
steamship lines to bridge Asia and America. The width of the Pacific is about twice that of the Atlantic. It was
not until this steamship-led shrinkage of sailing distance that the Pacific turned to be more important relative to
the Atlantic for the global trade.
Taiwan-Hong Kong trade was shared by Taiwan-Japan trade or trade between Taiwan and
Japan-influenced areas in Asia while Japan ruled over Taiwan. For Taiwan-Hong Kong’s remaining trade in
this period, Japan’s Osaka Shipping Company replaced the British Douglas Shipping Company. Japan’s Mitsui
Company replaced British Jardine & Matheson Company as the leading trading company (Lin, 2010, pp.
1053-1080).
Taiwan-Manchuria trade could illustrate Japan’s maritime dominance over China in the period of
1931-1945 (Lin, 2007, pp. 137-159). This trade turned ahead of trade between Taiwan and southern China and
was Taiwan’s most important international trade. The steamships for this trade increased from 3,000 tons to
5,000-15,000 tons. The days to sail in between were reduced from 4 days to 2 days. The total freight between
Dalian and Jilong was only next to Dalian and Tokyo and was higher than that of Dalian and other East Asian
ports. The price of coal of the same weight and quality from Fushun to Takao (Gaoxiong) through steamship
was only one fourth of that of coal from Jilong to Takao through Taiwan’s domestic railroad. The tea trade
network between Dalian and Taiwan replaced that between Niuzhuang and Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Hunan
(Lin, 2011, pp. 51-65).
In the Taiwan green tea trading network, it can also see the replacement of the Southeast Asian merchants
who adopted Japanese nationality and the Taiwanese merchants who directly had Japanese nationality for the
Chinese merchants at Fujian without Japanese nationality. In this seaborne province in Southern China, for the
purpose of not being molested by the local government or local bullies and of protecting property and person,
powerful people were trying to get foreign nationality so that the foreign consuls at the treaty ports could render
protection. Even a university principal would hang the plate of foreign nationality above the main gate of his
house as Qing China’s degree holders did for the plate of the degrees they obtained. Japanese nationality was
the most favorite nationality (Lin, 2001, pp. 994-995, 1002).
After taking Okinawa and Taiwan, Japan’s territorial expansion in modern times switched to a northern
advance approach so as to curb the threat from Russia. Since the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, Japan took
Korea in 1910, Manchuria in 1931, and littoral China from 1937-1938 subsequently. For Southeast Asia, as
they were ruled by Euro-American countries, Japan merely developed economic ties with them. Steamship
lines were extended from Japan proper to Taiwan to connect with Southeast Asian countries by 1928. The Bank
of Taiwan set up branches in this area to engage in various economic investigations (Lin, 2019, forthcoming). It
was not until 1939 that Japan’s invasion of China entailed more international boycott at the same time that
Hitler occupied almost all Europe within the two years after 1939. This made the European rulers in Southeast
Asia withdraw to Europe to some extent and Japan therefore took islands and rocks around the South China Sea
to prepare for its occupation of the various Southeast Asian colonies between 1940 and 1945 to get resources
for war.
The islands and rocks in the South China Sea could help warplanes and warships to refuel or acquire other
needed supplies. It could also build weather stations, light houses, or engage in hydrographical surveys for
planes or ships. After taking Southeast Asia, especially when its military control was firmer between 1940 and
1943, Japan had dominant control over maritime Asia (Lin, 2017, p. 31; Lin, 2018, p. 12).
The Replacement of the US for Japan, 1945-1972

After the US territory reached the Pacific coast in 1850, Admiral Perry opened Japan in 1853 and some
US officials suggested in 1854 to purchase Taiwan. This plan was foiled with the outbreak of the US civil war
in 1860. Before 1860, while the Treaty of Tianjin was signed in 1858, it is the US that urged the inclusion of
the port in Northern Taiwan, Tamsui, and the port in Southern Taiwan, Takao (Gaoxiong) to be opened for
international trade. This urge made Taiwan’s trading partner change from Chinese mainland for the years
between 1683 and 1860 to the whole world between 1860 and 1895. After the US civil war ended in 1865, the
US exerted great efforts for domestic recovery and reconstruction. When it returned to pay more attention to
maritime Asia, Japan had already arisen due to the Meiji Restoration. These two Asia-Pacific Powers allied to
keep the balance of power with European countries in China. Instead of purchasing Taiwan itself, the US
helped Japan in the cession of Taiwan during making the Treaty of Shimonoseki. On the other hand, it helped
China to cut the reparations by one thirds, and united with the European powers to retain the Liaodong
Peninsular to prevent China from being conquered by Japan, and to keep European privileges in China. Around
the same time, the US took Hawaii and the Philippines in 1898 (Lin, 1997, pp.1, 7, ch.2; Lin, 2015a, pp.
116-117).
Before the Great Depression started from the Wall Street in 1929, the US and Japan had closed economic
relations. Taking Manchuria in 1931 and expanding the maritime powers in the East China Sea afterwards was
Japan’s strategy to tackle with the Great Depression (Lin, 2007, pp. 137-159). Even after the Mukden Incident,
US-Japan diplomatic and economic relations were maintained until the Pearl Harbor Incident (Lin, 2015c, pp.
502-503).
After the end of the Pacific War, because of Russia’s support of Chinese communism, Japan soon turned
from an American enemy into a friend from 1947 onward. The peace treaty to end the war with Japan was
delayed because of conflicts between Russia and the US, but the treaty negotiation was promoted by the US
and the UK after the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-1953). To prevent Japan from repeating military
invasion as Germany did after the end of the First World War, Japan was disarmed and its national defense was
assured by the US, mainly based on the Mutual Security Treaty signed concurrently with the San Francisco
Peace Treaty (SFPT) in 1952 in which Japan regained its national sovereignty.
The newly independent South Korea in 1953, the Philippines in 1951, and the ROC in Taiwan in
1954-1979 (followed by Taiwan Relations Act in 1979), all had mutual defense relations with the US. Australia
in 1951 and New Zealand in 1951-1986 had similar arrangements (Gibler, 2009). The US 7th fleet based at
Yokosuka at Tokyo Bay constitutes a kind of Great Wall on Maritime Asia to contain the Communist powers.
The 7th fleet was sent to the Taiwan Strait just two days after the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950.
During the Korean War, the 7th fleet had to be responsible for the Korea War while Japan cooperated with the
US troops drawn to Korea. As observed in September 1951 by Karl L. Rankin, US Chargéd’Affaires at the
ROC, the Communist could invade Taiwan in months (Lin, 2017, p. 27). The loss of Taiwan would threaten the
security of Okinawa-Japan as well as the Philippines. With this background, the US desperately needed the
political and military capacities of Chiang Kai-shek to retain Taiwan.
To sign the peace treaty between Japan and the ROC (the Taipei Peace Treaty, TPT) was US Senate’s
requirement to pass the SFPT. In Article 2 of TPT, Japan agreed to renounce Taiwan, Pescadores, the Spratly
and Paracel Islands, which were picked from the territories that Japan has renounced in Article 2 of Chapter 2
of SFPT. According to the reply of Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Japanese Diet, to renounce these
items in a treaty signed with ROC did not involve the US. For Japan, to transfer Taiwan and Pescadores that
they took through the Shimonoseki Treaty was one of their basic purposes to sign this treaty. Spratly was part
of Japanese-ruled Taiwan in 1939-1945. Paracel was subordinated to Wang Jingwei’s ROC in 1940-1945, and
was received by the ROC which came back to Nanjing from Chongqing. ROC’s fleet, consisted of warships left
by the US after the war and new warships sent over by the US, received the Paracel and Spratly Islands in 1946.
In the TPT, all right, title, and claim were renounced by Japan to the ROC in Taiwan upon the request of the
ROC vice representative during the TPT negotiation.
These arrangements were related with the ROC’s victory over Japan. The Potsdam Declaration that Japan
accepted in its surrender asks for the observation of Item 8 of the Cairo Declaration which requires Japan to
return Taiwan and Pescadores. The renunciation of the Spratly and the Paracel Islands by Japan in its treaty
with ROC in Taiwan was related to Taiwan’s role in Japan’s southern advance in the Pacific War. The navies
and air forces to take the South China Sea were sent from Taiwan, and it was the Government-General of
Taiwan that established lighthouse, airports, wharves, weather stations, and others in these two island groups;
even the Paracel Islands was subordinated to the Japan-supported ROC. The Spratly and the Paracel constitute
the main part of the South China Sea.
TPT is the only treaty so far which defines sovereignty for the South China Sea. This treaty was registered
as No. 1858 of the UN treaties of 1952. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties stipulates that the law
arrangement will not be changed by the termination of diplomatic relations. The severance of diplomatic tie
between the ROC and Japan in 1972 is one of the cases. The joint communiquébetween Japan and the PRC
simply expresses Japan’s understanding of the PRC’s One-China Policy, but Japan also insists on her
obligation to observe the Potsdam Declaration. The One-China Policy could not negate the historical reality
that Taiwan had been transfered from Japan to the ROC based upon the Potsdam Declaration and the TPT. The
spirit of the PRC-Japan communiquéwas reemphasized in the People’s Republic of China and Japan Treaty of
Friendship and Peace of 1978 (Lin, 2018, pp. 15, 17, 19).
In 1952, when the US led the signing of the SFPT, she already claimed that Japan retained residual
sovereignty of Okinawa as the US declined to take up such a heavy responsibility for ruling these islands far
away from the American mainland. Okinawa is not included in Article 2 of the SFPT for territories on which
Japan renounced all right, title, and claim. Instead, based upon Article 3 of this treaty, the US took the
administrative rights of Southwestern archipelago from Japan. Senkaku/Diaoyutai was within this islands group.
The rapid economic growth of Japan enabled the US to release somewhat her responsibility over Okinawa.
Returning it to Japan also eased Japan’s concern with US’s more intimate approach with the PRC to check
Russia.
While the US was preparing to hand Okinawa back to Japan, it was found that Senkaku/Diaoyutai’s
seabed was rich in petroleum. Japan and the ROC started to fight for sovereignty over Senkaku/Diaoyutai. The
PRC welcomed the US return of Okinawa to Japan so as to kick the US away from Asia. Yet, the PRC
followed the ROC to contest Senkaku/Diaoyutai. The ROC argued that Senkaku/Diaoyutai was not part of
Okinawa before the Shimonoseki Treaty. The Koga family that rented some of these island-rocks left life
records expressing that Japan took Senkaku/Diaoyutai after the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.
Up to now, Japan claimed that these island-rocks (five small islands and three rocks) were terre nulles
(lands without owner). Since Japan’s cabinet decided to include these island-rocks into Okinawa on January 14,
1895, there was no international protest for more than 50 years; these island-rocks seemingly belong to Japan.
The problem arises from the secret nature of this cabinet decision; there was no basis to protest by the
international communities before the Shimonoseki Treaty which came into force on May 8, 1895. With the
Shimonoseki Treaty, Japan gained sovereignty over these island-rocks to exercise full power to subordinate it
under Okinawa. More importantly, Japan’s governmental archives reveal that it is because of the victory of the
First Sino-Japanese War that Japan made the decision to include these island-rocks. International law requires
all territories changes as a result of war to be settled in the peace treaty that ends the war. The Shimonoseki
Treaty was the treaty to have ended the First Sino-Japanese War.
In the TPT to end the war between the ROC and Japan, which was signed as a sequel to the SFPT, Japan
renounced all right, title, and claim over Taiwan. Senkaku/Diaoyutai should have gone with Taiwan to the ROC
in Taiwan in the TPT. Yet, the SFPT has already had their administrative right given to the US according to
Article 3 of this treaty. In 1972, when the US decided to forward this administrative right to Japan, the ROC
requested the US to separate the Senkaku/Diaoyutai from Okinawa and return them to the ROC. The US finally
issued a note verbale to the ROC in Taiwan about Senkaku/Diaoyutai, saying: 1) the US would expect the
involved parties to settle this sovereignty issue; 2) the ROC maintains the underlying claim for the islands; 3)
What the US forwarded to Japan was merely the administrative right over both Okinawa and
Senkaku/Diaoyutai which the US obtained together in 1952. Based upon the US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty,
any place under Japan’s administrative control would be under the protection of this treaty. This note verbale
was issued against the background to keep the angry Taiwan-ROC people in the Protect Diaoyutai Campaign
not resorting to the PRC for help; thereby the alliance of US-Japan-ROC (Taiwan) would not be undermined
(Lin, 2015b, pp. 57-81).
Conclusion
Tensions in both the East China Sea and the South China Sea escalated since 2012, with more an eye for
an eye confrontation of warships or air fighters between the US and the PRC, between Vietnam or the
Philippines and the PRC in the South China Sea, or between Japan and the PRC in the East China Sea. Military
exercises were repeated by US-Japan-Korea-Australia side or the PRC side. The PRC aircraft carrier started to
circulate around Taiwan. Clarification of sovereignty issue turns critical for easing these intensified tensions in
maritime Asia, which channels goods and promotes well-being for this region and the world. The United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international law often referred to for tackling
these conflicts. The point is that the UNCLOS is not a law to define sovereignty. It is an international law to
regulate the rules for sea off the territorial border. The most recent Hague Arbitration of July 12, 2016 negates
the legal efficacy of the nine dash lines that the PRC uses to claim sovereignty over the South China Sea,
without saying which country has the sovereignty over the Spratly. The root of conflict between the PRC and
the Philippines is the Spratly, and the Philippines asked for arbitration. When US aircraft flies into the 12
nautical miles area of some South China Sea islands controlled by the PRC, the attribution of sovereignty
would be crucial to judge whether the US invades China’s territory.
Other than the PRC, the ROC, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia all claim some islands and rocks in
the South China Sea. This competition arose at the same time as the Senkaku/Diaoyutai issue. Both issues
could be traced back to the competition for oil starting from the late 1960s and the potential of these two sea
areas for its reservation. Other than the ROC, the effective control of these countries over the islands and rocks
is similar to the kind of Japan’s administrative right over Senkaku/Diaoyutai. The difference is that Japan has a
treaty basis while these countries for the South China Sea do not have.
Could the PRC share the sovereignty together with the ROC? The TPT was signed by the ROC that
moved to Taiwan. It is the request of Japan and allied countries that even this ROC was the ROC to have led
the war against Japan and to represent all China to end the war with Japan, the treaty could only be executed in
the area under ROC’s effective control at present or in the future. Japan’s ending of war with China, which was
defined by TPT, was recognized by the 1978 Treaty of Friendship and Peace between Japan and the PRC. Even
though the PRC did not recognize the SFPT and TPT from the very beginning, the PRC’s sitting together with
Japan in the UN or having diplomatic ties with Japan is based upon the SFPT which has restored sovereignty
for Japan.
Neither the PRC nor the ROC was invited to attend the SFPT negotiation. The ROC signed the TPT based
upon Articles 2, 4, 26 of the SFPT. Chinese people’s sacrifice in the war against Japan was compensated by the
PRC’s replacing the ROC in 1971 as the permanent member of the UN Security Council. The PRC’s position
in the UN allows her to set the rules of game for the international society, such as influencing the change from
three nautical miles to 12 nautical miles for the territorial sea in the UNCLOS. The PRC also gave up the claim
to Japan’s war reparations in 1972 so as to exchange for Japan’s severance of diplomatic ties with the ROC in
Taiwan. The ROC’s war against Japan, particularly with a victory which was in sharp contrast to the Qing
failure in eight months time in the first Sino-Japanese War, helped the rise of the PRC nowadays. Article 1 of
the UN Charter expects the settlement of controversies by means of international laws. Admitting TPT will not
rule out the possibility for the unification between the ROC and the PRC, as illustrated by the precedent of the
two Germanys. The two Koreas have made some conciliatory moves for change recently. There is a hope that
the rising PRC could also make positive moves to face the reality made by both Chinese and global modern
history (Lin, 2015c, pp. 502-522; Lin, 2017, pp. 13-17, 24-30; Lin, 2018, pp. 14-17).
Japan would not admit that it does not have sovereignty over Senkaku/Diaoyutai. However, when Japan
insists on its claim for its sovereignty based upon the January 14 Cabinet’s confidential decision, it is based
upon a wartime decision. The Cairo Declaration, which limits Japan’s territories to her four islands in the
homeland and small islands settled by the Allies’ united decision, is also a wartime decision. As the 1972 return
of Okinawa to Japan was mainly made by the US rather than the Allies’ united decision, if the Cairo
Declaration is referred to in the same way as the January 14 Cabinet’s decision, Japan could no longer own
Okinawa. Japan’s homeland would not be within 200 nautical miles to claim for the Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) right over Senkaku/Diaoyutai. It is because of the superiority of peace treaty that ends the war over the
wartime decision and SFPT’s not asking Japan to renounce all right, title, and claim over Okinawa that
Okinawa could be returned by the US to Japan in 1972 the administrative right stipulated in Article 3 of SFPT.
With the sovereignty over Okinawa, Japan could claim Senkaku/Diaoyutai’s EEZ right in addition to the
administrative right. The PRC, which changed the nautical miles for EEZ from ambiguity to 200 nautical miles
based upon the UNCLOS ratified in 1994, also could claim for the EEZ right around Senkaku/Diaoyutai. The
ROC in Taiwan owns sovereignty and the 200 nautical miles EEZ right by international treaties. These would
enable the cooperative development among the three parties for the Senkaku/Diaoyutai area.
For the South China Sea area, based upon the use by Japan in this area during the Second World War
period, other than fishing, the Spratly and the Paracel written in Article 2 of the TPT should mainly consist of
land features including islands, rocks, and sandbanks. The submarines resources, other than the 200 nautical
mile EEZ area around Itu Aba (Taiping Island) where the ROC has sovereignty, should be high seas shared by
international communities. With the South China Sea area remains open, countries bordering the South China
Sea could claim their 200 nautical mile EEZ with respect to the neighboring EEZs, and all countries could have
free navigation across this sea.
The past and present for the ROC in TPT is very clear. It was the ROC which led the Chinese war against
Japan in the past to have ended this war. It was the ROC in the past that had state succession for the previous
treaties to abolish all of them. It was the ROC at its territories under effective control to receive the territories
forwarded from Japan or settled with Japan in the TPT. But, the Cold War arrangement for the representation of
the ROC in Taiwan for the whole China in the UN between 1949 and 1971 overshadowed the TPT which was
to be implemented by the ROC at its territories under effective control. The TPT is therefore neglected both in
and out of Taiwan. Yet, it is a domestic law in both the ROC and Japan and an international law registered at
the UN (Lin, 2015a, pp. 128-135). Going back to this treaty could help build a more peaceful maritime Asia.
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doi: 10.17265/2328-2134/2019.04.004
D
DAVID PUBLISHING
Cultural Heritage in Vietnam With the Requirements of

Sustainable Development
Từ Thị Loan
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ha Noi, Vietnam
In the process of development, especially in the context of modernization and globalization, cultural heritage in
Vietnam is facing many challenges and difficulties in resolving relationships between conservation and
development, safeguarding and exploitation, economic and cultural goals, the roles of the government and the
community, political and cultural factors. By studying the cases of some elements that UNESCO has inscribed on
the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and List of the World Heritage Sites in
Vietnam (including Vietnamese Court Music, Xoan Singing of Phu Tho province, Worship of Hung Kings in Phu
Tho, the Cultural Space of the Gongs in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, Ha Long Bay, Trang An Landscape
Complex and Complex of Hue Monuments), this paper aims to analyze the specific issues in the above
relationships in order to clarify the challenges that the heritage is facing in compliance with the UNESCO’s
Conventions on the safeguarding of cultural heritage as well as towards the sustainable development.
Keywords: Cultural heritage, Vietnam, conservation, safeguarding, sustainable development
Introduction
With a thousand-year history, Vietnam has a rich treasure of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. This
treasure is a valuable resource for generations to inherit, preserve, and exploit for socio-economic and cultural
development.
During past years, the safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage in Vietnam has achieved great
results, contributing to producing attractive tourism products and as a results, contributing to the national
budget. However, in the context of the current strong industrialization and modernization, the task of
safeguarding is facing with many challenges regarding dealing with relationships between safeguarding and
development, safeguarding and exploitation, economic objectives and cultural objectives, the role of the State
and the community, especially when they have to face requirements of sustainable development.
This paper provides more insights into specific contents of the above-mentioned issues, and through that
identifying challenges to the safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage to meet requirements of
sustainable development. The cultural heritage treasure of Vietnam is spread across the entire territory. Within
the framework of this paper, the author will limit to the heritages which have been inscribed by UNESCO and
some other representative cultural heritage.
Từ Thị Loan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism,
Ha Noi, Vietnam.
CULTURAL HERITAGE IN VIETNAM WITH THE REQUIREMENTS 173
Vietnamese Government’s Policy to Cultural Heritage

Though there have been different periods in history, the Vietnamese Government has always followed a
consistent policy in cultural heritage safeguarding. In 1945, right after the country gained independence from
the French colony, in the difficult context of the country, President Ho Chi Minh signed Act 65/SL “Assigning
tasks for the Institute of Oriental Studies (Phương Đông Bác cổ học viện)” to safeguard all the “antiques” in the
entire territory of Vietnam. The concept “antique” is equivalent to the current concept of “cultural heritage”. The
Act writes: “It is strictly prohibited to destroy temples, communal houses or other worship venues, palaces and
tombs, stelas, objects, conferment, documents and texts, books which bear religious characteristics or not, useful
to the history but have not been safeguarded yet”1.
Going through two wars against the French colony and American troupes with a lot of damage for the
cultural heritage, right after the country gained independence, Vietnam actively joined international
organizations focusing on the safeguarding of cultural heritage. In 1976, Vietnam officially joined UNESCO
and seriously observed the conventions in protecting heritage, namely, Convention on the Protection of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage (2003), Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (1975).
The UNESCO Conventions contribute to both awareness and the action of the Government of Vietnam,
promoting the development and improvement of the system of legal documents and policies on culture. In 2001,
the National Assembly of Vietnam promulgated the Law on Cultural Heritage and this law was amended in
2009. Subsequently, the system of legal documents have been improved and finalized such as the
Government’s Resolutions Guidelines in the Implementation of Certain Papers in the Law on Cultural Heritage
and the Amended Law, Some Additions to the Law on Cultural Heritage (2010); Guidelines on the Authority,
Steps, and Procedure in the Development and Approval of Projects in Safeguarding and Restoration of
Historical-Cultural Heritage and Attractions (2012); Guidelines in Granting the Title of “National Artisan”,
“Excellent Artisan” in the Field of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2014); Guidelines in the Safeguarding and
Managment of Cultural and World Natural Heritage in Vietnam (2017); Circular by the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism Detailed Regulations on the Safeguarding and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, etc. In
general, the policy and legal document system has been added and revised so that it meets requirements of the
reality of the diverse and ever changing cultural life.
Thanks to all this, the safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage has achieved certain results. By the
end of 2017, Vietnam has 26 cultural heritage inscribed by UNESCO, 3,447 national heritage; 95 special
national heritage; 142 national treasures; 228 intangible cultural heritage inscribed to the list of national
intangible cultural heritage. The system of museums has been expanded to 159 museums, including 125 public
museums, 34 private museums, where there are over three millions documents and antique objects2. Many
historical-cultural heritage and attractions have been restored by the State’s budget or from the budget
mobilized from other social sources. The work of research and promotion of intangible cultural heritage of 54
ethnic groups of Vietnam has been receiving much attention. The process of safeguarding and promotion of
cultural heritage has always been closely associated with honoring folk artisans. Many museums, including
1
Chủ tịch Hồ ChíMinh với bảo tồn di sản văn hóa dân tộc [Ho Chi Minh and the safeguarding of national cultural heritage],
The State Archieve Office, http://www.archives.gov.vn.
2
Report on the work of culture, sports and tourism in 2017 by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the document
14/BC-BVHTTDL dated 18 January 2018 to the Prime Minister.
174 CULTURAL HERITAGE IN VIETNAM WITH THE REQUIREMENTS
public and private, have been trying to change the way they are working, aiming at more audience-oriented
approach and have met requirements of the society.
Some Theoretical Viewpoints in Safeguarding and Promotion of Cultural Values and

Currently, there are different viewpoints in the safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage and in
the academic circle; these viewpoints have caused hot academic debate. G. J. Ashworth, a British scholar,
sums up the views of heritage preservation in many countries around the world and divides it into three groups,
corresponding to three models of safeguarding: (1) intact safeguarding; (2) inheritance-based safeguarding,
and (3) safeguarding and development (Ashworth, 1997; Bùi, 2009, pp. 37-38).
The Viewpoint of Intact Safeguarding
In this viewpoint, cultural heritage should be preserved as it is to avoid the distorture of the heritage
by the present generation. Each heritage contains in its certain socio-cultural values that might not be
understood by the present generation so that they can promote those values in a right way. Moreover,
influence of the present will create new cultural layers which do not overlap with the cultural layer handed
over by the previous generation. Therefore, if they change those cultural values, it might be impossible for
coming generations to trace back to authentic values of the existing heritage. This viewpoint developed
since 1950s in the world and was prevalent for a long time, playing almost a dominant role in managing
heritage in many countries in the world (Bùi, 2009, p. 38).
In Vietnam, the viewpoint of intact safeguarding has been supported by many scholars, especially those
working in museology and in the field of tangible cultural heritage. Tô Ngọc Thanh believes: “If today we
preserve objects/things that are not authentic and the generations tomorrow will base on or refer to that, that
will be a disaster”3. Tô Vũ confirms: “Talking about safeguarding, we need to think of safeguarding in the
whole and intact the object to be preserved” (Tô, 2002, p. 242). Đinh Gia Khánh, while pointing out viewpoints
of certain researchers criticizing the mixing of traditional and modern elements, requires removing that rough
mixture (Đinh & Lê, 1993, p. 28).
Those who keep that viewpoint believe that it is important to keep the status intact so that when it is
possible, next generations will deal with that, interpret and find ways to inherit and promote the heritage in the
best way. In that sense, there is no concept of “modification”, “enhancement”, or “development”. The main
requirements of this viewpoint are “Preserving all that can be preserved, the source of the heritage is immutable,
the authenticity of the heritage is the ultimate determinant of its value”.
However, there is the fact that heritage, especially intangible cultural heritage exists and develops in the
course of history, and it is inevitable that there are new elements, movements, and changes so that the heritage
fits into the life. And it will come the time that it is very difficult to say which are the original elements and
which are the elements derived from the development process. Therefore, it is an inadequate aspect of this
viewpoint.
Inheritance-Based Safeguarding Viewpoint
This view states that each heritage can only perform its historical tasks at a certain time and space, so the
social and cultural values of the heritage that are appropriate to the current society should be promoted and
3
Interview with Professor, Doctor TôNgọc Thanh, Chairman of Folklore Association.
those values which are not appropriate should be removed (Bùi, 2010, p. 34). Safeguarding on the basis of
inheritance is not an attempt to retract the original, maintain it intact, rather it is the safeguarding with both
inheriting the traditional and at the same time adding the new elements, making the heritage be adapted into the
new context.
This viewpoint seems to be prevailant in the academic circle regarding the safeguarding and promotion of
cultural heritage. This also fits into the movement and development of cultures in general and cultural
phenomena in particular. For example, the modern form of chèo singing nowadays is the safeguarding on the
basis of inheriting the ancient chèo singing—retaining the essence of chèo performance in the communal house
yard of Vietnamese villages and combining it with new chèo sing elements, turning it to a new arts
performance form which can develop in the modern society. In principle, culture can only exist and develop on
the basis of preserving cultural achievements from the past and continue to develop in the next context which is
both modern and still bearing traditional elements (Từ, 2013a, p. 42).
However, in the practice, this viewpoint also faces a lot of challenges in identifying which are elements
with values which should be inherited and promoted and which are inadequate elements to be removed. The
inclusion of new elements in an improper way has led to the distortion and deformation of the heritage, causing
the disagreement of the academic circle and society in general. Besides, there is also the risk that the next
generations might remove/eliminate true cultural values that they cannot understand yet.
The Viewpoint of Safeguarding and Development
Those who hold this viewpoint do not care about how to preserve the heritage intact, which elements
should be inherited from the past. Rather they focus on how for the heritage to live and promote its values in
the context of the contemporary society.
If the traditional viewpoints believe that the authenticity of the heritage is the essence of the heritage and it
is important to inherit that authenticity, the viewpoint of safeguarding and development underlooks the role of
authenticity. It is believed that authenticity is not an objective value, rather it is measured with experience. With
this approach, a heritage can be turned into an event or a tourism product which can serve different purposes
and functions in which the authenticity has just a relative meaning (Bùi, 2010, p. 27).
Following this viewpoint, in preserving cultural heritage there is no objective is which can be considered
as the only, the ultimate, the right way in all cases. Cultural heritage has a multiple meaning, multiple objective
and is not stable with time. Therefore, its safeguarding does not necessarily totally depend on the data from the
past. Instead, there can be creativity, addition, even inclusion of modern cultural elements to enhance its
attractiveness, or change the heritage into a product with economic value which can contribute to the national
budget (Bùi, 2010, p. 28).
This is the way in safeguarding in development that cultural activities nowadays, regarding intangible
cultural heritage, are following and applying, namely, this is the organization of traditional festivals as a
cultural-tourist event, modernization of traditional performances, bringing spiritual rituals such as spirit
possession in the Mother Goddesses worship onto the stage, organization of cultural festivals with the
integration of traditional and modern elements, etc. The strength of this model is that it enhances attractiveness
to the audience, increases the liveliness and diversity of the heritage, creating a new vitality to the heritage.
However, the weak side of this approach is the commercialization of the heritage, or even the heritage is
vulgarized as it is now happening with the gongs performance of the Highlands, Hue royal nhã nhạc music,
Xoan singing for tourists or the performance of Ca Trù and Quan họ singing for tourists in restaurants and
hotels, etc.
From the three above models or viewpoints in safeguarding, we can see that each model has its advantages
and disadvantages. The author believes that there is no one-fit-all model which can be applied to all cases. On
the contrary, the models and theories should be applied flexibly and in a creative way depending on the specific
features and values of each heritage.
The author believes that in general there are two main approaches to two types of cultural heritage:
tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
 Tangible cultural heritage: Despite being defined by UNESCO as “Architectural works, sculptures and
paintings, archeological elements or structures, inscriptions, cave dwellings ...”, “Individual or group
construction works, archaeological relics” (UNESCO, 2012, p. 10) or defined by the Vietnam Law in Cultural
Heritage as “material products which have historical, cultural and scientific values including historical-cultural
heritage, attractions, ancient objects and national treasures” (The National Assembly Office, 2013), the
“originality”, and “authenticity” should always be enhanced. In this case, the viewpoint of intact safeguarding
is dominant. It is impossible to act on behalf of “inheritance-based safeguarding” or “safeguarding and
development” to renew the objects or distort the heritage sites. Such behavior is the destruction of heritage.
This is also in lines with the spirit of international conventions such as Athens Charter for the
Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage (1931), Venice Charter for Safeguarding and Restoration of Monuments
(1964), Bura Charter (1979), Nara Document (1994), Guiding Principles of Education and Training on the
Safeguarding of Monuments, Clusters and Sites of ICOMOS (1993), Convention on the Safeguarding of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972) by UNESCO, ect.
 Regarding intangible cultural heritage, with the meaning “customs, expression forms, knowledge, skills
and together with this tools, objects and artifacts and associated cultural space” (as defined by UNESCO)
(Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, 2009, p. 330) or “spiritual products associated with the
community or individuals, objects and associated cultural space, having historical, cultural, and scientific
values, bearing the community identify, continuously being recreated and handed over from generation to
generation orally, formally, through performance and other forms” (as defined by the Vietnam Law in Cultural
Heritage) (The National Assembly Office, 2013), it is very difficult to apply the viewpoint of intact
safeguarding. Different to tangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage is always moving and
changing over the time and in the life of community to adapt to the natural and social environment.
Therefore, they do not remain unchanged as tangible cultural heritage.
The UNESCO convention also emphasizes “Intangible cultural heritage is handed over from generation to
generation, continuously being recreated and modified by the community to adapt to the environment and the
interrelationship between the community and its history” (Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, 2009,
p. 330). As such, regarding intangible cultural heritage, the creation and inclusion of new elements
“continuously being recreated to adapt” is inevitable. In the process of safeguarding of this heritage, the
application of the viewpoint inheritance-based safeguarding or even safeguarding and development (to the
certain extent) is acceptable. Only then those heritages can survive in this modern society.
The term “sustainable development” first appeared in 1980 in the works Strategies for the World
Safeguarding published by International Union for Conservation of Nature-IUCN with the following content:
“The development of humanity can not only focus on economic development, but also on the social needs and
the impact on the ecological environment”. This concept was widely disseminated in 1987 thanks to the
Brundtland Report (also called Our Common Future) by the World Committee of Environment and
Development-WCED (nowadays called Brundtland Committee). According to the definition “sustainable
development” is understood as “Development meeting the needs of the present without compromising the
ability to meet the needs of future generations ...” (Trương, 2017, p. 56). The content of the concept of
sustainable development includes ensuring effective economic development, social equality and environment
safeguarding. To achieve this, all the socio-economic components and social organizations should cooperate
with each other.
In the last years of the 20th century, in the context that many countries considered economic growth to be
the focus, used energy-consuming technological foundation, over abused natural resources, polluted the
environment and tried to avoid their responsibility towards future generations, UNESCO put forward the
viewpoint of sustainable development in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) in 1992, in “The Global Agenda for 21st century” (shortly referred to as the 21 Agenda). According
to this, the three pillars of sustainable development were identified as, first, sustainable development in terms of
economy, or sustainable economic development, which means the development is fast but also secure and with
high quality; second, socio-cultural sustainable development which ensures the social equality and human
development; third, ecological-environment sustainable development: appropriate exploitation and use of
natural resources, environment safeguarding, and improvement of the quality of the living environment.
So far there have been more than 60 definitions of sustainable development and thus there are different
understandings of this concept (Trương, 2017, p. 57). Many believe that sustainable development should be
built on the four main pillars which are economy, society, environment, and culture. Some believe that culture
is not just a component or pillar of sustainable development, or an aspect which should be taken into
consideration during the development process. Rather, culture should be considered as the foundation of
sustainable development, because culture is everything that humanity creates during their process of existance
and development (Vũ, 2017, p. 2). By nature, it can be said that culture dominates and determines the three
above pillars.
From general viewpoints of sustainable development, some Vietnamese researchers have tried to shed
light on its specific contents associated with different aspects in the social life such as in the field of economy
(Trần N. N, 2007; Vũ V. H, 2014; Phạm T. T. B, 2016), culture (Nguyễn T. C, 2017; Nguyễn Q. H, 2017),
tourism (Phạm T. L, 2002; Từ T. L, 2017), heritage (Đặng V. B, 2017; Phan T. H, 2017; Nguyễn T. H, 2017),
etc. Regarding the safeguarding and promotion of the values of cultural heritage associated with sustainable
development, the main contents include:
 Economy: Ensuring the long-term economic activities, providing socio-economic benefits to all the
beneficiaries in an equal way, including all professions and opportunities, social services to all local
communities.
 Society and culture: Respecting the social and cultural authenticity of the local communities, preserving
the cultural values and traditional values which have been developed and exist, contributing to the intercultural
understanding and sharing.
 Environment: Using best natural resources which play the key role in socio-economic development,
sustaining the key ecological processes, helping to sustain the natural heritage and biodiversity (Từ, 2017, p.
131).
To sum up, sustainable development requires that during the process of safeguarding, promotion and
exploitation of cultural heritage, besides focusing on achieving economic objectives, it is necessary to pay
proper attention to safeguarding of the local culture, ensuring social equity and the environment safeguarding.
The Situation of Safeguarding and Promotion of Cultural Heritage Values in Vietnam at

the Present
The Title of Heritage and Changes in the Fate of Heritage
The recognition of titles for heritage, especially the inscription by UNESCO as the world heritage,
intangible cultural heritage of humanity is a turning point which has changed the fate of many heritages.
Most heritage after the recognition of inscription have become the pride of the local community, have
received more attention by the local authority and the media, and have received investment opportunities by
enterprises, etc. The recognition and inscription also contributes to introduce the heritage to foreign tourists,
creating opportunity for tourism development, thus opportunity for the local budget increase. The economic
benefit, in its turn, has become the catalyst for people to actively protect the heritage, preserving and recreating
cultural and traditional practices and values.
From the perspective of the Government, after the recognition of the heritage, the central and local
authority has specific policies and support programs and mechanism to preserve and promote those heritages.
Namely, restoration, inventory, and collection of heritage have received proper attention; the promotion and
dissemination of the heritage is carried out. The State also creates opportunity for general schools and arts
schools and colleges to teach about heritage.
From the community, the recognition of the heritage is a spiritual push, arousing in them the pride of
cultural tradition of their homeland, thus motivating them to work together in safeguarding and promotion of
the heritage.
From the community perspective, after receiving the inscription by UNESCO or recognition at the
national level (national heritage, special national heritage, national intangible cultural heritage, etc.), the
heritages of Vietnam have become more famous, attracting more tourists, creating more job opportunities for
people, and contributing more to the socio-economic development. Some world heritages such as Hạ Long Bay,
Tràng An Heritage Complex, Huế Ancient Complex, Hội An Ancient City, etc., have remarkable development
steps, creating enormous benefits for the local budget. Intangible cultural heritages such as Quan họ Bắc Ninh
[folk] singing, Huế Royal singing, VíGiặm Nghệ Tĩnh [Nghe Tinh Folk] singing, Đờn ca tài tử Nam Bộ [Nam
Bo folk singing], all have developed well in the social and cultural life of each locality. For cultural heritage in
needs of urgent safeguarding, the inscription/recognition also contributes to preventing the degradation of those
heritages.
A good example in the story of “post inscription” is Xoan singing. In 2011 Xoan singing was inscribed by
UNESCO to the list of intangible cultural heritage in needs of urgent safeguarding. Thanks to the decisive
efforts by the authority of Phú Thọ province and the local community, the safeguarding of Xoan singing has
achieved positive results. In 2017, this heritage was moved to the list of intangible cultural heritage of the
humanity and this is the first case in the development history of UNESCO.
However, the negative side of the recognition and inscription is the “syndrome of heritage” which means
localities compete with each other in compiling profiles to be submitted to UNESCO and for the recognition of
other titles. This depends much on the economic potential, “political will”, and the attention of the local
authority. There are localities where there are valuable heritages but they do not have the capacity to compile
the heritage profile. There are other cases when the locality has economic potential and necessary relationship
and capacity to compile the heritage profile and they benefit from this.
Especially regarding different domestic titles of heritage in the recent years there has been the situation of
“too many titles” and the real heritage and fake heritage are mixed. Some social organizations and associations
purposely have granted titles or certificates such The Heritage Tree, Vietnam Sacred heritage (Việt Nam linh
thiêng cổ tự), Folklore artisans, Temples meeting standards of temples of cults of Three Palaces, Four Palaces,
etc., in a “spontaneous way” to make money. Therefore, in 2017, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism carried
out a campaign to “fight with titles”, requiring social organizations which do not have the authority to stop
honouring and granting titles in this way.
From the scientific perspective, some researchers believe that the policy of “selective safeguarding” with the
classification of historical-cultural heritage and festivals into provincial level, national level, special national
level, etc., has explicitly divided heritage into heritage of “high value and low value”. Some scholars
investigating the culture of Vietnam have also tried to analyze the weak side of this viewpoint. Some Vietnamese
researchers believe that this is the remaining of the evolution theory which is out of date in culture studies (Lê,
Đào, Nguyễn, & Hoàng, 2012b). And moreover, this is in contrary to the spirit of respecting cultural diversity of
UNESCO. The fact that UNESCO inscribes certain heritage does not mean that heritage is “grandiose”, “more
deserving”, “or more valuable than other heritage”. Rather, it is the confirmation of the cultural diversity of the
humanity and demonstration of different cultural expressions.
Protecting Cultural Heritage Before Challenges of Economic Objectives
It is undeniable that nowadays cultural heritage has become a big and valuable resource for the
socio-economic development in the locality. According to the statistics, revenue from cultural heritage has
increased considerably in the recent years, contributing much to the national economic growth. At the Complex
of Huế Imperial city, only revenue from the entry tickets increased from 80 billion VND in 2011 to 317 billion
VND in 2017. If the ticket sales for the performance “Đại Nội at night” is included, then the total revenue is
over 320 billion VND which is more than four times increased after seven years4. The ticket sales from Hạ
Long Bay accounts for nearly 1,000 billion VND in the total of 11,000 billion VND from tourism activities of
Ha Long City in 2017, which is an increase in 39% compared to the same period5. The revenue from ticket
sales to the attraction and boat tickets at the Tràng An Attraction Complex in 2017 also reached over 652
billion VND6.
Festivals have become a big source contributing to the local economies, namely Festival Vía BàChúa Xứ
[Xu Goddess] at Sam mountain festival, Trần Temple Festival, Hùng Temple Festival, Hương Temple Festival,
etc. Even some cultural heritages which traditionally did not bring economic values such as Bắc Ninh folk
singing, Nam Bộ folk singing, etc., can also be exploited for economic benefits.
4
2017 Annual Report by the Center of Safeguarding of Hue Ancient City.
5
Data from 2017 Annual Report by Quang Ninh Department of Tourism.
6
Data from 2017 Annual Report by Ninh Binh Department of Tourism.
From the economic problem there has been negative tendency regarding the safeguarding of heritage such
as the tendency of commercialization or exaggeration of heritage. The tendency of commercialization of
heritage is demonstrated in efforts to expand the festival scale, distort the nature of the heritage, create fake
traditional cultural activities, all for the sake of attracting more tourists to get more benefits from related
services. The tendency of exaggeration of heritage is demonstrated in the fact that localities compete with each
other in restoring and renewing the heritage, making them “bigger”, “more modern”, and more famous to
attract tourists.
The Temple Trăm Gian [Hundred-Room Temple] in Chương Mỹ district, Hanoi City is a valuabe heritage
which was built in 1185 under the time of King Lý Cao Tông. The temple has an ancient architecture and
exquisite carvings, thus it has been recognized as a national heritage for over 40 years. However, it has been
continuously being restored in the way of “renewing the heritage” with new materials and structures. Especially,
in 2012, the ancestor room and ancient stupas were destroyed and new ones were built.
The heritage at national level—a thousand-year Khúc Thủy Temple in Thanh Oai district of Hanoi has
also been harmed with many “strange” structures, which do not fit into the ancient and traditional architecture
with the religious features of the Red River Delta.
Because of the economy issues, many people do not hesitate to violate the Law on Culture and UNESCO
Convention regarding the world heritage. In the Tràng An Attraction Complex, right in the middle of the
heritage, an enterprise has drilled into and carried out construction activities on the sacred mountain to
construct hundred concrete pillars to build a road more than a kilometer long with over 2,200 steps leading to
the mountain submit as a way to attract tourists. All this has seriously damaged the natural landscape and
caused harm to the heritage complex.
In the beautiful caves of Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng and Hạ Long Bay, in order to get more benefit, beauty
competitions and big events and festivals have been organized there, causing harm to the stalactites and
stalagmites that the nature takes thousands of years to create.
Besides, there have been a number of cases of restoration in the way of “upgrading heritage” such as the
restoration of Ngô Quyền Tomb (2014), the construction of the Gate of Bổ Đà Temple (2017), restoration of
Stela of Huế Literature Temple (2017), the construction of the second new statue of BàChúa Xứ Goddess on
Sam mountain (2017), etc. There are even cases of building fake caves and temples to make money. In the area
surrounding Hương Temple, in 2002 the authority cleared up 42 fake temples and shrines. All these efforts in
restoration of heritage in the direction of exaggerating the heritage, renewing the heritage, even trying to create
heritage from nothing, has caused harm to the overall task of heritage safeguarding.
In the field of intangible cultural heritage it is the story of competing with each other in beating “Guinness
records”, for example, the choir with 3,500 singers for a Quan Họ folk singing in Bắc Ninh (2012), enormous
chưng cake of 5.7 ton used in the offering ritual at the Quốc Mẫu Âu Cơ Temple in Hưng Yên (2014), dày cake
more than 2 tons at the festival at Độc Cước Temple, Thanh Hóa (2017). Besides there are other records such
as the biggest drum, the biggest vase, the biggest group of áo dài show, etc. All these “records” have created
bad practice in the safeguarding of culture, absolutely not in lines with the spirit of the safeguarding of heritage
promoted by UNESCO and the Law on Cultural heritage of Vietnam.
Safeguarding Cultural Heritage Before Challenges of Tourism Development
Since Vietnam moved to the market economy and opened the door to the world, tourism in Vietnam has
developed fast with the increasing number of foreign tourists coming to Vietnam. Especially in the recent five
years, the exploitation of cultural heritage to serve tourism has become more effective and has achieved
remarkable results. In 2017, Vietnam met nearly 13 million foreign tourists, which is 30% increase compared to
2016; 74 million of domestic tourists used the service, increased by 19%; the total revenue from tourism reached
515,000 billion VND, increased by 23% compared to 2016. Vietnam is becoming a favorable destination on the
world tourism map. The growth rate of foreign tourists coming to Vietnam in 2017 is highest in the region and
Vietnam is in the top 10 countries in terms of the tourist growth rate, compared to the increase by 20% in
Indonesia, 15% in Cambodia, 12% in Philippines, 10% in Myanmar, 8% in Thái Lan, and 7% in Singapore7.
Most localities have identified their specific cultural values and strengths in terms of cultural heritage to
develop specific tourism products, creating the cultural branding and image different among regions and
localities. The development of the tourism branding and products specific for the locality based on cultural
heritage differences is a foundational step for the development of a tourism which focuses more on in-depth
values.
However, the rapid development of tourism has also caused big challenges towards the safeguarding and
sustainable exploitation of values of cultural heritage. The tendency of vulganization and bringing the heritage
to the stage to serve tourism development seems to be widespread.
The tendency of vulganization of heritage started quite long ago together with the the atheistic viewpoint
in the new regime. The movement of criticizing “superstitious phenomena”, promotion for the building “new
lifestyle”, “new life customs” contributed to the secularization of religious beliefs, making folk beliefs less
sacred and rituals and customs simpler. In the context of promoting tourism, this tendency takes place even
faster and has become more widespread. This is demonstrated in the fact that rituals, performance, and music
with sacred elements are gradually taken from the sacred space to be performed in the secular life, serving
tourists and customers in the venues and places for entertainment, and in these context, the
secularization/vulgarization of those rituals and performances is inevitable.
Namely, nhã nhạc [royal music] is the music of Huế royal court, including đại nhạc [grand music] and
tiểu nhạc [insignificant music]. Grand music was performed during big and important rituals of the court such
as Nam Giao ritual, Miếu ritual, XãTắc ritual, Đại Triều ritual. Tiểu nhạc was performed in dinners and other
holidays and festivals such as Tet holiday, etc. (Lê, 2008). Before grand music was the music for the rituals and
could be performed only in the court, not for entertainment and the wide public. However, in the changed
historical and cultural context nhã nhạc has gradually become a form of theater performance and has been
brought to the squares and streets during Huế festivals and brought to tourist boats for the tourist entertainment,
brought to events and workshops and conferences. Therefore, this type of music gradually loses its formality
and notability.
In the old time, gongs in the Highlands were always associated with the sacred life cycle rituals (namely,
wedding ceremony, the tomb ritual, etc.), the tree life cycle (ritual to clear the field, ritual of sowing, ritual of
harvesting, ritual of new rice, ritual to worship rice spirit, ect.), everyday life rituals (ritual to worship the new
wharf and new house, ritual to see off warriors to the battle field, evening of telling epics, etc). At the present,
the living space, production way and the beliefs of people in the Highlands have changed a lot. From the belief
of animism, the movement of “buidling new cultural lifestyle” contributed to removing the belief in Gods and
7
Statistics data by Department of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
the spiritual needs from people’s life (Từ, 2009). In the context of promoting tourism, as the identity of the
ethnic groups, gong performance has drawn attraction and has become a typical tourist product of the
Highlands. According to some researchers, the secularization of the gongs performance has caused the loss of
their religious and symbolic meanings (Lê, Đào, Nguyễn, & Hoàng, 2012a). And because the gongs have
become less sacred and because of other needs, many families in the Highlands have sold valuable gong sets that
their parents and grandparents have handed over to them, causing serious loss of gongs in the area.
The tendency of secularization has also changed the awareness and behavior regarding cultural heritage of
those selected by the community to be Hiệu [general], cô Tướng [female general] in the Gióng Festival at Phù
Đổng Temple, chúa Gái [female goddess] in the beliefs of worshipping Hùng Kings as well as in many other
heritages.
Another prevailing tendency is the tendency of bringing cultural heritage to the stage. Its expression can
be seen in many different heritages; however, perhaps it is most obvious in the Hùng Temple Festival, a festival
at national level to honor the merits of Hùng Kings—the first kings in the history of Vietnam. In the past, this
festival was mostly practiced by the community of villagers of Cổ Tí ch, Vi, and Trẹo villages, since it became
the national festival, the procedure of incense offerings is performed following the scenario developed by the
culture sector with the participation of group of soldiers carrying flags and guns, music groups, group beating
drums, 100 young guys symbolizing 100 children of Hồng and Lạc Kings in the costumes imitiating costumes
of “Hùng Kings time” etc. (Từ, 2013b, pp. 1022-1033). As evaluated by some researchers, the process of
“bringing heritage to the stage” and “creating tradition” has changed the nature of the Hùng King festival, from
the practice to its content and meaning (Lê, Đào, Nguyễn, & Hoàng, 2012b).
The Lam Kinh Festival to honor the Lê Kings have also been controlled by the professionals and has
increasingly become a product of the stage, losing its community features and has become a festival “of the
State”. Traditional ceremonies and rituals are increasingly overwhelmed by the performances performed by
professional art troupes, and villagers only play supporting roles and are spectators watching the ceremonies
and rituals. The fact that the Government pays for villager to “act” out the festivals has created the thinking that
villagers are doing this for the Government rather than the festivals are their and they organize the festivals for
themselves. Spiritually, the local community does not consider the festival their. As the festival finishes and the
professional groups leave, it does not leave any impression on the community (Từ, 2005).
In general, when tourism develops, it will create job opportunity and income for people. Tourism also
creates a big income for heritage, and then this income is used for the maintenance and restoration of the
heritage and related intangible cultural heritage. However, without a proper management, it will be difficult to
protect cultural heritage.
Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage Before the Pressure of Urbanization and Modernization
The process of strong urbanization and modernization at the present has created opportunity for the rapid
development of the economy, human resource, and infrastructure, etc. However, it also has caused problems in
the issue of how to balance the relationship between safeguarding and development. From the safeguarding
practice regarding cultural heritage in Vietnam, certain lessons can be drawn.
For example, with its remarkable values in the culture, history, and natural landscape, Huế Imperial City
was inscribed by UNESCO as the world heritage in 1993. However, after a period of rapid development, in
2006 Hue was included into the “black list” by UNESCO. This is because rapid urbanization has breached the
Heritage Belt with the construction of highways, hotels, resorts, invasions along the Huong River, restoration
and improper safeguarding. It is not until 2013 that after the efforts to adjust the planning and implementation
of programs and projects to protect the heritage and environmentally friendly, the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee removed Hue from the “black list”.
Sustainable development always requires that the process of exploiting the heritage to strictly comply with
the requirements of environmental safeguarding. In 2009, Ha Long Bay was listed by UNESCO in the “black
list” and was requested to regularly report on reclamation activities, coal mining, hot tourist development, hotel
and restaurant construction, aquaculture, and waste disposal which causes the pollution of sea water, invasions of
environmental landscapes, threats to global values of the heritage. Some professionals have expressed their
grievances: “There is no such place that people bring rock and soil to dispose in the area of the world’s natural
heritage as in Vietnam”8. Until now, although there have been many interventions from the Quang Ninh
provincial government, Ha Long Bay has not been withdrawn from the “black list”.
For the world heritage, the possibility of being “stripped of the title” is possible. “Problematic” heritages
will be recommended by UNESCO, if there is no improvement after long time of recommendation, the heritage
will be included in the list of “World Heritage List of Endangered Species”. And finally, if there is no
improvement, the heritage will be removed from the list of world heritage.
In the field of intangible cultural heritage, the process of urbanization, modernization also greatly changes
the cultural space and living environment of communities, causing difficulties in protecting the heritage. The
case of the Highlands’ gongs can be an example. The Highlands’ gongs have always been closely associated
with its typical space of villages and forests. At the present, the area of forests has been increasingly narrowed,
and gong performers are brought to the stage to perform for tourists. They even feel offended, as if they are
paid to entertain tourists (Từ, 2014). Similarly, Quan họ singing in the new way is absolutely different from the
traditional Quan ho singing or “village Quan họ singing” in the good traditions of the old time. And this has led
to the misunderstanding of the inheritance of traditional elements (Từ, 2006).
The context of international exchange and integration has also led to significant changes in the awareness,
needs, and taste of people. Before the strong invasion of new arts forms, the public, especially young people do
not feel like or attracted to traditional arts forms, thus the number of people enjoying this art form has reduced
significantly. From villages young people go to cities for study and job, thus those who stay in villages are
mostly the elderly and children. The mobilization of young people in the festivals is not easy. The role and
importance of those who practice the heritage is also overlooked and they do not have such a role as in the past.
Conclusions
From the above analysis and evaluation, certain conclusions can be drawn regarding the safeguarding and
promotion of cultural heritage to meet requirements of sustainable development:
First, it is necessary to ensure the balance between the two processes of safeguarding and promotion. The
practice over many years has showed that when the heritage is treated in a proper way in terms of both
safeguarding and promotion, safeguarding and exploitation, the results are positive and long-term. Cases of
failure are those when too much focus is on the aspect of exploitation or over abuse without sufficient attention
to the work of safeguarding and safeguarding. Nowadays, many countries in the world have paid much
8
Interview with architect Ngô Doãn Đức, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Association of Architects.
attention to the calculation of the capacity of the heritage to exploit it to a reasonable extent, limiting the
number of visitors. For certain cases of caves and special heritage, the limitation is even stricter, or there is
even periodical closing so that the heritage has a period of “rest” and be recovered.
On the other hand, it is also not necessary to only pay attention to the safeguarding aspect without taking
advantage and promoting the heritage. Such an extreme is a passive way, and is a waste of a resource which can
be used to serve the socio-economic development.
Second, it is necessary to balance the relationship between economic and cultural aspect during the
process of exploitation of the heritage. Economy and culture are the two interactive and interdependent aspects.
The economic aspect of the culture can be exploited to create the motivation for development of the heritage
and the cultural heritage should be viewed as in integral component in the process of socio-economic
development. However, while trying to achieve economic objectives, it is necessary to take into consideration
cultural objectives and protect the culture. The heritage and culture cannot be sacrificed for the sake of
economic objectives.
Third, it is important to solve well the relationship between the State and the community, clearly
distinguishing the role and responsibility of both sides. It is necessary to ensure the long-term economic
activities, bringing economic and social benefits to all beneficiaries, thus motivating them to actively take part
in the safeguarding of heritage, creating the bond of the community and heritage. Nowadays, community-based
development is a tendency of the world and is one of the effective measures for the sustainable exploitation of
heritage. The Conventions by UNESCO have also enhanced the role of the community—those who are owners
and play in important role in the creating, sustaining, and handing over cultural heritage.
Besides, it is also necessary to avoid the tendency of “administralization”, “institutionalization” of the
heritage and the authority does everything on behalf of people in the practice related to the heritage. This
invisibility will push people away from the essence of heritage and separate the heritage from its true
environment. Only when the people have a deep understanding and active participation in the safeguarding and
promotion of heritage values, then the effects are sustainable and long-term (Từ, 2010).
Fourth, it is necessary to be flexible and creative in ways to protect and promote heritage. It is not always
possible to rely on the already available formulas or models. On the contrary, the models and theories should be
applied in a flexible way depending on the historical context and characteristics of each heritage.
For tangible cultural heritage, priority should be given to the safeguarding and promotion of its historical,
cultural, and scientific values. It is important to preserve and hand over to next generations the original and
authentic elements of the heritage so that the next generations—those who have better technical
conditions—can provide better safeguarding measures. It is important to sustain traditional functions of the
heritage besides creating their new functions.
As for intangible cultural heritage, the safeguarding and promotion is for preserving the values of
traditional culture, and at the same time blowing a new-life energy into it so that it can survive in the
contemporary life. Therefore, preserving heritage is the same as “keeping the fire and making the fire stronger”
for the heritage.
To sum up, if a nation wants to develop, it should preserve and promote its cultural heritage from the past.
Besides, the development process requires a continuous creativity and flexible application of scientific rules to
select the most optimal safeguarding measures so that the economic potential of the heritage is exploited, and at
the same time historical and cultural values of the heritage are preserved and sustainable development is ensured.
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Editorial Board Members of International Relations and Diplomacy:

The Indonesian Women Migrant Workers: Redefinition and Termination of Sending

Asia-Pacific Powers in Maritime Asia, 1850-1972: A Perspective from Taiwan 162

Cultural Heritage in Vietnam With the Requirements of Sustainable Development 172

The Indonesian Women Migrant Workers: Redefinition and

Research Question and Methods

Visual Manifestations of the European Discourse on Solidarity of

Keywords: solidarity, emotion, affect, refugee policy, Greek Asylum Service

Solidarity as Concept and Discursive Construction

Theoretical Encounter on Emotions

Figure 1. Leaflet of Greek Asylum Service by C.Tsevis.

Figure 2. Bonetti’s picture donated to Greek Asylum Service.

Figure 3. Leaflet of Greek Asylum Service by C.Tsevis

Figure 4. Leaflet of Greek Asylum Service by C.Tsevis.

Figure 5. Bonetti’s picture donated to Greek Asylum Service.

Figure 6. Bonetti’s picture donated to Greek Asylum Service.

Asia-Pacific Powers in Maritime Asia, 1850-1972: A Perspective

China’s or Taiwan’s maritime history. Hence, it is merely a perspective from Taiwan.

Decline of China Relative to Other Powers in the 19th Century

The Dominance of Japan in the Early 20th Century

The Replacement of the US for Japan, 1945-1972

Cultural Heritage in Vietnam With the Requirements of

Keywords: Cultural heritage, Vietnam, conservation, safeguarding, sustainable development

Vietnamese Government’s Policy to Cultural Heritage

Some Theoretical Viewpoints in Safeguarding and Promotion of Cultural Values and

The Situation of Safeguarding and Promotion of Cultural Heritage Values in Vietnam at

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