From: tungle@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Tung T. Le)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: Help Vietnam or be quiet is even more use ...
Date: 21 Jan 93 07:08:17 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


I want to go back to VN to help the poor people when it is safe to do so.
Meanwile I am helping from a distance  &  motivating supports for Vietnam's
economic integration into the world.  I'm not trying to help the bad gov.
but the people who are not as fortunate as I am. 

And to the people on the network who have nothing but negative mouths of
criticism of everything good others want to do, I have this to say: is it
wrong to want to help your own people?  Are well-wishing gestures wrong?
Ask yourself what have you done for VN? 

You are an exile in the US just like me. You wanna be white & act like whites,
but the whites don't want you. They've been calling you names since your grades
school days. You are ashame to identify with & help your own people. Every
time some fellow Vietnamese want to do something (no matter how small) for VN,
you begin to criticise. You say 'why bother?'. But if you've made it this far 
to college, then they must also have taught you that nothing is perfect: 
        there are the bad VN gov., the dangers & risks 

But you don't have to go back to VN to help the poor in VN. Just encourage
people to invest in your country, send back money to help your relatives
so they invigorate the economy. And please don't find faults with the people
open to attact, but remember: it is the thought that counts. You do more good
to my relatives in  VN than publishing a 1000-page manual full of criticisms.

I am in the US to get a good education & make some money. I don't intend to
make it a home. It is a land full of opportunity and that's what I am here for.
I don't need to change my  skin color  or  my heritage to succeed.

*  Some people said why don't I go back to VN to make room for those waiting in
camps in Hong Kong to take my place. Now this is sheer stupidity on their part
because they know full well  that the US doesn't let people exchange places.
No matter how many of us return to VN, no new people can come if they don't
meet strict INS criterias.

*  Some people asked me what did I sworn to do when I assume US citizenship.
I simply swear that I would defend the US. But going back to help poor people
in Vietnam in no ways violates this promise. I don't intend to work for the
Vietnamese's gov but for the poor people in the villages. So, it is irrelevant.

(to tell you the truth, I took US citizenship out of convenience in travel
documents rather than out of feeling really loyal to the US. But, I promised;
so I'll defend the US).

*  To another shallow-thinking person who quipped that 'if Vietnamese people
are so smart, why would they need the US's help in ending the trade embargo?'
I wonder if this person ever took 'International Trade Economics'. The US is
NOT doing Vietnam a favor; in trades, both parties gain. The only thing that's
preventing the US from normalizing relations is their pride in getting all
the MIA bodies back, since they've lost the war. Also, we live in a world
that has integrated so much that every country needs each other. 

Actually, the US has used its military & industrial influence to stop other
countries from helping Vietnam. The US is a big country that can bully people.

For example: in 1991 France wants to help VN to be eligible to borrow money
for reconstruction from the Asian Development Bank, by agreeing to pay
Vietnam's outstanding debts of about $200 millions. The US veto. Since it sits
on the Board along with other nations, that's the end of the matter.

Another example: in early '92, Vietnam Airlines wants to have more planes to 
ferry tourists into the country that could create a huge injection of money 
to help the economy. So VA charters an  Airbus  plane made by Europeans from 
this Bulgarian company whose country  also is in desperate need for cash. The
deal seems to be beneficial to everyone involve. The 1st flight landed in
Singapore (I was in Singapore at that time) and the next thing, the whole plane
was impounded. Because Pratt & Whitney (the engine maker whose engine happens
to be used in the plane) sue the Bulgarian company for using US made engine
in countries currently on US's trade embargo list. Now it seems to me a bit
unfair because they had bought and paid for the plane already, and yet their
right of usage is encroached upon. So, no money for VN, none for Bulgaria. What
did the US gain?

*  To answer another person who suggest that Vietnam gave away the two island
chains  Quan dao Truong Sa & Hoang Sa  to China, it is a sheer nonsense 
suggestion. From what I read in Singapore newspaper's, China was militarily
stronger and forced Vietnam to withdraw from the islands. In 1988 they sank
1 Vietnamese Navy ship and killed 7 personnel onboard during a battle. They
simply used their military muscle to 'eject' Vietnam out of the islands
whom both countries claimed for thousands of years. 

The Chinese's claim to the islands rests on a shaky old paper retelling naval
expeditions of a general during the Tang dynasty. It said the general visited
the islands, so it must be Chinese territory. They have neither showed the
paper to other countries nor verified its authenticity. Even so, visit doesn't
mean that other people haven't visit it before you.

Vietnamese fisherman & merchants have visited the islands thousands of times
at roughly the same time also.

China is now negotiating to buy an aircraft carrier from Ukraine for a cheap
$240 million. They've bought roughly 70 MiG & Su fighters from Russia. They've
finished construction of an airbase on  the island of Hai Nam, and trying
to project their dominance into  the South China Sea. They are well within
striking distance of any  area in Vietnam.  I am not ready for another
century of China ruling Vietnam, like old time eh?


			Le Thanh Tung
				tungle@eniac.seas.upenn.edu