VN news (July 9)

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

Taiwan asks Vietnam to fetch nationals in Cambodia
Vietnam dismisses Cambodia coup allegations 
US MIA captain in hot water over nude photos on China Beach 
Scientists May Check out War-Related Contamination in Vietnam
U.S., Vietnam May Probe Agent Orange Use 
Vietnam To Follow Asean Agreements 
Dai Hung deal gets Vietnam approval - BHP
Vietnam unveils measures to beat economic woes

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Taiwan asks Vietnam to fetch nationals in Cambodia

TAIPEI, July 9 (Reuter) - Taipei said on Wednesday it had arranged Vietnam
Airline charters to evacuate some of the more than 400 Taiwanese tourists
and investors stranded in Cambodia since its government splintered in
violence. 

Two flights were scheduled to leave Phnom Penh on Thursday morning, bound
for Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, deputy foreign minister Chen Chien-jen
told state television. 

Chen said about 300 Taiwan people had registered with Taiwan's de facto
embassy in Cambodia -- a trade office linked to the economic ministry --
seeking evacuation. 

Cambodia recognises Taiwan's rival, communist China, and has no diplomatic
ties with Taipei, although Taiwan's ranks among the top foreign investors
in that country. 

Officials from Taiwan and Cambodia were engaged in talks about logistics
of the airlift, Chen said. 

"We will do our best to evacuate all the people who want to leave," Chen
said. "Our latest information indicates that a lot of people are already
waiting at the airport." 

Taiwan's main carriers EVA Airways and China Airlines met government
officials to set contingency plans for emergency evacuations, but no plan
was activated, officials said. 

Flights from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh resumed on Wednesday, four
days after weekend fighting in Phnom Penh and elsewhere closed the
capital's airport. 

Local media said more than 400 Taiwanese people were stranded in Cambodia,
including some 100 tourists. 

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Vietnam dismisses Cambodia coup allegations 

By Adrian Edwards

Hanoi, July 9 (Reuter) - Vietnam lashed out at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge
on Wednesday, accusing it of "blatant slander" over claims Hanoi played
a role in ousting First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

Khmer Rouge radio said on Sunday that Hanoi instructed Cambodia's Second
Prime Minister Hun Sen how to carry out a coup during a visit he made
to Vietnam shortly before last weekend's fighting in Phnom Penh.

"This fellow Hun Sen, chief perpetrator and one of communist Vietnam's
puppets, staged a brutal military coup... after he returned from visiting
his masters in Vietnam," the radio said.

But the foreign ministry in Hanoi dismissed the allegation on Wednesday
in a one-sentence riposte.

"Such a blatant slander by Khmer Rouge radio is not worth being commented
on," a spokeswoman said, reading a prepared statement.

Hanoi's relations with Cambodia are fraught with complexity. Much of
southern Vietnam was once Khmer territory.

Vietnam's leaders, fresh from their wartime victory over the United States,
launched an invasion of Cambodia in 1978 and ousted the Khmer Rouge regime
led by the reviled Pol Pot from power. Hun Sen was installed as head
of the Hanoi-backed government.

The Vietnamese foreign ministry conceded at the weekend that Hun Sen
had visited Vietnam but said it was merely for a private holiday. Government
sources said he stayed at the southern beach resort of Vung Tau.

"One thing I can say is that the foreign minister probably didn't know
much about this visit in advance," a foreign affairs specialist said.
"(But) as for the military and other groups, I don't know." Despite
the proximity of events in Phnom Penh, Hanoi, which withdrew its occupying
forces from Cambodia in 1989, has appeared anxious to distance itself
from the current drama there.

Vietnam's invasion, which prompted condemnation and a decade of isolation
by the international community, is viewed by many here as having been
a costly mistake.

Domestic analysts said Hanoi was anxious not to upset its relations with
China and the United States, and would therefore not wish to be seen
as being involved again.

But they added that the timing of Hun Sen's visit, and suspicion he may
have sought advice or a go-ahead before moving against Ranariddh, could
have repercussions for Vietnamese nationals in Cambodia.

Ethnic Vietnamese have been the targets of attacks on several occasions,
and thousands fled the country following a Khmer Rouge massacre in 1993.

The Khmer Rouge broadcast said that faced with the weekend's "Vietnamese
great, criminal and fascist coup," the entire Cambodian people had now
joined hands with Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC to deprive Hun Sen of victory
at all costs.

"Now, the people and masses in Phnom Penh are resolutely determined
to blow Hun Sen's brains out with a view to ending the communist Vietnamese
war of aggression," it said. "thereby achieving national reconciliation
in Cambodia."

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US MIA captain in hot water over nude photos on China Beach 

HANOI, July 9 (AFP) - Three US military officers in charge of recovering
US soldiers lost in the Vietnam war got into a fight with a local photographer
who refused to take their nude photos on China Beach, local police said
on Wednesday.

Captain Frank Mausolf and two other US officers threw local photographer
Tran Phu Phuong into the sea when he refused to accomodate their request
in late June, said a police official from Danang province.

A source contacted at the US Embassy confirmed "there had been an infraction",
but said he had not been told that any of the soldiers had exposed themselves.

Mausolf is a Hawaii-based team leader of the Joint Task Force Full Accounting
of MIAs, which searches for evidence of US soldiers who are still listed
as missing in action from the Vietnam War.

The incident comes as the US military is under fire at home for a series
of high-profile sex scandals and widespread perceptions of debauchery
in the military.

The fight occurred at My Khe beach, better known as China Beach, located
just outside the central coastal city of Danang. It was a favourite "rest
and recreation" haunt for US servicemen during the war.

According to the police, Phuong and other photographers on the beach
got into a brawl with the three soldiers, one of whom threw him twice
into the sea.

Local police opened an investigation which resulted in a 100 dollar payment
to Phuong by the three Americans for damage to his camera.

An MIA task force official in Hanoi confirmed Mausolf had been leading
a MIA recovery team near Danang in late June, and had been involved in
an incident, but declined to comment on the details.

Mausolf has since returned to Hawaii.

Local police said that Mausolf and the two others had been drinking before
the incident.

Police also said an unspecified number of US soldiers on the team had
been involved in a brawl with security guards at the Bach Nanh Hotel
in Danang.

Full accounting for the 1,584 US soldiers still listed as missing in
action in Vietnam has been a chief priority of the United States in Vietnam.

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U.S., Vietnam May Probe Agent Orange Use 

WASHINGTON, July 8 (UPI) - The United States and Vietnam are exploring
the possibility of conducting a joint scientific study with Vietnam on
health effects of the defoliant Agent Orange.

Scores of American servicemen have claimed their health problems stem
from exposure to the herbicide during the Vietnam War, but Pentagon officials
say they have "found no conclusive evidence linking Agent Orange to
the health of personnel."

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns says Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright discussed the issue with the Vietnamese during a visit to Hanoi
last month, and the two sides agreed to consider conducting a joint study
into the effects of toxic chemicals during the war.

Burns says: "She did discuss with several of the Vietnamese leaders
our mutual concern about the effects of toxic chemical use during the
Vietnam War. And in light of our strong mutual concerns about this issue,
we are exploring the possibility of joint scientific research on the
effects of toxic contamination in Vietnam that stems from the Vietnam
War."

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Vietnam To Follow Asean Agreements 

The Malaysian National News Agency

Hanoi, July 07 (Bernama) -- Vietnam has confirmed that it will abide
by eight Asean agreements with the issue of a government circular concerning
the accords, a senior Foreign Affairs Ministry official said today.

"As a full member of Asean and to fullfil our responsibilities, we have
to approve all the agreements and documents already ratified by other
member countries," he told Bernama.

The official said the ratification of these eight agreements reaffirmed
Vietnam's commitment to the regional body. Vietnam became a member of
Asean in July 1995.

The agreements include that on the establishment of the Asean Secretariat,
the sposorship of the Asean EC Management Centre, establishment of the
Asean Fund and cooperation with Asean members in the field of oil mining
security.

The others are on priority of granting contracts to Asean constructors
engaged in short-term biddings and the establishment of a Promotion Centre
for Asean Trading, Investment and Tourism.

The government circular on the agreements -- known as Decision No 442/TTg--
was issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

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Dai Hung deal gets Vietnam approval - BHP

MELBOURNE, July 9 (Reuter) - The Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd said on
Wednesday the government of Vietnam had granted formal approval of BHP's
assignment of its interest in the Dai Hung project to Malaysia's national
oil firm, Petronas. 

The assignment of the 43.75 percent stake in the offshore oil project,
which is effective from December 1, 1996, came after disappointment at
lower than expected reserves and regulatory problems with the Vietnamese
government. 

Petronas already held 20 percent of the field. 

Original estimates put Dai Hung reserves at about 800 million barrels but
it is now estimated to hold only 100 million barrels. 

Other shareholders in the field include Petrovietnam with 15 percent,
France's Total Sa and Japan's Sumitomo Corp, each with 10.625 percent. 

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Vietnam unveils measures to beat economic woes

HANOI, July 9 (Reuter) - Vietnam on Wednesday reported steps to bolster
the economy, including easier credit, support for rice exporters and
quicker licensing for investment projects. 

The reports appeared on the front page of the official Vietnam News,
normally reserved for glowing reports about the economy and diplomatic
successes. 

But triumphalism has been noticeably absent from some of its articles
recently with mounting evidence of a slowdown in consumer spending, bank
credit, foreign investment, falling asset values and a weight of bad debt
problems. 

On Monday, the paper gave a list of state-owned enterprise, banking and
investment problems in the country's economic powerhouse, Ho Chi Minh
City, after a two-day meeting of the People's Committee. 

Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung told Reuters last week that the economy
was likely to grow at nine percent this year, but private economists
believe growth is more likely to be seven or eight percent. Growth has
topped eight percent since 1992. 

Vietnam News said on Wednesday that the government was setting up a
national fund to support rice exporters through lean times. 

"The move is in the wake of deficiencies having been revealed within
Vietnam's rice industry to meet international demands..." it said, adding
that a lack of strategy meant Vietnam earned $60 a tonne less than
Thailand or the United States for rice exports. 

It also said that the Ministry of Planning and Investment had decided to
give the management boards of industrial processing zones authority to
issue licences for projects of less than $40 million. 

Foreign investors flocked to the country after market-style reforms were
introduced a decade ago. But their complaints about bureaucracy have
deterred others, and now the pace of new investment appears to be slowing
sharply. 

Vietnam News also announced that state-owned enterprises will be able to
borrow from banks without mortgaging their assets. 

The central bank ruling means that state firms -- many of which are
strapped for cash, deep in debt and far from profitable -- will be able to
borrow as much as they need, providing they can prove their
creditworthiness. 

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