Beijing, July 3 -- Vietnam's sweeping administrative reform, which came into effect on July 1 with the merger of its 63 provinces and centrally-run cities into 34 units and the official transition to a two-tier local government model comprising provincial and communal levels, has drawn widespread attention in Chinese public and academic circles.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Beijing, Prof. Dr Cheng Hanping, Executive Director of the Regional and Country Research Institute and Director of the Vietnam Research Centre at Zhejiang University of Technology, described the move as a historic reform. He noted that the change reflects the strong resolve of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CP...