[Vnbiz] Truong Sa/Hoang Sa

[Thuy Reed]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
  The enclosed article was written for the LA Times. It was beat out by pieces about the race issue in 2008 election. This is my attempt to reach the outside world. May I share it here?
  L&P,
  Thuy Reed

"Ware, Diedre" <Diedre.Ware at latimes.com> wrote:
        Thank you for your submission to the Los Angeles Times OpEd page. Unfortunately, we are unable to use your piece. We do thank you for considering The Times and wish you luck in placing it elsewhere.
  Thank you, 
  Diedre A. Ware 
Asst. to the Editor 
OpEd and Sunday Current 
213 237-7939 
fax 213 237-7968 



   
  -----Original Message-----
From: Thuy Reed [mailto:newvietwomen at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 11:43 AM
To: oped at latimes.com
Subject: Att.: Nicholas Goldberg/The Disputed Spratlys


    Coming On Strong, With Her Neighbors
  Illuminating China�€(tm)s Weakness
   
  by Thuy Reed
   
  As if to test the water, within two weeks China announced and withdrew plans to set up a governmental unit of county level, on the two uninhabited archipelagos in the South China Sea that are currently claimed in full or in part by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
   
  There have been talks at the international level concerning the ownership of 
  these claims in New York and elsewhere. The United States has reiterated that we will not take sides, as well as our intention to keep that part of the Pacific Rim fluid to all. According to Carl Thayer, a long time Vietnam watcher of the Australian Defense Force Academy, China holds an edge over other claimants in this adverse taking of possession, for no nation in the region wishes to have a military confrontation with China.
   
  Neither would Beijing is looking to war. The entire episole was meant to whipe up some nationalistic sentiment to lift their minds from their many troubles at home.
   
  The Spratlys island chain is about 25 nautical miles from Vietnam�€(tm)s seaside resort Vung Tau, and is laced together by reefs and atolls with over 100 islets. The Paracels, taken by the Chinese forcibly in 1974 from the former South Vietnam, is about 17 nautical miles from Da Nang and about one third the size of the other archipelago. During the Colonial Period, France and the then ruling dynasty of China signed a series of treaties inscribing the two archipelagos as territories of French Indochina. Japan occupied both during the Pacific War and returned them to the French Protectorate Government.
   
  Economically speaking, both are considered to be teeming with sea life and have potential for large oil and gas reserves. National security speaking, Vietnam would be closed off from the world if both areas are controlled by an unfriendly nation.
   
  No other country in the world holds a more violent history against the people of Vietnam than their giant northern neighbor. It goes as far back as 111 years before Christ, and as recently as in 1998 where over 50 Vietnamese sailors were killed 
  in a clash on one of the Spratlys. Yet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China is issuing a diplomatic complaint, and making veiled threats about weakened ties, in response to rallies held in Vietnam against China�€(tm)s creeping policy.
   
  In 1999, about the same time Congressman Christopher Cox reported to the United States Congress that 13 of China�€(tm)s intercontinental nuclear warheads were aimed at American cities, President Jiang Zemin penned and distributed worldwide an article, trying to egg and shame the United States and Russia to cut down nuclear warheads, with an opening that stated �€oedisarmament should not become a tool for stronger nations to control weaker ones.�€
   
  Well, neither should encroachment become a tool for stronger nations to grab land from peaceful and weaker nations. Pick on someone your own size, China!
   
  In fact, just because of her size, China should conduct herself with civility towards the neighboring countries. She needs them to survive. No, this has nothing to do with the fact that practically every household item in the world is made in that country. It is about too many mouths to feed in a country that suffers perpetual drought and shortage of food.
  The People�€(tm)s Republic of China deserves credit for staging the great comeback story of the century. It took sheer dedication and wise choices to bring China up from destruction of historical proportions -- first by Japan�€(tm)s attempt to widen her sphere of influence and then by China�€(tm)s own domestic revolutionary agendas.
   
  And thanks to the world�€(tm)s enormous desires for all the inexpensive ready made goods that her people can produce, she is now rich enough to lend money even to the United States of America. Though one would have thought that in making herself into a supplier of household goods to the world, China has already figured out in today�€(tm)s world we all make it and break it together.
   
  As a matter of fact, Beijing should take advantage of the situation -- enjoying a superpower�€(tm)s status without shouldering superpower�€(tm)s responsibilities -- and go totally high-tech in manufacture as well as in agriculture to undo the rapid progression of desertification of arable land in China caused by drought and by over herding.
   
  Fixing what ails China is a better way to galvanize nationalistic feeling. On the other hand, instigating a confrontation instead of offering a solution where all claimants can prosper together, Beijing has shown that she is not ready to be a global leader. She might be able to host the Olympics, but unable to provide solutions even to regional problems. This aggressive move cheapens China�€(tm)s nationalistic claim on Taiwan.
   
  Thuy Reed, Founder/Director
  New Viet Women Foundation
  569 W 23rd Street
  San Pedro CA 90731
  Tel.: 310-521-8616

    
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