In the "transitory economies" in Asia like China and Vietnam, the extant of success of the transition seems to be dependent on simultaneous realization of two independent events : (1) the elimination of the institutions and policies of the former socialist planning systems, and (2) the rehabilitation and/or transplanting of the market economy institutions. I generically call this transition process "domestic integration". The "domestic integration" tends to elicit, as it progresses, further economic gains by integrating the economy to the external economy. This tendency arises often spontaneously, but sometimes due to external pressures too. Today's "globalization" contains such pressures in it. On the whole, the success of todays' transition depends upon the extent of convergence of internal and external integration. This paper investigates China's transition in the past 20 years from the above view points and tries to compare it Vietnam's transition.
