[Vnbiz] Vietnam protests Taiwan military flight to Spratlys

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear CACC,

We have reports often that Vietnam talks and works with China on border
issues, including water territory issues.  How about Taiwan?  Should Vietnam
talk with Taiwan about water territory issues also?  Especially Paracels and
Spratly?  Or is that Vietnam 's policy of "recognizing one China and not
supporting Taiwan's  independent movement" (please read the message anh Tai
posted yesterday about China and Vietnam talk on border issues--Deputy Pham
Gia Khiem's words to China) that prophibits Vietnam from talking about
territory issues with Taiwan?  (Except protesting when Taiwan really does
something, like a military visit to the Spratly)?

Seriously, I think Vietnam needs to work with all countries involved in the
dispute, including Taiwan.  Not just China.

On the sideline, Vietnam doesn't have to kowtow to China when it doesn't
have too.  Why does Vietnam need to keep telling China "We respect your one
China policy and do not support Taiwan's independent movement"?  Why can we,
Vietnam, just be quiet about it and say nothing?  After all, that is the
Chinese's internal issue, why do we have to commit ourselves publicly into a
position that gives us absolutely no benefits other than showing big brother
China that "We are your little brother, we are loyal and faithful to you,
oh my Almighty!"

Have a great day!

Hoanh
_____________
On Jan 24, 2008 4:17 PM, Titou <grandthenewf at gmail.com> wrote:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
> Agence France-Presse
> First Posted 20:47:00 01/24/2008
>
> HANOI -- Vietnam on Thursday protested a Taiwanese military flight to one
> of the disputed Spratly Islands, amid reports of a planned visit there by
> Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian.
>
> Taiwan on Monday for the first time sent a military aircraft, a C-130
> transport plane, to one of the Spratly islands for a one-day return trip, a
> defense official in Taipei said Wednesday.
>
> Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, China, Malaysia and the Philippines claim all or
> part of the potentially oil-rich Spratlys.
>
> "Vietnam requests Chinese Taipei to stop immediately this action and to
> stop similar actions in the region," said Vietnam's foreign ministry
> spokesman Le Dung, using the name by which communist China refers to Taiwan.
>
> Dung told a media briefing that "Vietnam resolutely opposes all acts
> violating the sovereignty of Vietnam" over the Spratlys and the Paracels,
> another disputed island group in the South China Sea.
>
> The Taipei-based United Daily News reported Chen was planning a trip to
> the Spratlys before the March 22 presidential election to underscore
> Taipei's claim to the archipelago.
>
> Chen, who is to retire in May after eight years in office, planned to take
> an air force C-130 transport aircraft to the Taiping islet, the biggest
> island in the Spratlys, the newspaper said.
>
> The trip, if it goes ahead, would likely trigger protests from claiming
> countries.
>
> Taiwan's defense ministry began building a 1,150-meter (3,773-feet) runway
> on the fortified Taiping islet in mid-2006, despite protests from Vietnam,
> and the project has been completed, the paper said.
>
> All claimants except Brunei have troops based on the archipelago of more
> than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, which have a total land mass of less than
> five square kilometers (two square miles).
>
-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
Washington DC
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