This blog is updated regularly so make sure you check it often. The opinions expressed in blog entries and comments reflect individual perspectives and do not necessarily reflect VietWill's position.
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China Tries To Make Exxon A Pawn |
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Investor Business Daily
21 July 2008
Energy: Big Oil is easy to kick around — just ask any Democrat in Congress. But China's threats to Exxon Mobil are in another league. Its bid to use Exxon Mobil as a wedge against its rival Vietnam is a case in point.
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Solidarity needed in Southeast Asia |
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By Mong Palatino
UPI Asia Online
10 July 2008
Manila, Philippines — Regional kinship in Southeast Asia is weak or nonexistent.
We perceive ourselves as Asians in general; but not residents of the Southeast
Asian region. There is little interaction among people in the region. Economic
cooperation is minimal. Political events in one country hardly make an impact on
the politics of a neighboring country.
Filipinos are so busy being Filipinos that they have forgotten their shared
heritage with the rest of the people in Southeast Asia. The same can be said of
other nationalities in the region. But nationalism is not the only reason why
regional affinity is practically absent in Southeast Asia.
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Vietnam assumes president seat of UN Security Council |
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This July, Vietnam assumes the seat of the president of the United Nations Security Council for the month. From the programme outlined by Le Luong Minh, the Permanent Representative of Vietnam (see press release below), there is no mention of the South China Sea dispute as one of the issues that Vietnam will attempt to bring to the table for discussion.
As people who have a direct interest in Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, how should we respond to this occasion? Please give your ideas on what actions should or should not be taken in order ensure that the Vietnamese people’s wishes are advanced in the international arena?
**********************
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What will Nguyen Tan Dung talk to Bush about? |
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By Tony Le
19 June 2008
 On June 17th the White House announced that next week, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will visit the U.S. on a three day trip starting on Tuesday. Dung will come to the White House to meet with President George Bush, and the two are scheduled to discuss ways to boost cooperation in education, energy, climate change and food security, among other things.
It is unclear whether China will be mentioned in the discussion between the two leaders. However, if it doesn’t, it’s another opportunity lost as far as I am concerned because in the issue of energy, the new bully on the block is none other than Beijing. The Chinese government is doing its best to secure future energy supplies by entering into close relationships with all sorts of rogue governments in both Africa and Asia. It is trying to build up its influence over the Indian Ocean in competition with India, vying for control of the East China Sea with Japan and Korea, and outright claiming nearly all of the South China Sea and the islands in it.
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Taiwan boat crash vs. Vietnam fishermen boat crash |
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By Tony Le
12 June 2008
I read the following excerpt in a China Daily news article about the Taiwan boat crash incident and thought to myself: Let's compare this incident to incidents taking place in Vietnam's Eastern Sea by the Chinese navy boat patrol:
China is dissatisfied with the actions of a Japanese Coast Guard patrol boat in waters near the Diaoyu Islands that led to the sinking of a Taiwan fishing boat Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.
We Vietnamese are very dissatisfied with the actions of Chinese Coast Guard patrol boat in waters in the Paracel and Spratly Islands that led to the sinking of numerous Vietnamese fishing boats for many years.
"We are seriously concerned and strongly dissatisfied with the incident that caused the sinking of the Taiwan fishing boat," Qin said yesterday at a regular press conference. The patrol boat collided with the fishing vessel near the islands early yesterday morning. The fishing boat sank soon after, about 9 km south of the islands. All 16 of its crew were rescued.
We are serious alarmed and strongly dissatisfied with the incidents that caused all these Vietnamese boats to be sunk and numerous fishermen suffering injury and even death from being shot at by the Chinese navy patrol.
In these intentional crashes, Vietnamese fishermen are left to die in the waters. The ones who are captured (kidnapped) are taken to Hainan island and are extorted money up to 15,000 USD as well as having their possessions confiscated leaving them bankrupt. If families do not send the amount of money required, the fishermen are made to stay in prison and are treated as pirates and criminals.
The Diaoyu Islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times and China owns indisputable sovereignty over them, Qin said. The Chinese government has asked Japan to stop illegal activities in waters near the islands, to prevent similar incidents from happening again, he said.
The Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands have been Vietnamese territories since ancient times and Vietnam owns indisuputable sovereignty over them. We Vietnamese ask China to stop illegal activities in waters near the islands and near the Vietnamese seashore, such as making oil explorations in Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone, making incursions into Vietnamese internal waters, hungting down Vietnamese fishermen, and slamminng into small Vietnamese fishing boats with its powerful navy patrol boats.
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