Furthermore, Viet Nam is still an agricultural country with a low level of industrialization and adequate food reserves. Inflation, and the rise of food prices in particular, would not likely have catastrophic effects, Sang said. Also, the overall impact of the Vietnamese financial problem would be controllable, because Asian countries have strengthened their ability to fend off financial crises as a whole, he said.

At a meeting in May, finance ministers from the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, Japan and South Korea agreed to create a pool of at least $80 billion in foreign exchange reserves to be tapped in case they needed to protect regional currencies. The move sent a message that Asia was making a concerted effort to secure its regional financial stability.

The Vietnamese Government has put forward a series of measures to ease its problems, such as tightening monetary policy, strengthening the supervision of infrastructure projects, adjusting the import mix to control inflation and reducing its trade deficits with other countries. On June 6, the country's central bank announced that foreign currencies should not be sold to individuals-a further move to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

Fu said besides Viet Nam's efforts, such international financial organizations as the International Monetary Fund also would lend a helping hand if the situation became grave, because under the scenarios of globalization and regional integration, no country would be immune from turmoil in other nations.

Viet Nam's status quo is not an isolated problem. Given the rising prices of oil and agricultural products, countries around the world all suffer such predicaments, and they have a common responsibility to fight them, Fu said.

"Asian countries should be prudent in attracting foreign investment and act in tandem to upgrade their industrial structure," Fu said. The Vietnamese phenomenon shows that countries should not act radically when opening their financial markets; otherwise, their national security would face severe challenges, he added.

Viet Nam's problems sound an alarm not only for the country itself, but also for all developing countries, Sang said. Apart from paying surging costs for their development, developing countries are faced with the additional burdens of improving the livelihoods of low-income citizens and adjusting their income distribution systems, he said.

"All these have boiled down to one truth: an extensive pattern of economic growth that relies on resources is no longer sustainable in a world where costs keep soaring," Sang said. He suggested that Viet Nam encourage technological innovation to offset its rising costs and narrowing profit margins.

(See additional Viet Nam story on page 30)