VN news (June 26)

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

Albright's groundbreaking Vietnam visit 
Albright was greeted on arrival by Vietnam's Vice-Foreign 
Vietnam blames British Hong Kong over boatpeople 
INTERVIEW-Vietnam requires greater dynamism - FM 
Vietnam Pledges Not To Forget Environment In Devt Plan 
Computer center for nuclear science formed
MFN wait looms for Vietnam 
Vietnam annual inflation at 2.1 percent in June 
Vietnam should develop poor man's computer: Acer chief 
Few tenants for Vietnam's tallest skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City

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Albright's groundbreaking Vietnam visit 

Asia Times
06/26/97

By Andy Soloman

United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was to arrive in
Vietnam for a two-day visit late on Thursday, in the latest sign that
relations between the two former enemies continue to thaw.

While in Hanoi, Albright will sign a bilateral copyright agreement, discuss
human rights and the possible establishment of limited military relations
between the two countries.

She is also expected to concentrate on migration issues, a critical stumbling
block to the US waiving the 1974 Cold War-era Jackson-Vanik Amendment
that links trade benefits to a partner's emigration and human rights
policies.

A waiver would free up funds from the US Export-Import Bank and Overseas
Private Insurance Corporation, as well as increase US exports to Vietnam.

Washington presented Hanoi with a draft trade pact in April and is still
waiting for an official response.

Albright will also review progress on the long-running saga over US soldiers
unaccounted for after the US withdrew from Vietnam, and will visit the
US headquarters of the Joint Task Force For Full Accounting in Hanoi.

If the outspoken Albright is expecting to raise the issue of Vietnam's
human rights record she may find herself on the defensive. Hanoi resents
any external interference in its affairs and routinely lambasts the US
over its human rights stand.

When Albright presented the US State Department 1996 human rights report
to the US Congress in January, state media in Vietnam were quick to criticize
it.

"The use of the human rights mask to impose political views and Western
ideas, instigate violence, cause instability and intervene in other countries'
affairs is not acceptable," Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) said in
a commentary in February.

And in recent weeks the official Vietnamese media have gone on the offensive,
cataloging the appalling and continuing cost of the war to its people
and country. They have highlighted, in particular, the dreadful impact
of Agent Orange.

Diplomats said it appeared to be a ploy to put the US on the defensive
and was aimed at eventually submitting a formal claim for compensation
from the US.

The US dropped about 72 million liters of toxic chemicals, including
44.3 million liters of Agent Orange, to defoliate jungles in the former
South Vietnam. Vietnam claims about two million people were affected,
which includes 50,000 deformed babies born to parents who were exposed
to the dioxin found in Agent Orange.

Vietnam lost about three million people in the war with the US and still
has up to 400,000 listed as missing in action, against 58,000 American
fatalities and 2,124 that are still listed as missing in Indochina.

Albright's arrival comes hot on the heels of the visit earlier this week
by Robert McNamara. who was the US defense secretary during much of the
Vietnam war. McNamara was in Hanoi for a four-day conference focusing
on missed opportunities for peace during the conflict.

The conference was significant as it marked the first peacetime meeting
between leading wartime contemporaries from the two sides, but it was
clear that opinion remained divided.

In Hanoi on Friday, Albright will meet Premier Vo Van Kiet before flying
to Ho Chi Minh City where she will be greeted by Communist Party General
Secretary Do Muoi.

On Saturday Albright will officiate at a groundbreaking ceremony for
a US consulate in the city.

It will mark the first official US representation in the former Saigon
since the last helicopters left the roof of the old US Embassy shortly
before Hanoi's victory in April 1975.

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Albright was greeted on arrival by Vietnam's Vice-Foreign 

Albright was greeted on arrival by Vietnam's Vice-Foreign Minister Nguyen
Dinh Bin and the new U.S. ambassador to Hanoi, Pete Peterson.

However she was not expected to speak to media representatives. Officials
said she would head direct to her central Hanoi hotel before beginning
her formal agenda on Friday.

Albright's visit comes two years after her predecessor, Warren Christopher,
visited Hanoi on a breakthrough trip to officiate at ceremonies marking
the normalisation of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the United States.

Albright had originally been scheduled to travel to Cambodia after Vietnam,
and then on to Hong Kong to attend events marking the British colony's
return to Chinese sovereignty next week. The Cambodia leg was cancelled
earlier on Thursday because of security concerns.

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Vietnam blames British Hong Kong over boatpeople 

HANOI, June 26 (Reuter) - Vietnam on Thursday took a swipe at British
Hong Kong over delays in the repatriation of some of the last boatpeople
from the colony, just days before it is due to be handed over to China.

A foreign ministry statement, carried by state media, put the blame for
the failure of efforts to deport a group of 430 people before the handover
deadline, squarely at the feet of the colonial administration and London.

"The responsibility belongs to Hong Kong and Britain," it said. "This
is beyond the desire and determination of Vietnam."

Hanoi's statement refers to a group of boatpeople who are due to be returned
but for a variety of reasons, including medical and legal, have been
delayed.

A spokesman at the British embassy in Hanoi said some of those involved
were not in Hong Kong's custody as they had escaped from detention camps,
while some of the others were serving prison sentences.

"We've done everything in our power to return them," the spokesman
said. "We've explained to Vietnam many times the very good reasons why
this has not been possible."

He said about 50 or so of those had become available within the last
few days for deportation but logistical reasons meant it was not possible
to do so. Others were family members of people whom Hanoi says are not
Vietnamese and is refusing to take back.

Vietnam's boatpeople are a legacy of the Vietnam war, which ended in
1975 with the fall of the government of U.S.-backed Saigon to Hanoi's
forces. In the years that followed hundreds of thousands left their homeland
in an exodus.

Initially the majority headed south to destinations including Thailand
and Malaysia where they were housed in camps pending resettlement elsewhere.

In later years crippling poverty and other problems saw large numbers
leave from northern Vietnam, most bound for Hong Kong.

Repatriation efforts began in the late 1980s and since then most asylum
camps around the region have been emptied. However despite Chinese objections
a total of around 3,200 Vietnamese will still be in Hong Kong next week
when it returns to mainland sovereignty.

Among those are some 1,600 people who are waiting for resettlement in
third countries as refugees, 800 recent arrivals who will be deported
at a later date, 397 whom Vietnam has failed to recognise as its own
nationals, and the 430 now in dispute.

Although the issue will continue to be handled by the Hong Kong authorities
after the handover, Britain's responsibility will formally end once the
Union flag is lowered over Victoria Harbour next week.

Analysts say the matter could therefore become a point of friction between
Hanoi and Hong Kong's new Beijing masters.

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INTERVIEW-Vietnam requires greater dynamism - FM 

By Adrian Edwards

HANOI, June 26 (Reuter) - Vietnam is facing its most critical period
since reforms were launched in the late 1980s and will need dynamism
and creativity to overcome the problems, Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh
Cam said in an interview.

The 68-year-old career diplomat, speaking late on Wednesday, said Vietnam
had registered significant successes in the decade since Doi Moi (Renovation)
policies were introduced, but added it was now faced with new challenges.

"The new stage requires even more creativeness and knowledge and more
dynamism," he said. "We want to develop Vietnam. Every individual and
government ministry wants to try their best... (But) no difficulties
means no creativeness."

Cam did not go into detail about what those difficulties were, but said
the government recognised the need to accelerate rural development and
focus efforts on building the economy through outward-looking trade and
other policies aimed at enabling Hanoi to keep up with its regional neighbours.

"In the coming time we will need more effort..." he said, repeating
in English, "More effort."

Vietnam has run into problems recently after a decade of spectacular
successes resulting from the communist government's launch of free-market
reforms in 1986.

Corruption and bureaucracy coupled with a shifting regulatory environment
have taken a toll on foreign investment sentiment, while debt problems
and a trade deficit that reached $4 billion last year -- or 17 percent
of gross domestic product -- have threatened to shake confidence further.

Swedish economists warned last month that the benefits of Vietnam's economic
transformation could be close to exhaustion without further trade reforms
and a rethink of policies that favour state enterprises.

But Cam brushed aside those concerns and said that while Hanoi would
continue to "protect our infant industry appropriately," Vietnam intended
to fulfil its commitments to trade liberalisation policies outlined in
the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA).

Under this agreement, Vietnam has pledged to lower tariff and other trade
barriers by 2006 to bring itself into line with its Association of Southeast
Asian Nation (ASEAN) partners.

"We are convinced that...Vietnam will certainly meet its obligations
and commitments, positively contributing to the realisation of the AFTA
objectives," he said.

Cam, who appeared in good health and is considered a candidate for a
future leadership post, was Hanoi's former ambassador to the Soviet Union
before being appointed as foreign minister in 1991.

Asked about his track-record as Vietnam's most senior diplomat during
a period in which it has normalised relations with old enemies China
and the United States and joined the ASEAN regional grouping, Cam was
modest.

"Still we haven't felt satisfied with what we've achieved," he said.
"Nevertheless, we try our best, but we haven't done things in the most
effective way."

He said Vietnam intended to maintain and broaden its open door policy
along guidelines set out at a Communist Party Congress in 1996, while
at the same time taking steps to ensure national security and independence.

Asked if the decisions affecting foreign policy made at that meeting
might be reviewed in the light of political changes in Vietnam over the
past 12 months and in the region, Cam said: "Our foreign policy is consistent
and will see no change. The change, if any, is only how to implement
this policy more."

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Vietnam Pledges Not To Forget Environment In Devt Plan 

Dow Jones International News
06/25/97

UNITED NATIONS (AP)--Despite an ambitious industrialization program,
Vietnam pledged Wednesday not to forget the environment in its race to
catch up with more developed Southeast Asian neighbors.

Science Minister Pham Gia Khiem told the third day's session of the U.N.
Earth Summit that Vietnam is now embarking upon industrialization and
modernization.

'In the framework of the National Socio-Economic Development Strategy
up to the year 2020, efforts will be focused on the country's industrialization
and modernization,' Pham said.

'This, no doubt, will bring greater pressure to bear on the environment,'
he added. 'To ensure sustainable development, the government has reconfirmed
its concern for environmental protection and its commitment to larger
investment in this domain.'

Part of the action plan to achieve this goal will be reforestation
projects on barren hillsides, creation of protected national forests,
environmentally-friendly techniques for farming in mountain areas and
acquiring more advanced technology. 

'A national environmental monitoring system is being put into operation,
covering the country's land area, coastal zones and islands, while highly
polluting factories using obsolete technologies are urged to close down
and old industrial areas are being upgraded toward the use of more
environmentally-friendly technologies,' Pham said. 

He said the Vietnamese government was now requiring an environmental
impact statement for every new investment project to make sure that it
does not harm the environment.

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Computer center for nuclear science formed

(SGT-HCMC) The Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology under the
Vietnam Institute of Atomic Energy on Monday inaugurated a computer
center for nuclear science in Hanoi, said Vietnam News Agency.

The center will specialize in studying theories and dealing with
experimental figures in nuclear science and other fields. Especially,
short-term training courses on computer science and networking
techniques will be held at the center.

NEC and Fujitsu have participated in the project, financed by the
Japanese RIKEN Institute. The center, the first of its kind in the
country, is equipped with advanced facilities, including 16 PCs and two
servers.

The center will integrate into the international Internet so that it can
exchange information with RIKEN and the rest of the world on a regular
basis.

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MFN wait looms for Vietnam 

South China Morning Post
06/26/97

Anyone waiting for most favoured nation (MFN) trading status to suddenly
bloom from Vietnam's intriguing new relationship with the United States
may be waiting a long time.

Despite any optimism and goodwill generated by the arrival in Hanoi today
of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, MFN is far in the distance,
officials on both sides say.

"Frankly, nobody should be getting their hopes up. MFN could well be
a long, long way off," one senior US diplomat said privately.

"There is so much to do first in other areas."

Vietnam has always stressed economic links mark its priority in any new
relationship, and there is little doubt Hanoi considers MFN a key concession.

After all, it is granted to virtually all its neighbours, and Hanoi is
eagerly eyeing a vast new market for its state textile operations amid
a host of other benefits.

Investors from around the region stand to gain as well, and Vietnam is
keen to keep regional funds flowing to boost flagging investment figures.

But before the benefits can be contemplated, reality must be faced, analysts
say.

Ties are deepening between the former enemies, spurred by the recent
exchange of ambassadors just 22 years after the end of the Vietnam War.
But each step forward seems to be forged and tempered from a difficult
past.

Sources suggest Ms Albright may try to broaden dialogue on human rights
- a prickly subject for Vietnam's Communist Party rulers and one that
does little for smooth relations in other areas.

Nowhere do the two sides seem further apart than in early rounds of talks
on a vast trade agreement that is crucial to any eventual granting of
MFN, even before more tricky issues are tackled.

Progress on the trade pact has been far slower than expected. In drafting
a response to initial US ideas, Vietnam must probe uncharted waters to
cope with a sea of red tape, a vast tariff structure and state monopolies
controlling imports.

Despite looming Asean Free Trade Area commitments, Vietnam's trade regime
still boasts a host of restrictions, from quotas to bans on imports.
Tariff rates frequently top 50 per cent.

The regime props up an increasingly awkward import substitution policy
among Vietnam's rambling and inefficient state sector, analysts say.

Not surprisingly, Hanoi officials blanched when presented with a 60-page
proposal from Washington negotiators. The move erased the last hopes
in the minds of senior leaders that economic relations would grow quickly.

The document covers five key areas, including trade, tariffs and investment,
and presents an unprecedented restructuring of the Vietnam's fearsome
commercial bureaucracy.

It demands a host of freedoms and protection, plus wide market access
for the US vast service industry, including lawyers and insurers.

"It's hard to see how Vietnam could even begin to come close to the US
proposals - it's so far from anything they've seen before," one Western
analyst monitoring progress said.

"Great leaps would be required. Trade is still highly sensitive and strategic
in the minds of many senior party people."

The fact that proposals seem far more intensive than early deals struck
with other countries has hurt many officials, who are piqued by the fact
neighbours such as China and Cambodia are already happily toiling under
an MFN regime.

"What Americans require from Vietnam is a bit too much," Vietnamese pact
envoy Nguyen Dinh Luong said recently.

"A big effort will be needed to find common ground."

Ms Albright's visit may find a new way forward to boost talks, particularly
as she will be signing a copyright deal hammered out two months ago.
Copyright protection is a key part of the trade agreement.

No clear time-table exists for the path to signing any deal; some insiders
believe the issue will all come down to the strength of political will
in Washington.

"If Washington really wanted to, it could easily find ways to pushMFN
along," one Western diplomat said.

"It is still unclear if that will is there, despite the need to keep
on side with the neighbours of China.

"When it comes to official US attitudes to Vietnam, everything is hard
to predict. Every step forward seems to take so much effort. It is almost
as if it is grudging."

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Vietnam annual inflation at 2.1 percent in June 

HANOI, May 25 (AFP) - Vietnam recorded year-on-year inflation of just
2.1 percent in the month to June 25, due to lower food and construction
prices, according to official figures released Wednesday.

During the month to June 25, prices nationwide rose just 0.1 percent,
thanks to softer food prices, especially the price of rice which has
fallen dramatically because of a bumper winter crop.

Rice prices fell 2.1 percent from May and 9.5 percent from a year earlier,
according to the General Department of Statistics. Rice is a staple in
Vietnam, and more than 80 percent of the population depend on paddy cultivation
for their livelihood.

Inflation is at its lowest level in Vietnam since the country launched
its economic reforms in the mid-1980s and has been interpreted by economists
as an indication of softening domestic demand.

Construction materials prices are 0.1 percent lower from year-earlier
levels, and the country is experiencing stockpiles of both cement and
steel caused by a flood of cheap imports.

In contrast, fuels have been the only major commodity to see double digit
inflation over the past 12 months, up 20.8 percent due to large fuel
price and tax increases last November.

Ho Chi Minh City, which has seen its economy grow at around 15 percent
annually in the past two years, had the country's highest 12-month inflation
rate of 3.0 percent, though prices rose just 0.5 percent from May.

Prices in Hanoi fell slightly over the previous month, dropping 0.4 percent
from May, and rising just 2.3 percent over a year ago.

Inflation in Vietnam has fallen from 67 percent in 1991 to 17.5 percent
in 1992, 5.2 percent in 1993, 14.4 percent in 1994, 12.7 percent in 1995
and just 4.5 percent last year.

The dong has slipped 4.9 percent against the dollar in the past 12 months
according to the official exchange rate, and 0.4 percent since May.

Vietnam releases its inflation figures around the 25th of the month rather
than waiting until the month is over.

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Vietnam should develop poor man's computer: Acer chief 

Hanoi, June 25 (AFP) - Vietnam has the potential to develop a poor man's
computer costing as little as 200 dollars, the chief executive of the
Acer Group said on Wednesday.

Stan Shih, chairman and founder of Taiwanese computer giant Acer told
AFP that Vietnam should build a domestic computer industry by producing
inexpensive machines using older technology.

"There is no value added in hardware assembly. Anyone can make it, you
just buy the parts," said Shih, speaking by telephone from Ho Chi Minh
City.

Shih suggested that with an initial investment of just five million dollars
Vietnam could produce locally affordable computers costing as little
as 200 dollars comparable to the price of a colour television.

"Acer could sell Vietnam a 386 CPU (central processing unit) for 10 dollars
and provide some of the other key components," he said, noting that Vietnamese
users, particularly educational users, did not need state-the-art computers
costing 2,000 dollars.

Shih shared his idea with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh and vice
ministers from the ministries of education, industry and science and
technology during meetings on Monday.

He likened the stages of maturity of the computer market to transport
in Vietnam.

"First you start on a bike, then a motorcycle, not a car. Computers are
the same thing," he said.

Shih said there was a niche for local companies to produce cheap machines
for the domestic market but it is too early for Acer to set up offshore
assembly in Vietnam.

" Vietnam will not be able to go in head to head competition with the
outside world," said Shih, whose group has offshore assembly facilities
in Malaysia, China and Mexico.

With domestic personal computer sales of about 10 million dollars last
year, Vietnam accounts for a fraction of Acer's 5.4 billion in worldwide
revenues.

Shih sees plenty of long-term potential in Vietnam, where more than half
its population of 76 million are under the age of 25. But with annual
per capita income of about 280 dollars, the market is still in its infancy,
he said.

The company's meteoric growth in the past five years has come on the
back of Shih's philosophy of making computers affordable, especially
in third world countries.

Last year a 127,000 personal computers were shipped to Vietnam, which
does not assemble machines locally, of which brand names accounted for
53 percent, with clones accounting for the remainder.

Acer, which began selling to Vietnam in 1992 but only established a
representative office last year, is the number two seller after Compaq,
Shih said. 

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Few tenants for Vietnam's tallest skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City

Hanoi, June 25 (AFP) - Vietnam's tallest skyscraper was officially inaugurated
in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, but the 33-storey building is having
trouble finding tenants, a property agent said.

The 105 million dollar Saigon Trade Centre came on stream more than a
year later than planned, and the delay has taken its toll, said Simon
Allen, chief representative for property agent Brooke Hillier Parker.

"They have only leased about 10 percent. The market is a bit tough at
the moment and we have a long way to go," said Allen, whose firm handles
the building.

Allen said that space is renting for about 25 dollars per square metre
(about 2.3 dollars per square foot), nearly half of what tenants were
paying two years ago for premium office space in Ho Chi Minh City.

Saigon Trade Centre is a joint venture between Hongkong-based Luks Industrial
Co. and a local state-owned corporation.

He said Ho Chi Minh City has become a renter's market thanks to several
large scale commercial property developments that have come on stream
in the past 12 months.

A slowdown in the local economy -- gross domestic product in Ho Chi Minh
City grew just 10.6 percent in the first six months against 15 percent
for all of last year -- combined with less new foreign investment has
hurt demand, he said.

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