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VN News (Mar. 5-6/1997)
Mar 06: Vietnam's communist party chief calls for strong state grip on economy
Mar 06: US and Vietnam discuss outstanding pre-1975 debts
Mar 06: Vietnam: Party Chief Do Muoi Promotes 'State Capitalism'
Mar 06: Vietnam's vice defence minister to visit Japan
Mar 06: Vietnam, Benin hold cooperation discussions
Mar 05: Mother and daughter face drugs trial in Vietnam
Mar 05: Hanoi's Doi Moi should encompass TV
Mar 05: Vietnam's Largest City Faces Over-Population
Thursday - Mar 06, 1997
US and Vietnam discuss outstanding pre-1975 debts
HANOI (AFP) -- Negotiations are underway between Vietnam and the
United States on settling debts incurred by the South Vietnamese government
before 1975, a government source said Thursday.
Barbara Griffith, deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Finance
and International Development is holding talks with the Vietnamese Ministry of
Finance during a three day visit to Hanoi from March 4 to 7, he said.
The two governments were negotiating "the value of the outstanding debt and
arranging a timetable for repayment," spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Tran Quang Hoan told a press conference.
The debt, which is estimated at less than 12 million dollars, was borrowed
by the former Saigon regime for "development and humanitarian purposes," he
said.
However, a foreign source familiar with the negotiations said the figure,
including outstanding interest was probably "closer to 100 million dollars".
When asked about the willingness of Hanoi's communist government to assume
debts incurred by its former enemy, he responded that "according to the Paris
Club accords, Vietnam should pay all the debts they owe."
Thursday - Mar 06, 1997
Vietnam: Party Chief Do Muoi Promotes 'State Capitalism'
HANOI (AP) -- Communism won't be sidelined by economic reform in Vietnam, where
'state capitalism' is the national goal, Communist Party chief Do Muoi said
in a speech.
'We should develop a strong and efficient state-owned economy in both
production and goods distribution,' Muoi said in a speech published Thursday
in the official Vietnam News.
Muoi said economic change wouldn't make socialist ideology obsolete, but
he emphasized the need for communism to evolve and grow with the country.
Some old-guard communists say market-oriented reforms threaten Vietnam's
political stability and eliminate the party's role in economic central
planning.
But Muoi said economic reform and socialism weren't mutually exclusive.
Thursday - Mar 06, 1997
Vietnam's vice defence minister to visit Japan
TOKYO (AFP) -- Vietnam's vice minister of national defence,
Lietenant General Tran Hanh, will arrive in Tokyo Monday on a week-long visit,
it was announced Thursday.
Tran is to meet Japan's state minister for defence, Fumio Kyuma, and senior
foreign ministry officials, the foreign ministry said. He will also inspect
units and facilities of Japan's self-defence forces.
The trip is aimed at promoting exchanges and dialogue on security affairs
between Japan and Vietnam, the ministry said.
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visited Vietnam as part of a tour of five
member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in January
and invited Vietnamese defence officials to Japan.
Thursday - Mar 06, 1997
Vietnam, Benin hold cooperation discussions
HANOI (AFP) -- Pierre Osho, the foreign affairs and cooperation
minister for Benin, held talks with Vietnamese officials aimed at increasing
bilateral cooperation, an official source said Thursday.
Osho met Wednesday with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Manh Cam, in
preparation for the seventh summit of Francophone nations to be held here in
November, the first major international conference organized in Vietnam.
Benin hosted the last Francophone summit, which draws leaders of some 50
nations.
Osho also held discussions with deputy ministers of agriculture and trade
on measures to promote economic cooperation between the two nations. He also
met with Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.
Osho is to leave Hanoi at the end of the five-day visit on Friday for Hong
Kong.
Wednesday - Mar 05, 1997
Mother and daughter face drugs trial in Vietnam
Hanoi (Reuter) -- A Vietnamese woman in her seventies and her daughter, a
Canadian
national, will go on trial in Hanoi this month for possession of heroin, the
official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said on Thursday.
Tran Thi Cam and her daughter, Nguyen Thi Hiep, were arrested last year at
Hanoi's Noi Bai airport as they checked in for a flight to Hong Kong.
Customs officials were reported to have found 5.4 kg (11.9 lb) of heroin packed
in small bags and hidden behind five paintings in their luggage.
VNA said the trial was one of nine drug cases which would go to court in Hanoi
this month. Among others standing trial will be Nguyen Thi Phuc, who is alleged
to have been the brains behind a notorious crime syndicate.
Sentences for drug-trafficking offences in Vietnam include the death penalty.
International drug smugglers have increasingly used the country as a transit
route to the West from the ``Golden Triangle'' opium-poppy growing zone where
Burma, Laos and Cambodia join. Heroin is synthesised from opium alkaloids.
Wednesday - Mar 05, 1997
Hanoi's Doi Moi should encompass TV
Hanoi -- If you ask people in Hanoi which television program is their favorite,
the answer would probably be "Bao Cong," a Taiwanese period drama which has
aired twice a week on state-run Hanoi Television for about a year.
In the drama, set in Sung dynasty China, protagonist Bao Cong is a judge
who convicts corrupt government officials.
In Vietnam, where corruption among bureaucrats and Communist Party
officials is widespread, people seem quite happy to see Bao Cong relentlessly
punish the bad guys, even if the story is fictitious. Sales of videotapes of
the program have been brisk, sources said.
The popularity of "Bao Cong" may reflect the dearth of interesting
domestically produced television shows. It was only last year, for example,
that state-run Vietnam Television, the only nationwide network, started
showing more entertaining programs such as quiz shows.
While one could take this as a sign that the nation's open-door Doi Moi
policy is starting to liberalize the nation's broadcast media, most programs
made in Vietnam remain educational in content.
Some people, hungry for interesting programs, have turned to watching
programs on CNN, Hong Kong's StarTV and other foreign-operated satellite
channels.
Although using a satellite dish requires government approval in Vietnam,
many households seem to be ignoring the regulation, prompting the government
in January to make it illegal for the general public to receive satellite
programs. Communist Party members and high-ranking government officials,
however, are exempt from this law.
"The national network shows CNN and other foreign programs," said a
source at the Vietnamese Culture and Information Ministry. "That should
satisfy the need for information from throughout the world."
However, that is only a front. Clearly, the government intends to control
and censor outside information that might undermine the reign of the Communist
Party.
There is public outrage against the policy, which favors only
high-ranking government officials.
It seems, therefore, that "Bao Cong" will remain popular until Doi Moi
makes progress in the liberalization of television broadcasting in
Vietnam. -- The Daily Yomiuri
Wednesday - Mar 05, 1997
Vietnam's Largest City Faces Over-Population
HANOI (Xinhua News) -- Vietnam's largest city, Ho Chi Minh City,
is gripped with an increasing burden of over-population, local press
reported today.
Ho Chi Minh City, the largest economic hub in Vietnam, has a population
of more than 5 millions.
Alarmed by the population explosion in downtown areas, the city's
Acting Chairman Vo Viet Thanh lobbied for the construction of a new
area last year, so that the city can proceed with the urban relocation
program by the year 2005.
The authorities have planned to develop a second area called "Sai Gon
Two." However, there has been little progress so far. Enditem