Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese

Here are some late news related to Viet Nam I just received from SEASIA News
network.

Pha^?m Phan

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    Reuter, Hanoi, April 7 - Hanoi's army newspaper on Tuesday  
criticised Washington's demands that Vietnam fulfil conditions,
including giving U.S. officials free movement in the country, in
exchange for lifting its embargo and normalising diplomatic ties.
    A front-page editorial in the daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan said Vietnam
had tried hard to resolve the fate of the few dozen American servicemen
missing from the Vietnam War and wanted to establish a new friendship
with Washington.
    "This just requires the U.S. side now to be better aware, drop its
hostile attitude and lift the embargo, then normal relations between the
U.S. and Vietnam would immediately be established."
    The United States maintains economic sanctions it imposed against
Hanoi in 1964 and extended in 1975 against a reunified country when the
communists won the Vietnam War.
    "While waging its war against Vietnam, the U.S. administration
committed many crimes against our people. but...out of compassion for
the unfortunate American mothers and wives (who lost men), our
government has always considered the question of prisoners-of-war and
Americans missing-in-action a purely humanitarian issue, not linked to
politics," it said.
    "-they even require now to be able to go wherever they want by
themselves in our country to 'look for missing people', as if Vietnam is
a house with no owner, while they remain so strict on limiting the
movement of our diplomats in their country."
    In the last year scores of U.S. experts, working with Vietnamese
officials, have dug up graves and interviewed villagers about servicemen
missing from the war. Foreigners need to have police permits to move
between provinces in Vietnam.
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04/07 

FRENCH BANKS FINANCE VIETNAM AIRCRAFT PURCHASE

    HANOI, April 7, Reuter - Three French banks have financed Vietnam's first
successful purchase of western aircraft since 1975, officials from two of the
banks said.
    Earlier Vietnamese attempts to buy aircraft from the West failed because of
a U.S. trade embrago.
    Banque Indosuez, Banque Francaise du Commerce Exterieur (BFCE) and Banque
Nationale de Paris signed a $20 mln credit agreement in Hanoi on April 3 with
state-run Vietnam Airlines for the purchase of two ATR (Avions de Transport
Regional) aircraft, they said.
    Jacques Pelletier, international adviser of Banque Indosuez, and Jean-Luc
Paret, deputy director of BFCE, said the deal had only avoided the U.S. embargo
because less than 10 pct of the plane parts of the French-Italian ATR group were
U.S.-made.
    ATR, which makes medium-size planes with 42 to 72 seats, was expected to
deliver the aircraft to Vietnam in a few weeks.
    Washington has forbidden the transfer of U.S.-made technology to Hanoi since
1964. Vietnam Airlines has tried to upgrade its Soviet-made fleet by buying
French Airbus aircraft and leasing Boeings from Dutch and Scandinavian companies
in the last two years, to be frustrated each time by the embargo.

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04/07 

VIETNAM ARMY NEWSPAPER CRITICISES UNITED STATES

    HANOI, April 7, Reuter - Hanoi's army newspaper on Tuesday criticised
Washington's demands that Vietnam fulfil conditions, including giving U.S.
officials free movement in the country, in exchange for lifting its embargo and
normalising diplomatic ties.
    A front-page editorial in the daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan said Vietnam had tried
hard to resolve the fate of the few dozen American servicemen missing from the
Vietnam War and wanted to establish a new friendship with Washington.
    "Vietnam has consistently wanted to open a new historical page in the
relations between the two countries...a page of peaceful, friendly, cooperative
and mutually beneficial ties," it said.
    "This just requires the U.S. side now to be better aware, drop its hostile
attitude and lift the embargo, then normal relations between the U.S. and
Vietnam would immediately be established."
    The United States maintains economic sanctions it imposed against Hanoi in
1964 and extended in 1975 against a reunified country when the communists won
the Vietnam War.
    Washington said last October it was ready to start moving towards
normalisation and an eventual lifting of the embargo, but the process would have
to follow a four-phase "roadmap" plan for normalisation presented to Hanoi in
April 1991. That plan requires peace and free elections in Cambodia.
    "Vietnam and the United States have held talks on the concerned issues and
the question of normalisation. But the United States always sticks to the
ill-informed 'roadmap', filled with U.S. conditions," the army newspaper said.
    "While waging its war against Vietnam, the U.S. administration committed
many crimes against our people. but...out of compassion for the unfortunate
American mothers and wives (who lost men), our government has always considered
the question of prisoners-of-war and Americans missing-in-action a purely
humanitarian issue, not linked to politics," it said.
    "They even require now to be able to go wherever they want by themselves in
our country to 'look for missing people', as if Vietnam is a house with no
owner, while they remain so strict on limiting the movement of our diplomats in
their country."
    In the last year scores of U.S. experts, working with Vietnamese officials,
have dug up graves and interviewed villagers about servicemen missing from the
war. Foreigners need to have police permits to move between provinces in
Vietnam.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese