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VN News (Mar. 11-12/1997)
Mar 12: Bank director rearrested in Vietnam's biggest corruption scandal
Mar 12: Vietnam's national assembly session to open in April
Mar 12: Vietnam gears up for Francophone summit
Mar 12: Vietnam agrees to mull developing disputed waters with Thailand
Mar 12: Vietnam to prosecute female Taiwanese factory manager for abuse
Mar 12: Vietnam, Thailand sign scientific cooperation, diplomatic visa accords
Mar 12: Vietnam FM hopes ambassador exchange will boost economic ties
Mar 11: Vietnam Moves to Limit Access to the Internet
Mar 11: Japan, Vietnam to hold bilateral economic talks
Wednesday - Mar 12, 1997
Bank director rearrested in Vietnam's biggest corruption scandal
HANOI (AFP) - A top official of Vietnam's largest
commercial bank who was at large after being sentenced to
15 years in Vietnam's Tamexco scandal has been apprehended,
a court official said Wednesday.
An official from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court
confirmed press reports that Nguyen Duy Lo, former deputy
general director of Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam
(Vietcombank) had been rearrested on Tuesday.
He had been at large since January 30 when he was sentenced
to 15 years in jail for his role in the Tamexco case in
which 40 million dollars in state funds were embezzled.
Twenty people were convicted, including four who received
the death penalty, in Vietnam's biggest scandal at the
Tamexco, and import export company with direct links to the
ruling communist party.
Sixteen defendents, including Lo and the four who received
death sentences, have appealed their sentences and their
cases will go to trial on March 24 at the Ho Chi Minh City
Supreme People's Court.
Lo was among four senior banking officials including
another Vietcombank former vice general director and former
chairman of Firstvina Bank convicted and who are appealing
their sentences.
Wednesday - Mar 12, 1997
Vietnam's national assembly session to open in April
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam's national assembly is set
to vote on a long-awaited bank law when it begins its next
session in Hanoi on April 2, press reports said Wednesday.
During the 40-day session of the 11th National Assembly
session, which meets twice a year to pass laws, 395 elected
deputies will consider legislation on corporate income tax
and on reforming the banking system.
Deputies will also vote on the government budget and review
the performance of the economy and ministries.
The assembly is also to consider updating Vietnam's
criminal code to include new crimes such as corruption,
child abuse and drug abuse which have seen a sharp rise in
recent months.
The assembly session is scheduled to finish on May 10.
Wednesday - Mar 12, 1997
Vietnam gears up for Francophone summit
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam has begun preparations for
the first ever Francophone summit, to be held here in
November, by appointing its vice premier to head a national
committee, the Vietnam News Agency reported Wednesday.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh was appointed to head a
national committee charged with the organisation of the
French-speaking countries'summit, the official news agency
said.
The decision to set up the committee, which also includes
senior officials from various government agencies, was
announced at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Some 250 government officials including leaders from 49
countries, most of them French-speaking African nations,
will participate in the Francophone summit set to take
place in Hanoi from November 14-16. Some 2,000 delegates
are expected to attend.
Wednesday - Mar 12, 1997
Vietnam agrees to mull developing disputed waters with Thailand
Hanoi (dpa) - Vietnam agreed Wednesday to consider jointly developing
with Thailand the maritime area both countries claim, which in past
years has witnessed naval encounters and fishing boat seizures,
according to a senior Thai official.
Vietnam also committed itself to pressing ahead with various roads
projects that would link Thailand to Vietnamese ports via Laos, said
Thai foreign ministry spokesmean Surapong Jayanama.
The new positions arose during Wednesday meetings in Hanoi between
visiting Thai Foreign Minister Prachuab Chaiyasarn and various
Vietnamese leaders.
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet expressed Hanoi's willingness to proceed
with the road projects as soon as Laos could be persuaded to agree and
financial backing lined up.
`` Vietnam had never before officially mentioned their readiness to
jointly - in cooperation with Thailand - develop these highways,'' said
Surapong.
``As far as Vietnam and Thailand are concerned any route that the Lao
feel comfortable with will go ahead,'' he explained.
Prachuab's three day visit to Vietnam, which began Wednesday, is aimed
at clearing the way for a visit to Hanoi by Thai Prime Minister
Chavaolit Yongchaiyudth on March 30-31.
Prachuab said both visits were strengthening the political committment
to resolve overlapping maritime claims, which will be taken up by a
joint commission in May.
``This step-by-step [approach] will lead to the success [of resolving]
these differences,'' the minister said.
The Thai proposal to jointly develop the area in the Gulf of Thailand
which both sides claim - similiar to the agrement Bangkok already has
with Kuala Lumpur - was made in the Wednesday meetings.
The agreement would proceed pending the settlement of the legal issues
involved, Surapong explained.
Kiet asked Thailand to find ways to boost relatively small bilateral
trade - roughly 400 milion dollars - and to help correct the imbalance
which has long favoured Thailand with three-fourths of the sales.
The sides also signed two agreements Wednesday on scientific and
environmental cooperation and granting visa-free access to each other's
countries by diplomatic and official passport holders.
Prachuab said all arrested Thai fishermen had been released and he
hoped that the last 18 Thai fishing boats, held by local Vietnamese
authorities, would be let go soon.
The Thai delegation also offered Vietnam training to prepare for the
two major international meetings Hanoi will host - the Francophone
summit this November and the annual ASEAN summit of regional leaders.
Vietnam to prosecute female Taiwanese factory manager for abuse
Hanoi (dpa) - Vietnamese officials have filed charges against a
Taiwanese shoe factory manager for physically abusing her staff after
she made them run barefoot around the plant for violating company
regulations, according to a local newspaper report Wednesday.
All 56 employees were ordered to run a kilometre around the factory
after several of them wore shoes into the factory, which is prohibited,
according to the Saigon Liberation newspaper.
It was unclear what possible penalities Hsu Jui Jun, 30, the manager
of the Pouchen Shoe factory, could face.
But in an earlier case, a female Korean manager who slapped employees
on the head with an unfinished shoe for throwing away scraps was given a
three-month suspended sentence last July.
The paper said the manager of the 100-per-cent Taiwanese-owned firm in
southern Dong Nai province was notorious for her abusive manner, which
included swearing at workers in Vietnamese.
Managers from Korean and Taiwanese firms - particularly of small to
medium-sized firms - have earned a reputation in Vietnam for being
abusive to staff.
Analysts say striking cultural differences are often highlighted by a
prickly sense of pride among Vietnamese workers who are quick to take
offence.
Wednesday - Mar 12, 1997
Vietnam, Thailand sign scientific cooperation, diplomatic visa accords
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam and Thailand Wednesday
signed agreements on visa exemptions and technology
cooperation, witnessed here by visiting Thai Foreign
Minister Prachuab Chaiyasarn.
Prachuab met with Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Manh Cam
and was expected to visit Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet later
in the afternoon and make a courtesy visit to communist
party general secretary Do Muoi Wednesday evening, Thai
embassy sources said.
Prachuab, who is leading a 104-strong delegation including
Commerce Minister Narongchai Akrasenee and deputy minister
of transportation and communications, Pinit Charusombat,
along with many businessman.
Prachuab and Vietnamese Minister of Science, Technology and
the Environment Pham Gia Khiem signed an accord to promote
scientific cooperation and co-signed a second deal with
Foreign Minister Cam on granting visa exemptions for
diplomats.
Thailand and Vietnam normalised diplomatic relations in
1974.
He is expected to discuss issues including fishing rights
and a proposed highway linking Vietnam, Thailand and Laos,
a Thai foreign ministry official said.
Thailand was Vietnam's ninth largest foreign investor, with
roughly one billion dollars in approved projects as of
February 1997.
The trip is expected to pave the way for the visit of Thai
Prime Minister Chaowalit Yongchayydh on March 30 and 31, an
embassy source said.
Wednesday - Mar 12, 1997
Vietnam FM hopes ambassador exchange will boost economic ties
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen
Manh Cam said Wednesday he hoped the exchange of
ambassadors between Hanoi and Washington would help
strengthen economic links.
Answering reporter's questions at a signing ceremony on
scientific cooperation with visiting Thai Foreign Minister
Prachuab Chaiyasarn, Cam said the expected arrival of
ambassador designate Douglas Peterson would lead to greater
economic cooperation.
"Vietnam wants to further develop economic and trade
relations with the United States. The first step would be
the discussion of the trade agreement between the two
countries," he said.
Vietnam's export growth is currently hamstrung by the lack
of Most Favoured Nation Status from the United States. <p>
Peterson, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, is expected
to see his nomination ratified by the US Senate soon. <p>
Vietnam has unofficially chosen Le Van Bang to become the
first Vietnamese ambassador to Washington where he is
currently Vietnam's charge d'affaires.
Tuesday - Mar 11, 1997
Vietnam Moves to Limit Access to the Internet
Hanoi (AP) -- The Vietnamese government has issued a new decree formalizing its
right to restrict Internet access and content within the nation, according to an
official media report Tuesday.
According to Nhan Dan (The People), the newspaper of the ruling
Communist Party, the new decree will take effect March 17. It states that
the government will manage the Internet domestically, may supervise all
content, and will control international links between Vietnamese and the
Web.
Any organization wanting to offer international linkage to the Net must
locate its server in Vietnamese, the newspaper reported.
The General Directorate of Post & Telecommunications, the body that
regulates Vietnam's telecommunications, will issue licensing regulations,
while the Ministry of Culture and Information will issue regulations about
content.
The decree appears to formalize Vietnam's existing Internet policy,
which has been contained in a variety of temporary regulations. While the
latest ruling is also temporary, as a decree it carries a greater legal
weight than what it supersedes.
So far, the government's policy basically has been motivated by a desire
to control access to the Net -- in particular, the government wants to
prevent Vietnamese citizens from gaining inexpensive access to the Net
through a server outside the country, one industry participant said. The
government apparently is most concerned about access to sites maintained by
overseas groups opposed to it, and about access to pornography.
There are currently six servers in Vietnamese -- all government-owned --
providing links to the Web, the participant said.
Software already exists that would allow the Vietnamese government to
monitor what a person does while logged onto the Net.
Vietnam's efforts to restrict Net access come at a time when the
government is trying to foster high-technology and export-oriented
industries.
On the same day the Net restrictions were announced, chip-making giant
Intel Corp. said it has received a license to open a
representative office in Ho Chi Minh City. Although Intel's chips have been
in computers sold in Vietnamese for several years, the office will mark the
company's first formal presence in the country, company officials said.
The installed base of PCs in Vietnamese is estimated at only around 200,000
units, but Intel said sales growth is estimated about 50% a year.
Vietnamese is not the first government to attempt to restrict the Internet:
China, Germany and Singapore have also sought to establish such limits.
Last month, the Chinese government issued sweeping rules requiring
computer networks to register with Beijing, outlawing pornography and
political content, and ordering that all international Internet access be
performed through the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
Last year, Singapore's Broadcasting Authority required the city-state's
Internet service providers to block access to a number of sites and
established procedures for the registration of certain sites and mechanisms
allowing an "audit trail" by which subscribers can be tracked.
While users in Singapore said late last year that such censorship has
had little effect and that the rules were easy to flout, such measures have
become a cause celebre in the Internet community, which fears they will
have a chilling effect on how users express themselves, even if only
loosely enforced.
Tuesday - Mar 11, 1997
Japan, Vietnam to hold bilateral economic talks
TOKYO (Kyodo News) -- Japan and Vietnam will hold a second round of
bilateral economic talks
next Tuesday in Hanoi, a Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.
The meeting will discuss the promotion of business cooperation and
Japan's investments in Vietnam, the official said.
Japan's delegation, comprising government officials and
representatives of private economic organizations such as the Federation
of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), will ask Vietnam to build
infrastructure to help increase Japan's investments, the official said.
The first round of talks was held in January last year in Tokyo.