Hanoi wants Jetstar out of Vietnam, and the ‘country arrest’ of its two Australian executives is nothing more than crude bargaining.

The ‘get rid of Jetstar’ agenda of the communist regime first flared into public view in October. Like the latest development, concerning fuel hedging losses, the object is to end the $US 50 million 27% Qantas stake in Vietnamese domestic carrier Jetstar Pacific.

Back in November we broke the news, as far as Australia goes, that the carrier had been given until this coming October to remove its identity, and especially its logo, from the small clapped out fleet of 737-400s that operate most of its services.

This reflected an ideological split in the Communist regime concerning national identities and the spread of trans border franchises, like Coca-Cola, and its aviation imitation, the Jetstar low cost carrier franchise.

According to those reports, there is a conflict of ideology occurring between those who believe state enterprises should be seen to be uniquely Vietnamese rather than subsumed by trans border or multinational branding, and those who argue for leveraging global branding to grow the national economy.

The real agenda is to end the Jetstar involvement in Vietnames air transport, something presumably supported by the country’s national carrier Vietnamese Airlines.