Only a Free Vietnam Can Stand Up to China's Bullying Commentary By Thi Lam, Pacific News Service

A recent negotiation between Vietnam and China over the strategic Gulf of Tonkin shows China's regional ambitions.

August 3, 2004 - On Jan. 19, 1974, as Acting Commander of I Corps of the South Vietnamese Army in Danang during the Vietnam War, I sent a patrol of F-5 jet fighters to destroy a Chinese Naval Task Force that attacked our patrol boats on a routine supply mission in the Paracel Islands, approximately 400 kilometers east of Danang. Unfortunately, by the time they reached the islands, the F-5s ran low on fuel and had to return to base without engaging the enemy.

Unknown to me at the time, the Chinese had every intention of controlling the Eastern Sea, with its huge oil reserve estimated at tens of billions of barrels. In fact, in a letter to the Chinese government dated Sept. 14, 1958, Phan Van Dong, then prime minister of North Vietnam, officially confirmed China's territorial rights on the Paracel Islands, despite the fact that these islands had been historically considered an integral part of Vietnam.

The Chinese missile that sent one of our naval patrol boats to the bottom of the sea that fateful day in 1974 turned out to be the opening salvo for the conquest of the Paracels and -- much later -- of the Spratly archipelagoes and other internationally contested islands in the South China Sea. In particular, China's claims on the rich gas field near the Natuma Islands, 400 miles northeast of Sumatra, Indonesia, and its dispute with Japan over the Senskaku Islands in the East China Sea almost sparked a regional crisis in the late 1990s.

Today, recent territorial concessions from Hanoi -- the Vinh Bac Bo (Gulf of Tonkin) Treaty and the Letter of Resolution on Fishing Collaboration -- show China's southern expansionism has not relented.

The Vinh Bac Bo Pact effectively revoked the Peking Treaty, signed by France and China in 1887. That treaty, using Greenwich Meridian 108 East as the demarcation line, provided Vietnam and China, respectively, with 63 percent and 37 percent of territorial rights to the Vinh Bac Bo.

The new treaty, ratified without debate by Vietnam's rubber-stamp National Assembly last June, replaced Meridian 108 E. with a central meridian located west of the original line of demarcation, thus reducing Vietnam territorial waters to about 53 percent. As a result, Vietnam lost approximately 12,000 square kilometers of territorial waters. Considering usual geographical criteria such as population density, number of islands owned, length of coastline, number of cities of 100,000 people or more located on the edge of the gulf, Vietnam, in the view of top international experts on the Law of the Sea, should be allocated at least 70 percent of the Vinh Bac Bo.

In addition to the Vinh Bac Bo Pact, Vietnam and China also signed a fishing agreement that provided for a 60-nautical-mile-wide central common fishing area. However, as Chinese boats are bigger and better equipped, they will dominate the "shared" area. Furthermore, with fishing nets that can extend up to 50 nautical miles, Chinese boats need not leave the common area to catch with impunity fish, shrimp and other marine products in close proximity to the Vietnamese coast.

Some experts estimate that most of the marine fauna in the Vinh Bac Bo will be extinct within a few years and as a result, millions of fishermen from Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces will be deprived of their traditional means of subsistence. Thousands might flock to big cities looking for work, creating a social and political crisis with incalculable consequences for the communist regime.

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The 25-Year Century: A South Vietnamese General Remembers the Vietnam War By Thi Q. Lam To generate new sources of energy, China has completed the construction of one hydroelectric dam and plans to build six more on the Mekong River, in Yunnan Province. Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, tributary countries of the Mekong, are concerned about the long-term economical and ecological impacts of these dams on the entire region. On the economic front, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, instead of benefiting from China's blooming economy, have been complaining about the latter's practice of flooding their markets with low-quality and cheap products, making it hard for local producers to compete.

The recent U.S.-Vietnam rapprochement -- as evidenced by a U.S. naval vessel dogging in Saigon harbor and the Vietnam Minister of Defense visiting the Pentagon last year -- obviously has not deterred China's new assertiveness, because the United States has its hands full in Iraq and the Middle East and has no time nor the means to face the new Asian threat.

History has a curious way of repeating itself. In ancient times, Vietnamese kings periodically sent ambassadorial delegations to the Peking Imperial Court to pay tributes to their powerful masters to the north. This practice obviously is alive and well today, with two major differences: The old kings and emperors have been replaced by authoritarian rulers, and precious stones and ivories have been replaced by territorial concessions.

Only a strong and prosperous Vietnam, enjoying popular support and the support of the community of free and democratic nations, can preserve its territorial integrity. If the Taiwan and South Korea experiences are any indication, it is clear that only by implementing genuine political and economic reforms can Vietnam stand up to Chinese bullying and break this cycle of humiliating concessions that has plagued it for so long.

-- Viet_Tien (Viet_Tien@williamson.org), September 06, 2004

Answers

Mr Thi b́nh về tương lai Việt Nam tôi thấy rất đúng, với quan điểm một người đọc ở Poster ở cái pḥ này. Câu Đi một ngày đàng học một sàng khôn, tôi thấy cái chính quyền hiện tại ở Việt Nam rất lăng nhăng 3 bè, bây phía căi nhau, đánh nhau chí choé để cho thằng Tầu phưo8ng bắc no ko cần bắn một phát mà qua tay thằng Tầu Lai Lê Kh? Phiêu, Lê Đức Anh tướng một mắt, thằng bù nh́n Ṇng Đức Mạnh nó bán đất, cắt biển nó dâng cho tụi Tầu bá quyền ở Bắc Kinh, đây là 1 nỗi nhục cho 1 dân tộc Việt Nam co 1 lịch sử hào hùng đánh rợ Bắc Phương dành Độc Lập Tự Do trong lịch sử tổ tiên ta. Đang lúc nào cũng bưng bít về tíh thế quốc tế và quốc nội để dể bịp dân, nạ tư tưởng Hồ Chủ Tịch, ba cái bài bản lỗi thời ko ǵúp được dân được nước vượt ra khỏi cái bệnh nghèo đói, thời buổi hiện tại là Đân Chủ, Dân Quyền chống áp bức độc tài công an trị.

Chính quyền nào đi ngược với ḷng dân Ư Tổ Quốc đều bị đào thải, Công An rồi cũng mai một ko cứu được đảng.

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The 25-Year Century: A South Vietnamese General Remembers the Vietnam War By Thi Q. Lam To generate new sources of energy, China has completed the construction of one hydroelectric dam and plans to build six more on the Mekong River, in Yunnan Province. Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, tributary countries of the Mekong, are concerned about the long-term economical and ecological impacts of these dams on the entire region. On the economic front, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, instead of benefiting from China's blooming economy, have been complaining about the latter's practice of flooding their markets with low-quality and cheap products, making it hard for local producers to compete.

The recent U.S.-Vietnam rapprochement -- as evidenced by a U.S. naval vessel dogging in Saigon harbor and the Vietnam Minister of Defense visiting the Pentagon last year -- obviously has not deterred China's new assertiveness, because the United States has its hands full in Iraq and the Middle East and has no time nor the means to face the new Asian threat.

History has a curious way of repeating itself. In ancient times, Vietnamese kings periodically sent ambassadorial delegations to the Peking Imperial Court to pay tributes to their powerful masters to the north. This practice obviously is alive and well today, with two major differences: The old kings and emperors have been replaced by authoritarian rulers, and precious stones and ivories have been replaced by territorial concessions.

Only a strong and prosperous Vietnam, enjoying popular support and the support of the community of free and democratic nations, can preserve its territorial integrity. If the Taiwan and South Korea experiences are any indication, it is clear that only by implementing genuine political and economic reforms can Vietnam stand up to Chinese bullying and break this cycle of humiliating concessions that has plagued it for so long.

-- Viet_Tien (Viet_Tien@williamson.org), September 06, 2004.

Viet -tien , Fault Alarm , do you understand ?

-- Chi bua (broeker@sbcglobal.net), September 20, 2004.

Chi Bua mày là thằng nói bậy nói sàm. Tụi trung Cộng nó đă chiếm biển Đông và đă biến nó thành 1 cái hồ cho HQ Trung Cộng các nước Đông Nam Á như Phi Luật Tân, Nam Dương, Mă Lai c̣n yếu không giám đả động đến Trung Cộng. Người ta hay nói What goes around comes around like a bơomerang.

-- (CSVNisaBarbaricparty@Commigotohell.com), September 20, 2004.

The basic characteristics of the 7.62 mm PKMSN2 and PKM Machine Guns are the same.

Calibre, mm 7.62

Cartridge, mm 7.62 x 54

Weight of gun body w/o belt, kg 7.5

Muzzle velocity, m/s 825

Cyclic rate of fire, rds/min 650

Effective rate of fire, rds/min 250

Sighting range, m 1,500

Ammunition box capacity, rds 100; 200

-- Ho Chi minh Dam tac (nuoi-heo nhieu qua'@yahoo.com), September 21, 2004.

Sorry Anh VAS cleaner ,,Toi Order co 1 cay de ban' heo thoi ..viet sai 1 con so 0 ... nen thanh ra order toi 10 cay ,,,Vay la ky nay can them 9 anh nua de cung ban' heo tiep''

-- Ho Chi minh Dam tac (nuoi-heo nhieu qua'@yahoo.com), September 21, 2004.

Bắn heo CHXHCN cần một cây ,bắn heo Tàu Phù phải cần tới 9 cây ,lỡ rôi th́ làm luôn .Phen này dân ta tha hồ ăn thịt .

-- thich du thu (toollovers@comcast.net), September 21, 2004.

Ay dà da, mấy loại heo này da mặt dầy lắm, ăn gì nổi. Chỉ có tốn than tốn củi thôi! :-))

-- _Đỉnh Ngu Trí Tệ CS (NgàyTànCS@KhátMáu.hn.vn), September 21, 2004.

Bắn ba con heo sệ heo già chỉ tổ mỡ nhiều hơn thịt. Các bạn khi ăn thịt heo quay thấy có mầu đỏ, thuở nhỏ tính hiếu kỳ tơ hay ŕnh coi mấy anh chệt quay heo khi đă quay song con lợn, anh chệt câu con heo ra khỏi ḷ rồi lấy bột mầu đỏ hoà với rượu thuốc ( có húng lừu ) rồi anh chệt nhâp vài ngụm rồi ph́ vào con heo quay c̣n nóng hổi rồi lấy cái cọ sơn cũ phết đi phết lại rồi lại phu tiếp tục cái dung dịch này cho đến khi con heo đă trông hoàn toàn brown. Khiếp từ nay các bạn cũng từ việc ăn thịt heo quay với bánh hỏi nhá.

-- (Cán_Ngố_Ăn-Dải-Dút@BBP.govt), September 21, 2004.

go- roi to long , tra loi chu Dam tac : -bo khi, the ki 21 , moi nguoi chu trong va sai 2 thu : bomb & hoa tien (ten lua ) , chu may van cham tien voi seng 7.62 , cha trach muon doi nguoi ta goi VN la nhuoc tieu , loi tai chu may !

Chu Thich -du thu : -mot ngoi but manh hon 1 su-doan VNCH, va di nhien ngoi but cua anh manh hon 100 cay seng 7.62 cua cac chu cong lai.

Chu can ngo dai-dut : -Khi chu noi ve ki thuat BBQ heo quay cua Ba Tau ma chu doan gia , doan non thi dung la chu an-dai -dut ! Ba-tau khong bao gio chi nghe cho chu , du rang chu lay Ba Tau nhieu ngay thang ![ including you kneel down to kiss their ass , they won't show it to you ]. The big successful in business is hiden from competitors, Chinese secret marinade BBQ didn't show it for nosy people as you. That's a truth.

-- Chi bua (broeker@sbcglobal.net), September 22, 2004.

go- roi to long , tra loi chu Dam tac : -bo khi, the ki 21 , moi nguoi đều chủi bọn CHXHCN và Tàu Phù Bắc Kinh xâm lược , chúng nó van cham tien voi tư tưởng cộng trừ nhân chia , cha trach muon doi nguoi ta goi CHXHCN và chệt cọng la nhuoc tieu man rợ, loi tai chu may ! Chu Chí Bưa : -mot ngoi but manh hon 1 su-doan CHXHCN, va di nhien ngoi but cua anh manh hon 100 cái đầu cua cac chu cong san chệt .

Chu can ngo dai-dut : -Khi chu noi ve ki thuat BBQ mấy thằng Ba Tau ma chu doan gia , doan non thi dung la chu thằng Chí Bựa ! Ba-tau khong bao gio chi nghe cho chu , du rang chu BBQ tụi nó nhieu ngay thang ![ including you let they kiss your ass , they won't show it to you ]. The big successful in business is hiden from competitors, Chinese secret marinade BBQ didn't show it for nice guy as you. That's a truth.

-- thich du thu (toollovers@comcast.net), September 22, 2004.