VN news (Apr 3, 1997)

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

Vietnam To Demand Removal Of Chinese Oil Rig In Talks
China and Vietnam to hold maritime dispute talks on April 9
Major fire rages for 10 days in southern Vietnam 
Vietnam president's comeback sets tongues wagging
Vietnamese Migrants in HK Return Home 
Vietnamese Newspaper Highlights - April 02, 1997
Vietnam: Tamexco scandal may deepen: Appeals Court points to civil servants 
Vietnam to Set up New Anti-Drug Body 
Sophia professor key to Vietnam progress


Vietnam To Demand Removal Of Chinese Oil Rig In Talks 

Hanoi (AP) -- Vietnam won't back down from its demand that China
remove an oil rig from disputed waters in the Tonkin Gulf, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Vietnamese legal experts have agreed to meet with their counterparts
in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry
spokesman Tran Quang Hoan told reporters at a twice-monthly news
briefing in Hanoi.

'We will clarify that this area lies completely within Vietnam's
exclusive economic zone and within its continental shelf,' Hoan said.

China began oil exploration in the contested waters in early March,
drawing sharp criticism from Vietnam.

'We are going to request that China won't be exploring for oil in
Vietnam's exclusive zone,' Hoan said.

Both Vietnam and China say the waters fall within their territorial
rights, citing the United Nations Law of the Sea to defend their
positions.

This is the latest in a series of territorial disputes between the two
neighbors, which fought a brief border war in 1979.

The current standoff focuses on a span of water between central
Vietnam's coastal city of Hue and China's Hainan Island.
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China and Vietnam to hold maritime dispute talks on April 9

HANOI (AFP) - China and Vietnam will meet in Beijing on April 9 to
discuss a maritime dispute triggered by a Chinese oil rig drilling
outside the Tonkin Gulf, a foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Tran Quang Hoan, director of the ministry's press department, said
China had proposed the April 9 meeting "in order to settle this
issue."

The Chinese ambassador to Hanoi, Li Jiazhong confirmed the date and
expressed optimistm that talks would be fruitful.

"I am convinced that the discussions will take place in good faith and
I am convinced that with a friendly spirit we will reach an accord,"
Li told AFP.

The dispute flared on March 7 when a Chinese oil rig moved into the
contested area prompting Vietnam to demand that China move it.

"The two parties realise that it is always necessary to solve existing
problems by friendly discussions," the ambassador said.

On March 2O, Vietnam sent a request to Beijing for a meeting to
discuss the issue, and called in ambassadors from countries belonging
to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to explain its
position.

Following the meeting several ambassadors indicated they would
recommend that their governments, most of whom also have territorial
disputes with China, to throw their support behind Vietnam.

Vietnam and China both claim the territory where the Kantan-O3 rig is
operating in a potentially gas rich area 64.5 nautical miles (119
kilometres) from Vietnam's coast and 71 nautical miles (130
kilometres) from China's Hainan Island.

Meetings will take place at the expert level, the official said, with
the Vietnamese team led by Nguyen Ba Son, deputy director of the
International Law and Treaties department of the foreign ministry.

"Our main goal is to clarify that the area where China is operating an
exploration rig in Kantan-03 lies completely within our economic zone
and continental shelf," Hoan said.

Analysts noted that none of these expert-level talks had yet yielded
any headway and doubted the April 9 meeting would be any more
productive, except to smooth diplomatic relations.

"I don't really have high expectations of these meetings," said Lee
Lai To, a specialist in South China Sea disputes and professor of
Political Science at Singapore National University.

"I think China has a bigger picture in mind, and relations with other
Southeast Asian countries are important," he added.

But ambassador Li said Beijing would consider joint exploration and
development of the contested zone.

"China has not only territorial disputes with Vietnam. The principle
is to put aside these disputes in order to jointly develop this
region," he said.

When asked if the territorial dispute would be discussed during an
ASEAN-China dialogue to be held in Huangshan, An Hui province in China
on April 17-19, Hoan replied that Vietnam preferred to resolve issues
on a bilateral basis.

Since normalizing relations in 1991 Vietnam and China have set up fora
to negotiate three areas of disputed claims. One deals exclusively
with land border disputes.

A second deals with joint claims over the Gulf of Tonkin itself, which
separates Vietnam's northeast coast from the southern tip of China and
Hainan Island.

The third deals with overlapping claims to the Spratly Islands and the
Paracel Islands.

However, no existing mechanism for talks cover the contested area,
which Vietnamese seismic maps list as block 113, lies about 54
nautical miles (98 kilometres) beyond the southernmost boundary of the
Gulf of Tonkin, 164 nautical miles (298 kilometres) northeast of the
Paracels, and 530 nautical miles, (960 kilometres) from the Spratlys.
  ___________________________________

Major fire rages for 10 days in southern Vietnam 

HANOI (AFP) - Hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to battle a
major fire which has been raging through tree plantations in southern
Vietnam for the past 10 days, reports said Thursday.

At least 40 hectares of cajeputs -- wood from which an oily substance
used for pharmaceuticals is extracted -- have been destroyed in the
blaze in Ca Mau province, despite the mobilisation of 300 soldiers and
hundreds of local villagers to fight it.

The fire, the most serious in Vietnam this year, has however not
killed or injured anybody.

The blaze broke out after fires lit by peasant farmers as part of
their agricultural programme got out of control and spread to the
plantations, the Communist Party organ Nhan Dan said.

A number of fires ravage Vietnam during the dry season each year as
the country is ill equipped to control them.
  ___________________________________

Vietnam president's comeback sets tongues wagging

HANOI (Reuter) - The surprise return of Vietnam's President Le Duc Anh
to the centre-stage of politics this week has sparked talk of a push
by hardliners to make their voices heard as leadership changes loom,
analysts said on Thursday.

Making his first public speech since suffering a stroke last November,
the 76-year-old army general on Wednesday delivered a rousing address
to the National Assembly on dangers facing Communist Party rule.

His rhetoric the stuff of old-style revolutionaries, Anh said steps in
recent years to ``defeat the schemes and sabotage of all enemies'' had
brought success.

However, he took a swipe at a trend towards ``individualism'' in all
walks of Vietnamese life, which he said was eroding confidence in both
the party and the state.

Analysts said that remark could be read as a reference to corruption
in government and business circles, which some party stalwarts believe
has been fed by growing prosperity after a decade of reform along
market lines.

``For individualism, read corruption,'' said one Western diplomat, who
said it was clear that Anh wanted to send a message to advocates of
faster reform.

Corruption has become a burning issue in the past year, with several
major cases of fraud coming to light -- especially in the freewheeling
and booming southern metropolis Ho Chi Minh City.

Four people were sentenced to death last week for their part in
siphoning off millions of dollars from Tamexco, a Ho Chi Minh City
firm affiliated to the party.

Two other prominent businessmen were arrested the same week for
``taking advantage of confidence to appropriate citizens' and
socialist property.''

Their firms were among several which have come under scrutiny for
peddling influence to secure multiple loans from banks, many of which
are now reeling under a weight of bad debt.

Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, taking the stage after Anh to deliver a
state-of-the-nation address, spoke more mildly.

He criticised bureaucracy, incompetence and the government's lack of
transparency and called for efforts to speed up reform by, for
example, liberalising the trade regime and creating a level playing
field for the private and public sectors.

The 74-year-old premier made only passing references to corruption
and, speaking to reporters later, played down fears that the banking
system was lurching into a debt crisis.

Analysts said it was quite normal for the president of the country to
make a speech at the final session of a National Assembly which
approved his appointment five years ago.

``Given the doubts about his health it was especially important for
the party to demonstrate that he is still up and running,'' said one
Western commentator.

However, analysts said it also appeared that Anh and other key figures
of a conservative bent wanted to make their voices heard before the
president and prime minister's five-year terms of office end with a
National Assembly election in July.

The headlines above reports on the National Assembly speeches in
Thursday's official newspapers illustrated the differing views within
the administration.

While the party daily's headline spoke of creating new impetus to
speed up industrialisation and modernisation of the country, the army
newspaper spoke of defending sovereignty and the regime.

Few expect Anh to be reappointed as president when the newly elected
National Assembly meets for the first time in September or October.

Political sources say a successor has not yet been chosen. But they
point to Anh allies in the Politburo such as Lt-General Le Kha Phieu,
who has become more prominent and outspoken in recent months, and
General Doan Khue as potential candidates.
  ___________________________________

Vietnamese Migrants in HK Return Home 

HONG KONG (Xinhua News) - A group of 140 Vietnamese migrants (VMs)
returned by air to Hanoi, Vietnam, today on the 99th flight under the
Orderly Repatriation Program (ORP).

The majority of the returnees, comprising 121 men, 16 women, one boy
and two girls, are from the northern part of Vietnam. Only six of the
returnees are from the central and southern parts of Vietnam.

Most of the returnees arrived in Hong Kong in 1996, with the remaining
in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

The group brought to 10,063 the total number repatriated on ORP
flights since November 1991.

According to the Hong Kong Government Information Services, there are
6,017 VMs in Hong Kong as at April 3. Enditem
  ___________________________________
 
Hanoi (VNA) - Highlights of Vietnam's daily newspapers today:

Nhan Dan:

1. The month long spring session of the Vietnamese National Assembly -
the 11th and last of the 1992-97 term -begins here today. during this
session, the Assembly is expected to examine and pass five laws.

2. Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh and Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen
Khanh separately received the visiting Canadian parliamentarians here
yesterday during which the Vietnamese leaders highly appreciated the
bilateral cooperation in trade, education and training between the two
countries.

Hanoi Moi:

1. Hanoi this year will have about 50 more foreign investment
projects.

2. The Hanoi Party Committee met here yesterday to discuss the draft
personnel strategy which will be submitted to the 3rd conference of
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Vietnam News:

1. To promote offshore fishing, the Vietnamese government will provide
VND 400 billion (US$36 million) in low interest loans this year to
help fishermen modernise their fleet.

2. Nine more foreign investment projects, valued at US$99.6 million,
have been licensed in Ho chi Minh during the first quarter.
  ___________________________________

VIETNAM: Tamexco scandal may deepen: Appeals Court points to civil servants

Achara Ashayagachat

Hanoi (Bangkok Post) -- More top civil servants allegedly involved in
the Tamexco corruption scandal should be investigated, according to Ho
Chi Minh City's Appeals Court. These include the vice-governor of the
State bank of Vietnam.

On Monday, the court upheld death sentences imposed on four people in
the country's biggest corruption scandal, reported Nhan Dan newspaper,
a mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

Pham Huy Phuoc, former director of Tamexco, a commercial arm of the
Tan Binh District party cell in the southern city, was on January 31
sentenced to death for masterminding a web of deceptive business
practices in which more than US$40 million in state funds was
misappropriated.

Two private company executives and a public notary officer of Baria
Vungtau were also sentenced to death, while another 16 defendants,
including two former deputy directors-general of the Bank of Foreign
Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) were sentenced to jail.

The Appeals Court also recommended the Supreme People's Prosecutor
clarify the responsibility of some officials in the party organisation
and people's committee of Tan Binh district, including the State
Bank's vice-governor Chu Van Nguyen, Nhan Dan reported.

The court said that Phuoc and his associates could not have cheated
the state without the loose management of Pham Van Hoa, deputy chief
of the Tan Binh party cell; Pham Ngoc Suong, deputy chief of the Ho
Chi Minh City finance and administration committee; and Chu Van
Nguyen, vice-governor of the State Bank, according to Tuoi Tre
newspaper of Ho Chi Minh City's Youth League.

The vice-governor of the State Bank had allowed Tamexco to arrange
repayment of $14 million to Vietcombank by transferring the debt to 14
small firms, the newspaper claimed.

Some other senior banking officials including a vice-director of the
Vietnam Bank for Commerce and Industry's Ho Chi Minh City branch, and
the former chairman of Tan Binh people's committee, were also named by
the court for investigation, Tuoi Tre said.

Phuoc was quoted as having said he tried to bribe these people but
they all refused. Tuoi Tre said Tamexco had recently filed for
bankruptcy with the Economic Court.

Since Phuoc's arrest in late 1995, Tamexco's staff have dwindled from
60 to 13.

Last week two businessmen, directors of the Minh Phung and EPCO
companies, were arrested on corruption charges after the two companies
defaulted on a $17.5 million loan to Vietcombank in Ho Chi Minh City.
  ___________________________________

Vietnam to Set up New Anti-Drug Body 

Hanoi (Xinhua News) - Vietnam will set up an anti-drug police
department to fight the growing drug abuses and trafficking in the
country, an official report said today.

The new department will assist the police chief in directing the fight
against drug-related crimes and ensuring security and social order.

Anti-narcotics police handled more than 3,800 drug trafficking cases
in 1996 and arrested 6,650 people for drug-related offenses. But drug
trafficking and abuses are still on the rise.

There are about 140,000 drug addicts nationwide, according to a
national anti-drug program.
  ___________________________________

Sophia professor key to Vietnam progress

The Daily Yomiuri / Yomiuri Shimbun

The irrepressible enthusiasm of Prof. Akio Morishima, 63, of Sophia
University, brought him to the center of Vietnam's remarkable change
to a market economy.

Morishima, a specialist in civil law, was instrumental in the creation
of the Vietnamese Civil Code adopted in 1995, the key to the
modernization of this dynamic nation's economy.

The energetic professor first visited Vietnam in 1989 to study its
legal system while dean of Nagoya University's legal faculty. Later,
after becoming a member of a subcommittee of the Legislative Council,
an advisory panel to the justice minister, Morishima was introduced to
the Vietnamese justice minister and asked to advise officials on the
new draft of the Civil Code.

According to Morishima, civil law existed only in name in Vietnam at
that time.

Laws and regulations based on French models were not formally
abrogated with the war but later became irrelevant in the centralized
economy of the communists.

As Vietnam adopted the doi moi reform program in 1986, the government
realized the urgency of introducing a modern and consistent legal
framework to support the transition to a market economy, and to
attract foreign investment, Morishima added.

When Morishima first went to Vietnam and explained to Vietnamese
Justice Ministry officials how civil law worked in Japan, he received
puzzled looks. "At first they seemed to have difficulty understanding.
I wondered if they could successfully introduce the law," he said.

But things quickly improved for Morishima. "Every time I went to
Vietnam and had meetings with the officials, I was surprised by their
desire for knowledge and their ability to absorb it."

Morishima added that because the Vietnamese are a very proud people
"it would not have been appropriate to impose our system on them. I
believe I somehow got their trust through dialogue."

In 1996, Morishima's project was finally recognized as an official
program of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JAICA), a
Foreign Ministry affiliated agency responsible for aid implementation.

The Japanese government realized, through experience with aid to other
countries, that technical assistance to build infrastructure was not
enough and that the range of assistance to intellectual fields such as
legal affairs should be expanded.

Japanese businesses, seeing growing opportunities in the region, are
increasing demand for study of legal systems in Asia and requesting
assistance in training Asian lawyers to establish legal frameworks for
business contracts, Morishima observed.

Morishima said that, as a part of the assistance, a training center
will be set up in Tokyo for lawyers from developing countries in Asia
who specialize in civil and commercial law. "We expect it to open in
2000," he said.

Morishima, born in Pyongyang, went through considerable hardships
during the postwar repatriation. "I got used to tough circumstances,"
he said of the experience, which helped prepare him for his role in
transforming the legal system of a nation.

The tireless professor continues working to further modernization of
the legal system of Vietnam while teaching in the Department of Legal
Studies of the Global Environment at Sophia.
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