[Vnbiz] Truong Sa/Hoang Sa

Tue Jan 15 09:04:42 PST 2008

Dear chi Thuy Reed, 

I have really enjoyed reading your very well-written article! Thanks for
sharing this with us, and good luck on attempts to have it published
elsewhere!

Best regards,

Thanh An

email: thanhan2505 at gmail.com

  _____  

From: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com [mailto:vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com]
On Behalf Of Thuy Reed
Sent: 15 January 2008 14:23
To: vnbiz at vietlinks.net
Subject: [Vnbiz] Truong Sa/Hoang Sa

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 ChinaC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(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 ar
chipelagos i n 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 VietnamC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(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 b y
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 ChinaC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(tm)s creeping policy.

In 1999, about the same time Congressman Christopher Cox reported to the
United States Congress that 13 of ChinaC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(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 Sta tes and Russia to cut down
nuclear warheads, with an opening that stated C 
  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,oedisarmament should not become a tool for stronger nations
to control weaker ones.C 
  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,C 
  _____  

B[1]C[1]B

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 PeopleC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(tm)s Republic of China deserves credit for staging the
great c omeback story of the century. It took sh eer dedication and wise
choices to bring China up from destruction of historical proportions --
first by JapanC 
  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(tm)s attempt to widen her sphere of influence and then by
ChinaC 
  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(tm)s own domestic revolutionary agendas.

And thanks to the worldC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(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 todayC 
  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(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 superpowerC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(tm)s status without shouldering superpowerC 
  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

 B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(tm)s responsibilities -- and go totally high-tech in
manufact ure 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 ChinaC 

  _____  

B/C[1]B?C[1]B=C 
  _____  

B"C[1]B[1]C[1]B,(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

  _____  

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51438/*http:/www.yahoo.com/r/hs>  your homepage.

  _____  

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51438/*http:/www.yahoo.com/r/hs>  homepage. 

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