PNS editor Andrew Lam is a Vietnamese American writer who travels frequently to East Asia. Now even Pakistan's children are acquiring the taste. PNS commentator Dr. Zia Mian, based in Islamabad, is a Research Fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a columnist with Islamabad's English-language newspaper The News. But Hanoi's hard-line Marxist faction has more than trade relations on its mind. All of a sudden Washington and Beijing are back on track, after a series of reversals brought their relations to the breaking point.
Much deeper forces are now at work binding the two together in the Pacific.
PNS editor Franz Schurmann, author of several books on China, is professor emeritus of history and sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. This is the second of a two part series looking at the impact of normalization on Vietnam. The first, written by Gen. Lam's son, Andrew Lam, explored the cultural ramifications of Vietnam's love affair with America. Vietnam-born Andrew Lam is a San Francisco writer of fiction and a journalist. All Rights Reserved.