On a scorching afternoon in Vietnam, Tung Linh declared she was “basically ignorant”, a decades-long war that left her country’s communist north with the American-backed South.

"My grandparents were in the war, so we could look at the sky and see the planes, and we weren't as scared as they were," the 20-year-old college student said.

Sticking to her right cheek was a yellow star on a red rectangle - the Vietnamese flag. Like her, the capital Ho Chi Minh was preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war when the Communist Party won.

Vietnam today is completely different from a country where the U.S. military withdrew from failure - enterprising, it is growing rapidly and becoming richer.

Its authoritarian communist leaders accepted capitalism. They are eager to follow in China's footsteps and cultivate money and energy to become reliable manufacturing centers and even alternatives to China.

But this is the adventurous ambitions of U.S. President Donald Trump during the trade war - which is why he threatened to impose a 46% tax on Southeast Asian countries. This could undermine the country's economic potential.

Vietnam is a French colony and a vassal of China. It has been 20 years and is a bloody battlefield for the United States to prevent China from spreading in Southeast Asia.

But it cannot escape its geography. It sits under China's broad hips and is on the front line again in a new American battle - hoping to see Beijing's rise as an economic superpower.

Vietnam is a young country. The median age is 33 years old, younger than Thailand or China (40) and younger than Japan (50).

"I want to do a job that will bring more success to Vietnam," Lynn said, who is studying economics and marketing. "Yes, for me, success is also success." She said with a smile.

It's a dream that suits your own city's bustling - now a metropolis of 10 million people, the Vietnamese capital has the same cho-habitation transportation as any Asian giant city, glass glass skyscrapers, five-star hotels, restaurants, restaurants and old massage parlors.

You will have a hard time finding traces of socialist ideology, which led to the Vietnamese capital in 1975. The winner changed his name to He Zhiming after his revolutionary father in North Vietnam. But for the locals, it is still Saigon.

When it fell on this day 50 years ago, South Vietnam no longer existed, as North Vietnamese tanks smashed on the high-rise iron gate of the Presidential Courtyard and raised a red flag on the Presidential Palace with yellow stars.

The American allies, the Southern regime, were defeated. Its last president fled the day before. More than twenty years of fierce conflict have ended.

Victory comes at a huge price. An estimated 3 million people died and millions were injured. Between 1968 and 1975, more bombs were abandoned on this slim land in all the theaters in World War II.

But few people here want to talk about war, even if they celebrate the anniversary of “unification”.

Linh and her friends screamed happily, a truck carrying soldiers drove by. Shy idols waved backwards - After the rehearsal, they were heading to the barracks.

"I'm excited because it's a day for us to reunite and become a country again," Lynn said.

Her answer sounds a bit rehearsal, especially as the government-appointed Minder accompanied the BBC. But her passion for her future and her country is not uncommon.

Minh, 18, who doesn't want to share her last name, goes a little further on the road, telling us she is learning to become a lawyer so she can "success". She smiled and said, "I have money!"

As we asked the young man how he felt about the Americans, the obvious man shrunk and tried to stop her answer.

"We're not angry," she said. "We don't hate them. That's the past. Now we want to deal with the United States. Do you know globalization? We want to learn from the United States."

Vietnam's new leaders seem to have the same ambitions. In January, the country’s new Communist Party chief (Lam) began a plan to cut bureaucracy, which could impress Elon Musk, who has been monitoring the Trump administration’s controversial cost-cutting team.

Official estimates that the country's 63 provinces and municipalities are being reduced to 34 provinces, with government ministries and agencies cutting 30 to 17.

The ambition is huge. So far, Singapore’s Southeast Asia has managed to escape the “middle-income trap” and economic growth will slow down before the country’s wealthy countries become rich. Vietnam has a 5% economic growth and he intends to be the second. It has opened up a lot of investments and welcomes people it once drove from the shore.

After the victory in 1975, approximately 2 million southern Vietnamese fled the country. Many people are Chinese. They squeezed into the fragile ship and spread across the South China Sea. They are called "Crews." Today, their descendants constitute nearly 6 million diasporas extending from the United States and Canada to France, Germany, Japan and Taiwan.

"Since 2017, I have promoted a lot of Taiwanese companies to invest in Vietnam, and I am myself a consultant to several of the major electronics companies I brought here," said Lisa Wu. Now she is back.

"The most attractive thing is that the Vietnamese government is very supportive. The electronics industry is expanding from China and many people will choose Vietnam."

The shift was no accident when Trump announced his first trade war with China.

Two young businessmen from southern China don’t want to share their names, telling us that they have set up a shoe factory here over the past two years: “It’s ready now.”

They plan to export to the United States. They are worried about the possibility of Vietnam imposing higher tariffs - currently facing a 10% levy like most parts of the world - but "much better here than China," they said with a smile. China imports a series of tariffs to the United States, with tariffs on certain commodities as high as 245%.

Ms Wu said Vietnam is still feeling the impact. "I have several factories ready to start operating here in May this year. But due to the policy changes, everyone has stopped and everyone is waiting."

Vietnam was once again asked to choose the United States or China. But this is not a choice that can or will be made, because it requires both.

Less than two weeks ago, they launched the red carpet to welcome Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Hanoi. Talking about brotherly friendship and support. But the relationship with their great communist neighbor is trickier than it seems. Vietnam has been walking a rope between Washington and Beijing for years – the latter’s ambitiousness could pose a threat to neighbors, especially growing economies that are eager to attract U.S. businesses.

As Vietnam insists on the “outlook,” it seems almost forgotten about the men and women fighting in the jungle with American bomb hell.

But even if they say, they must not go back to the past. "I used to have scars here," Le Thanh Gian pointed to his right hand, a bullet had been placed.

"I still have shrapnel inside that cannot be removed. In the fight, it seems that we will all be killed. However, some of us survived, while others fell."

But he said he was no longer angry.

"We have to keep peace. We have made great progress. People's lives are more prosperous and fulfilling. Now, we have to work with Americans for the future."