[Vnbiz] Truong Sa/Hoang Sa
thanh.huynh at arrowasia.com
thanh.huynh at arrowasia.com
Tue Jan 15 17:49:30 PST 2008
It's well written article. Thanks chi Thuy.
Keep posting your articles.
Cheers,
Thanh
Thuy Reed
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saigon.com
16/01/2008 01:22 AM
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[ Vietnam Business Forum ]
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 ChinaÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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
VietnamÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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
ChinaÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(tm)s creeping policy.
In 1999, about the same time Congressman Christopher Cox reported to the
United States Congress that 13 of ChinaÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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 Ã?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬oedisarmament should not
become a tool for stronger nations to control weaker
ones.Ã?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬Ã?Â'Ã'Â?
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 PeopleÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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 JapanÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(tm)s
attempt to widen her sphere of influence and then by
ChinaÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(tm)s own domestic revolutionary agendas.
And thanks to the worldÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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
todayÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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 superpowerÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(tm)s status without
shouldering superpowerÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã? ¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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 ChinaÃ?¯Ã'¿Ã'½Ã?¢Ã'Â'Ã'¬(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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