The plant varieties include the nation’s rare and precious plants in Quang Ninh, which will bear Quang Ninh’s geographical indicators in the future when its program on branding local specialty plants is completed.

Professor Tran Dinh Long, Chair of the Vietnam Plant Variety Association, applauded the decision. He affirmed that under the new law, people who buy and export plant varieties must be licensed to do so. Therefore, any Vietnamese and Chinese who spontaneously trade listed rare and precious plant varieties will be in violation of the law.

Chinese have been flocking to Vietnam in recent years, going to every corner in rural areas to collect plants, herbs, farm produce and cattle. This has raised concerns about the “bleeding off” of Vietnamese natural resources. It is unclear what objectives Chinese have in collecting Vietnamese plant varieties, but it is obvious that their efforts will exhaust the natural resources and can adversely impact national economic benefits. It may happen that Chinese in the future will build brands on the Vietnamese rare and precious plants, or that Chinese will prevent Vietnamese enterprises from building brands based on the precious plants and genes.

Therefore, Long supports the decision made by the Quang Ninh’s authorities as legal, necessary and useful. In fact, he said, protecting precious genetic sources must not be solely the work of Quang Ninh, but of all relevant agencies and other local authorities as well.

However, the trade still has been conducted over the last several years, which Long says will have serious repercussions for the national economy and defense.