This study discusses the evolution of Vietnamese economic policies since the independence of 1945 leading to the Đổi mới policy of 1986 in the framework of political and economic transformation in the East Asian region in the second half of the 20th century. Attention will be given to the experimental policies and attempted reforms carried out by different regimes in Vietnam between 1945 and 1986. Rather than Đổi mới interfering with previous economic models it was geared toward a socialist-oriented market economy, somewhere between planned and capitalist systems. The author aims to prove that Vietnam’s Đổi mới economic reforms were in line with other East Asian countries, although they came in later. It should be noted that while East Asia refers to Japan, China, Korea and Southeast Asia in this chapter, the author focuses on those countries sharing a historical connection with Vietnam, i.e. those which had been under Western colonial rule or under the Japanese control.