Although there are important differences in conditions and types of political development between China and Vietnam, both are so distant from the parliamentary model that to political science, they appear quite similar. Both are sturdy, one-party-state survivors in a post-communist world. China and Vietnam pose a reciprocal challenge to common expectations regarding modernization. On the one hand, their economic growth and political stability undermine notions of stages of converging development (unless the State stalls or fails) in a liberal democratic "end of history" scenario. On the other hand, the notions linking development and parliamentary democracy are common to both because there are as yet no exceptions. In terms of economic development, both China and Vietnam have been able to apply lessons from developed countries. However, the sustainable political development of one-party states poses a new challenge.