Vietnam buys Russian military material

Vietnam buys six new dive boats for approximately two billion euro and considers fighting planes of Russia.

In addition to that, Vietnam considers the purchase of twelve more planes. Purchases has been the latest and the largest attempt to modernise the Vietnamese armed forces since the end of the Vietnam-war.

With the recent weapon purchases Hanoi joins in on the recent weapons build-up around South-Chinese sea. In which groups of islands are claimed by several countries, with China as a main player. Around the islands there are possibly rich oil and gas fields. Vietnam recently mended military ties with an old enemy, the USA.

China, already for some years, have been busy with investing billions in modernizing their Navy and air power. In recent years, incidents have regularly occured between Vietnam and China.

The most serious confrontation took place in 1979, when both countries fought a short but bloody border war battle.

bron: www.volkskrant.nl [18-12-2009]

Ancient Vietnamese scripts help preserve history

While ancient scripts are often difficult to understand, four villagers in Ninh Hiep Village have opened a school that teaches locals how to read these historical documents, Luu Trinh investigates.

Old school: Students at different ages attend the free class of Hoang Dinh Da (below) to learn from him old scripts. — VNS Photos Luu Trinh

Although Hoang Dinh Da’s class does not start until 2pm, many students turn up early to prepare for their study of ancient scripts. Sitting at simple wooden tables, they are deep in animated discussion about classic reference papers and poems written in the old letters. When the teacher arrives, they quickly stop and become silent. The lesson begins.

As the old teacher remembers, over the past 13 years, hundreds of people from Ha Noi’s neighbouring regions have gathered to learn old scripts at Ninh Hiep Village, Gia Lam District, Ha Noi.

Ninh Hiep Village is well-known for its traditional trade of herbal medicine and many of the instructions on how to prepare the remedies are written in old Chinese and Vietnamese scripts. The scripts are difficult to understand and fewer and fewer herbal doctors can comprehend the documents now.

Worried that the trade would be lost, four village elders opened a class in 1996 to teach the old scripts to the villagers for free. They discussed and compiled lesson plans and opened the class at the Kieu Temple where Ly Nuong, a celebrated herbalist who created the trade of processing medicinal herbs, had worshipped.

The good news travelled fast and many people from other regions journeyed to join the class. The students varied from teachers to engineers, painters to those who had never even held a pen brush, and even those who were at home with Shih Shu (Four Books) and Wu Ching (Five Classics), ancient Chinese works handed down by Confucius and his followers.

Da feels happy when many villagers come to him. “Working as a herbal doctor without understanding old scripts is like walking in the darkness without a lantern,” he says.

Lighting up the way

Since 1996, the old teachers have transferred their knowledge to nearly 600 students over six courses, each two years in length. Now, time and old age leaves only Da on the lecture hall dais.

At the age of 82, Da still spends sleepless nights compiling lesson plans. Once, he worked under such pressure he was admitted to hospital for eye treatment. He has finished 40 documents on old Chinese scripts and four Vietnamese scripts. “Learning old Vietnamese letters is much more difficult than Chinese ones,” he says. “Only students who have mastered Chinese scripts can learn Vietnamese hieroglyphic letters.”

Most of Da’s students are middle aged. They don’t come from Ha Noi alone but also from the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Thai Binh, Hai Duong and Vinh Phuc. They don’t mind travelling long distances to learn important remedies and moral lessons from Da.

Nguyen Khac Nghi, 41, a Ninh Hiep villager, had drunk his life away. However, after five years of Da’s instruction, he decided to sort himself out and opened a herbal shop in the tradition of his family. He is always quick to remind the master of his admiration.

Dao Quang Luyen, a member of the Association of Medicine and Pharmacy in Dong Anh District, Ha Noi attends the class to study old documents. “Herbal doctors like us think highly of virtue, I can find many moral lessons and philosophy in these documents,” he said.

Luyen also said that he was lucky to be able to learn on the ancestral land of the herbalists.

Graduates from Da’s class have gone on to open their own free classes in their homelands. Da estimated that his disciples have opened at least four classes in Gia Lam District, Ha Noi and Bac Ninh Province.

Vu Thi Hue of Ha Noi doesn’t work as a doctor but she hasn’t missed a lesson in three years. She reads the old scripts with the aim of learning proper behaviour and moral principles. “Before, I didn’t understand the writing I saw in pagodas and temples but now I can,” she said.

Instead of going to the cinema or a restaurant at the weekend, Hue’s husband drives her on the one-hour journey to the class and waits in a tea shop while she studies.

That’s the way Da and his students keep studying and teaching. Thinking about the positives not the negatives. The management board of the Kieu Temple lends them a room for the work. Da manages the class, buys documents and composes lessons for free. He continues to work despite his age, driven by his teacher’s responsibility and supported by the enthusiasm of his students.

bron: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn — VNS (13-12-2009)

Vietnamese-American stars return home

Often seen on sultry magazine covers and increasingly in Hollywood and Chinese blockbusters, Vietnamese-American Maggie Q (Margaret Denise Quigley) has traveled the globe and back earning her way to stardom in Hong Kong first and then America.

In 2005, the long road took her “home”: Vietnam, that is.

[Actress Maggie Q plays with an Asiatic black bear cub at the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center in Tam Dao National Park, north of Hanoi in May, 2009.]

The land of her foremothers, Vietnam is still home to Quigley’s maternal half siblings, but she did not visit for family reasons.

With the country in full market-economy swing and large multinationals reaping the benefits of Vietnam’s two-decade-old reform process, Quigley was here not to find herself, but rather for a Louis Vuitton ad campaign.

By that time, Quigley had made a name for herself as an international model and actress, most notably after starring opposite Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible III.” Her career has been on the rise ever since as she featured alongside Bruce Willis in “Live Free or Die Hard” and recently took the Chinese-epic movement by storm with roles in Daniel Lee’s “Three Kingdoms,” opposite Andy Lau, and in Tian Zhuangzhuang’s recent “The Warrior and the Wolf.”

An outspoken animal rights activist and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) supporter, Quigley’s next Vietnam trip was worlds away from her mission for Louis Vuitton, a fashion line that has long been criticized by animal rights advocates for its fur products.

When Quigley arrived in her homeland once more in May 2009, it was as Animals Asia’s official Moon Bear Rescue Ambassador for Vietnam. During the trip she spoke out against the cruel bear bile trade in the country.

She told local media she was happy and proud to be Vietnamese and vowed to return in the not-too-distant future.

Playing his part

Considered one of Hollywood’s premiere Asian-American actors, Dustin Nguyen laid the groundwork for a solid career early on as Johnny Depp’s costar in the 1980s hit undercover-cop drama “21 Jump Street.”

[Dustin Nguyen decided to return to Vietnam because he “wanted to be a part of national film industry.”]

But it was co-starring in 2005’s “Little Fish” with Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchet in 2005 that gave the now 42-yearold Nguyen the status he currently enjoys.

It was then that he decided to return to Vietnam because he “wanted to be a part of national film industry.”

He’s since become an indispensible part of Vietnam’s rising film industry, starring in the 2008 blockbuster Dong mau anh hung (The Rebel) and then staring in Huyen thoai bat tu (The Legend Is Alive). The later role, directed by art-house favorite Luu Huynh, saw Nguyen depicting the troubles of an Agent Orange victim and garnered him the Best International Actor title at the annual Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in China last October.

Runway winner

Born in 1972 to Vietnamese parents in Laos, Chloe Dao (aka Dao Mong Tuyet) soon moved to the US with her family and ended up studying at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

But the decision didn’t please her tradition-minded family who did not want to see their young Chloe waste time and money becoming a “tailor.”

[Designer Chloe Dao wants to visit Vietnam again to hold a fashion show for charity.]

But after graduating, Dao worked in top boutiques and eventually opened her own “LOT 8,” named for her eight sisters, which became one of Houston’s premiere shops in the summer of 2000. The shop drew a diverse clientele of local celebrities, fashion stylists, club crawlers and modern career women.

But she really hit the big time after winning Project Runway, a reality show in which designers compete to win support and funding for their work.

Since winning in 2006, she’s become a regular fashion superstar.

Speaking with Thanh Nien, Dao’s mother Hue said she was proud of both her daughter and her homeland.

“At first, my family forbad her to study to be a tailor in New York, because we thought that the job would have no future in such modern society like the US. But she still ignored everything and followed her dream. She depended on no family support but finally graduated. The resilient Vietnamese spirit has given her such success.”

Dao returned to Vietnam in 2000 and said she was mesmerized by the beauty of the country during her travels. She also said that the Vietnamese fashion industry was blooming and she intended to infuse her designs with the charm of the classic Vietnamese ao dai (traditional tunic).

Since then, she said she would soon visit Vietnam again to hold a fashion show for charity.

bron: www.thanhniennews.com

Brussels seeks extended tariffs on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes

The European Union should extend its anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes to give European producers more time to adjust to international competition, the bloc’s executive said Wednesday.

“In spite of duties imposed, Chinese- and Vietnamese-made leather shoes continue to be dumped in the European market,” the European Commission said in a statement. The EU first imposed the tariffs, of 16.5 per cent of import price on Chinese shoes and 10 per cent on Vietnamese ones, in 2006, arguing that they were sold at unfair prices.

While the EU’s shoe makers have since managed to make their own production more efficient, the problem still exists, the commission said. “The removal of measures at this stage would lead to increased dumping and injury, and potentially halt the adjustment process of an industry which employs over 260,000 workers in the EU,” the statement explained.

However, since European business is now close to being able to compete in the globalized market, the commission decided to propose a 15-month extension rather than the five years allowed by EU rules. “The investigation has shown that the industry’s adjustment process is well on track. A 15-month period therefore appears reasonable to allow the industry to adjust, while minimising any effects on other stakeholders,” the statement said.

It is now up to EU member states to agree on action.

bron: www.earthtimes.org [2-12-2009]

Vietnamese man ’slept beside dead wife for 5 years’

According to Vietnamnet.vn, Le Van, 55, who is from a small town in the central province of Quang Nam, revealed that after his wife died in 2003 he would sleep on top of her grave.

And when the rain, wind and cold started bothering him 20 months later, he decided to dig a tunnel into the grave “to sleep with her”.

But his children found out about it and stopped him from returning to the grave.

So one night in November 2004 he dug up his wife’s corpse and took it home, where he used clay to mould her remains into the figure of a woman, and then dressed her up and placed her in his bed.

The father of seven said neighbours did not dare visit the house for several years.

“I’m a person that does things differently. I’m not like normal people,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

bron: blog.taragana.com (ANI) [27-11-2009]

Seminar discusses Vietnam’s history in Netherlands

Utrecht University in the Netherlands on November 6 held a seminar on Vietnam’s history as part of a plan to introduce training course on the issue.

A corner of Utrecht University in the Netherlands

More than 200 professors, historians and former anti-Vietnam War activists attended the event, where they focused discussions on Vietnam’s position in the 20th century and the Cold War, major countries’ policies and relations with Vietnam and the Netherlands’ role and ties with Vietnam in the past and at present.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the Netherlands Ha Huy Thong took the occasion to stress that Vietnam advocates diversification of relations and international integration. At present, Vietnam has normalized relations with all major countries and organizations in the world, thus opening up new opportunities in relationship with other nations, including the Netherlands.

bron: www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn [8-11-2009]

Vietnam’s market has great potential for the US, says US official

The Deputy US Trade Representative, Demetrios Marantis, has said that Vietnam (越南) is a market full of potential, which presents a great opportunity for the US.

In a recent interview, Mr Marantis said that the Southeast Asian country is a young market but is growing fast. After Vietnam and the US signed their bilateral trade agreement, bilateral trade revenues increased considerably from US$1 billion in 2001 to US$15 billion in 2008. This achievement has inspired the US to seek closer cooperation with Vietnam.

The former Chief Legal Advisor for the US-Vietnam Trade Council praised Vietnam’s ability to implement its commitments after joining the WTO as well as its commitments signed with the US. The cooperation between the two countries has been extremely productive so far, he said.

The US is now Vietnam’s largest export market, making up more than 20 percent of the country’s total export revenues. The North American nation is also the number one investor in Vietnam.

bron: english.vovnews.vn

Asian-born surgeon becomes German health minister

A surgeon of Vietnamese birth was appointed to the German government Saturday, the first person of non-European origin to serve as a minister in Berlin.

[Karl-Heinz Streibich (L) with Dr. Philipp Rösler (R)]

Philipp Rösler, who was born 36 years ago in Vietnam and adopted as a nine-month-old baby by a German couple, becomes health minister in the government of conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A rising star in the liberal Free Democrat party (FDP), Rösler was until now the German state of Lower Saxony’s minister for the economy and deputy premier.

A heart and chest surgeon by training, Rösler, will have his work cut out as he seeks to get the German health system back on a sound financial footing. He was the FDP’s point man over the past three weeks in negotiating a government programme for health reform with Merkel’s Christian-Democrats.

The reform is expected to lead to higher health insurance premiums as the government struggles to keep the system viable. Adopted from a Vietnamese orphanage, he was brought up only by his adoptive father, a career military officer, as the couple split up when Roesler was aged four.

After studying medicine, Roesler, who spent much of his youth in and around barracks, became a medical officer in the German army. He joined the FDP in 1992 and was elected to the Lower Saxony regional parliament in 2003. He was only this year appointed regional minister for the economy.

Rösler is married to a doctor and the father of one-year-old twin girls called Grietje and Gesche.

Asked recently by Stern magazine if he had been bullied in his youth because of his origin, Rösler suggested tongue-in-cheek that he had never had any trouble “because people always think that all Asians are karate experts”.

bron: www.asiaone.com [24-10-2009], www.softwareag.com [picture]

Booted marijuana grower wins new hearing

A Calgary operator of a marijuana grow-op who preyed on new immigrants and was the source of some pot sent to Toronto has won a legal victory in his fight to stay in Canada.

De Bing Li, 38, of Vietnam, was jailed for 16 months in February 2006 after pleading guilty to production of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

FOUR HOMES

He was one of four men charged in August 2004 after Calgary police raided four homes used for marijuana growing operations and seized more than 2,000 plants with an estimated street value of $2.5 million.

Police said the ring grew pot in a network of grow-ops in Calgary. Most of the drugs were sold in that city with some being trucked to Toronto and other parts of Canada.

Court heard Li, who is a permanent resident and father of two young children, was declared inadmissable to Canada and ordered deported in July last year because of his criminal record.

He appealed the deportation to the Federal Court of Canada, which this month ruled there was an error made in the case by an immigration and refugee board. The court ruled he should receive a new hearing.

NEWCOMERS

Court was told the ring preyed on newcomers to Canada who were offered big money to look after the plants. Many, like Li, quit their jobs to go into the drug trade.

“The appellant is not rehabilitated and has not shown remorse,” Federal Court Judge Robert Barnes said. “The only objective finding in his favour is that he is bringing in a revenue to this household.”

Li claimed he did not know what he was doing was illegal. No date has been set for a new hearing.

bron: www.torontosun.com [12-10-2009]

Chinese city holds trade fair in Vietnam

A trade fair to showcase products made in the Zhongshan city of south China’s Guangdong province was held here on Monday.

The fair aims to promote trade links between Zhongshan, a booming city known for manufacturing, and Vietnam, said Li Qihong,mayor of Zhongshan city at the opening ceremony on Monday.

More than 100 Zhongshan companies selling home appliances, electronics, toys, food, chemical products and machinery participated in the trade fair, said Li.

Le Danh Vinh, deputy industry and trade minister of Vietnam, said the fair is expected to provide a good opportunity for Zhongshan and Vietnamese businessmen to meet and discuss cooperation.

Bilateral trade between China and Vietnam has seen fast growth in recent years with intensified trade promotion activities at different levels, said Vinh.

The fair, running till Wednesday, is expected to seen the signing of more than 200 contracts with the value of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, according to the organizer.

bron: news.xinhuanet.com [19-10-2009]