It was the French who pushed for a Latin based writing system for Vietnamese in an attempt to improve literacy in Vietnam and to also cut the cultural umbilical

It was the French who pushed for a Latin based writing system for Vietnamese in an attempt to improve literacy in Vietnam and to also cut the cultural umbilical cord with China. If China itself were colonised by Western powers towards the end of the Qing dynasty or after, the fate of Chinese characters in China could have become quite different, although it is a matter of speculation, of course.