VN News 29/07/97

[Dam Son <son@u.washington.edu>]

France's Chirac to visit Vietnam in November 
Vietnam General in Rallying Call for Socialism 
Vietnam Premier Calls For Security At Offshore Oil Fields 
Impoverished Vietnamese fishermen refuse to buy lifejackets 
Vietnamese Newspaper Highlights - July 28, 1997 
US, Russia, Vietnam call for joint effort against drugs 

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France's Chirac to visit Vietnam in November 

PARIS, July 29 (Reuter) - French President Jacques Chirac will pay an
official visit to Vietnam just before a summit of French-speaking
countries scheduled in Hanoi in November, his office said on Tuesday.

Chirac told visiting Vietnamese Defence Minister Doan Kue he was
"happy to accept the invitation extended by Vietnamese authorities,"
his spokeswoman Catherine Colonna told reporters.

Chirac told Kue that France intended considerably to increase its
exchanges with Asian states and that Vietnam, which France ruled from
the 1880s and until its military defeat by Communist forces at Dien
Bien Phu in 1954, would be "a privileged partner."

The late President Francois Mitterrand was in 1992 the first French
president to visit Vietnam.

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Vietnam General in Rallying Call for Socialism 

HANOI, July 29 (Reuter) - A top Vietnam general has spoken about the
dangers posed by the communist country's decade old experiment with
capitalism, and called for steps to protect communism and socialist
economic principles.

Le Kha Phieu, one of the most powerful figures in the elite politburo
and seen as a candidate for a leadership post, told the Vietnam
Economic Times that ensuring the dominance of state industry over
other sectors of the economy was a key goal.

Phieu, 66, added that while Hanoi wanted a multi-sector economy,
including both private and foreign invested business, it was essential
not to allow "deviation from the socialist path"

"If the nation is strong enough to maintain its principles, then the
stronger partners will not be able to impose their will on the weaker
ones, and the richer side will not be able to bully the poorer," he
said.

Phieu spoke at length about the need to continue the use of
cooperatives, and said the question of how to strengthen them would be
discussed at an important Communist Party plenum on the economy,
scheduled for later this year.

Lieutenant-General Le Kha Phieu, a former military-political
commissar, is not normally seen as a figure in Vietnam's power
hierarchy associated with economic thinking.

But his remarks are significant in that they come at a time of
considerable speculation about successors to the current leadership
triumvirate.

President Le Duc Anh, 76, and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, 74, are
expected to step down within weeks. Communist Party chief Do Muoi, 80,
announced recently that he too had asked to retire.

Phieu is one of several candidates viewed as being in the running for
the post of either party secretary or president.

In a separate development on Tuesday the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's
Army) newspaper commented in an editorial that Vietnam's military
should play a core role in maintaining socialism in the face of
threats from 'peaceful evolution'.

Peaceful evolution is a term used in Vietnam, China and some other
countries to refer to the gradual undermining of communism by mostly
Western commercial, cultural and ideological values.

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Vietnam Premier Calls For Security At Offshore Oil Fields 

Hanoi (AP-Dow Jones)-- Vietnam needs to increase security around its
offshore oil and natural gas fields, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet said
in a decree published Tuesday.

Although most of Vietnam's offshore drilling fields lie close to its
coastline, several skirt or cross into contested waters in the South
China Sea. Vietnam has about 20 fields under exploration.

'The focus of the job of maintaining security and safety for the oil
and gas industry is to protect activities of exploration, while
defending internal political security and national property,' Kiet
said in the decree published in the official People's Army newspaper.

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Impoverished Vietnamese fishermen refuse to buy lifejackets 

Hanoi (dpa) - Impoverished Vietnamese fishermen are refusing to buy
life-jackets despite a government warning for them to be prepared for
the typhoon season which last year claimed more than 100 lives in one
storm alone, said a report Tuesday.

Of 22,000 known fishermen in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa,
one of the poorest in the country, only 430 were reported to have
invested the necessary four dollars for a life-jacket, the Vietnam
News Agency reported.

Local officials ordered that from this year all fishermen should have
life-jackets but the provincial budget is insufficient to buy them,
the report said.

"Even families which lost members at sea last year are not concerned
about providing themselves with life-jackets," it said. "Most of the
local people are poor and life-jackets costs about four to five
kilograms of fish."

Last year a single typhoon drowned more than 100 Thanh Hoa fishermen
when it engulfed a flotilla of small wooden boats after the storm
apparently suddenly changed direction.

The incident generated considerable controversy over whether officials
had given adequate storm warnings or if it was really the fault of
fishermen who took a gamble to harvest a rich haul of squid close to
shore.

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Vietnamese Newspaper Highlights - July 28, 1997 

Hanoi, July 28 (VNA) - Highlights of Vietnam's daily newspapers today:

NHAN DAN:

- Speaking at a grand meeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of
War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27) held in Hanoi on Saturday, Mr
Le Kha Phieu, Permanent member of the Standing Committee of the
Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam said the Party and
Government had always paid much attention to these war invalids and
surviving family members, particularly surviving parents of fallen
combatants.

HANOI MOI:

- Hanoi's hotel industry is facing a freeze until the year 2003 in
anticipation of a continued foreign tourism slowdown.

- The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment will soon issue
a priority list of areas for investment. They include technologies for
communication (computer and software manufacturing), electronics and
optic electronics, optical equipment manufacturing, specialised
additives, biology, pharmaceutical manufacturing, aviation and robots.

VIETNAM NEWS:

- Cathay Pacific Airways will open a new office in Hanoi today.

- Motorbike companies race to control Vietnam's market.

(VNA)

28-07 1543

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US, Russia, Vietnam call for joint effort against drugs 

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 (Bernama) - The United States, Russia and
Vietnam today called for more concerted efforts against the drug
menace.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who spoke at length on the
blight, said: "The primary source of these drugs is Burma (Myanmar),
which is itself experiencing an alarming rise in drug abuse and AIDS
infection."

Noting that the American people had suffered tremendously from the
plague like the people of Southeast Asia, she said narcotics
production had grown in Myanmar year after year, defying international
effort to solve the problem.

"As a result, drug traffickers who once spent their days leading mule
trains down jungle tracks are now leading lights in Burma's new market
economy and leading figures in its political order," she said.

She made the remarks at the opening dialogue between the nine Asean
countries and their 10 partners - US, Russia, China, Japan, South
Korea, India. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the European Union.

Asean groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Albright also said it was hard to imagine a lasting solution to the
region's narcotics problem without a lasting solution to Myanmar's
political crisis, adding that this was one reason why President
Clinton had barred future US investment in Myanmar.

Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, in his opening statement,
called for pragmatic approach to solve the problem.

"We need to cooperate vigorously in joint actions against these evils
which in varying degrees and forms are present in all of our
countries."

He said the Russian proposal was to convene an international meeting
to identify the scope of the probem in their respective countries,
elaborate the basic principles of interstate cooperation in combating
drugs and establish a data bank open to all interested parties.

"The expert meeting could also address the possible harmonisation (or
creation) of national anti-drug legislation for our efforts to be
fully combined and coordinated," he added.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam, who described the problem
a "burning global issue" that was extremely difficult and complicated,
said cooperation in drug control had been accorded a high priority in
Asean work programme.

Asean, Cam said, had worked out a plan of action and specific projects
including drug-trafficking control, preventive education, treatment
and rehabilitation.

"... we call upon the international community to join efforts to
reduce demand for drugs, and we look forward to increased support from
dialogue partners to assist Asean in these cooperative projects," he
said.

(Bernama)

28-07 1925

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