Vietnam

2023 - 1 - 9

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Star Online"

Air pollution recorded at "very unhealthy" levels in Vietnam; entire ... (The Star Online)

The overall air quality in Vietnam's capital Hanoi reached "very unhealthy" levels on Monday, which means the entire population is likely to be affected.

Experts said the air pollution recently is mainly due to weather factors, as Hanoi and other localities in the northern region have experienced cold and dry weather, which causes pollutants to be concentrated in the area near the ground and leads to serious pollution. The index recorded in some stations in Hanoi and the northern Thai Nguyen and Hung Yen provinces even surpassed 300, which means that everyone may experience more serious health effects, according to the Vietnam News Agency on Monday. 9 (Xinhua): The overall air quality in Vietnam's capital Hanoi reached "very unhealthy" levels on Monday, which means the entire population is likely to be affected.

Work started on first public bike service station in Vietnam capital ... (The Star Online)

Under the proposal, the firm will provide 1,000 bikes, 50% of them electric, at 94 locations in the city. The pilot project is set to cost over 30.3 billion VND ...

Six downtown districts will be prioritised for the pilot project, namely Ba Dinh, Dong Da, Tay Ho, Hoan Kiem. By January 20, about 10 bikes will be available at the station. Thanh Xuan, and Hai Ba Trung.

Vietnam war: how US involvement has influenced foreign policy ... (The Conversation UK)

Estimates of Vietnamese deaths are more than 3 million civilians and soldiers from both sides. Thousands of US veterans suffered from post-traumatic stress ...

A year later, following the death of [241 US servicemen in Beirut](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1981-1988/lebanon) barracks, Reagan withdrew US forces from Lebanon because he didn’t want to repeat the Vietnam experience in the Middle East. [unequivocal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIIPhRASMMM): “None whatsoever. Meanwhile, 50 years on, Biden is making strengthening relations [with Vietnam](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2022/12/20/a-window-of-opportunity-to-upgrade-us-vietnam-relations/) a key part of his foreign policy agenda for Asia, building on the decades-long project of reconciliation. [2.7 million](https://www.va.gov/oaa/pocketcard/m-vietnam.asp) Americans served in uniform in the conflict, and around [58,318](https://www.nps.gov/vive/index.htm) lost their lives. Though very different in nature, the parallels between the recent wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan and the Vietnam war have helped ensure Vietnam’s continued relevance to foreign policy decisions. Bush failed to draw lessons from Vietnam and fell into some of the same traps that the US government had encountered in Vietnam. [in international affairs](https://millercenter.org/president/reagan/foreign-affairs). To ensure that US intervention had the moral legitimacy Vietnam had lacked, he secured UN backing and led a coalition of 35 countries to swiftly eject Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. This so-called [Vietnam syndrome](https://www.jstor.org/stable/26436983), a phrase apparently coined by President Richard Nixon, has been haunting US foreign and military policy ever since. [Soldiers returning from south-east Asia](https://www.history.com/news/vietnam-war-veterans-treatment) were received with mixed feelings: anger and hostility in some cases, but mostly indifference and a desire to forget and move on. They had to come to terms with the reality that for the first time in the country’s history, they had lost a war. Thousands of US veterans suffered [from post-traumatic stress disorder](https://www.va.gov/oaa/pocketcard/m-vietnam.asp) and tried to readjust on their return home.

China-Vietnam int'l road passenger transport service reopens (Xinhua)

On Sunday, a total of 1,077 passengers -- 1,065 inbound and 12 outbound passengers -- traveled through the Youyiguan border gate in the city of Pingxiang in ...

31, 2020, officially resumed on Sunday, according to local transport authorities. On Sunday, a total of 1,077 passengers -- 1,065 inbound and 12 outbound passengers -- traveled through the Youyiguan border gate in the city of Pingxiang in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to the regional transport department. NANNING, Jan.

Coastal development in central Vietnam limits public access to ... (The Star Online)

DANANG (Vietnam News/Asia News Network): The central coast region's many restaurants, hotels, and resorts often occupy large areas of public space, ...

Only a few enterprises obeyed the direction of the local administration. Vo Nguyen Chưong, deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Danang City, said since 2015, the city People's Committee has stopped to issue licences for coastal projects. It is a measure of the quality of life as well as the liveability of a locality. However, the land and sea surface transfer has not been finished so far. According to experts, public space plays an important role in social life. For the locality with the sea, the public space is a tourist destination and a place for many cultural and artistic events, festivals, and community activities.

How Vietnam's Anti-Corruption Fight Keeps Expanding (The Washington Post)

Vietnam's Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has likened his anti-graft campaign to a “blazing furnace,” one that's caught hundreds of senior officials, ...

Party chief Trong, in a November speech, continued urging officials to be persistent, determined, and to act faster in the fight against corruption. In the first six months of 2022, at least 295 party members were disciplined due to corruption and deliberate wrongdoings, according to a statement of an August meeting of the central anti-corruption committee. Prime Minister Chinh in October called for the anti-graft campaign to be more drastic and effective. • In June, police detained former Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long and former Hanoi Mayor Chu Ngoc Anh for alleged ties to the investigation involving Covid tests. • Prime Minister Chinh last year ordered ministries to increase scrutiny over the corporate bonds market amid the detention of Tan Hoang Minh Group chairman Do Anh Dung and six other company executives for investigation of alleged fraud. One of them was booked for suspected collusion with a maker of Covid-19 test kits, and another for alleged bribery related to repatriation flights for Vietnamese during the pandemic. Vietnam has also been seeking to have its stock market classified as emerging market — up from the current frontier status, which is the lowest and riskiest rung — and this could bring greater foreign investment. The detention led to a brief run on the privately held Saigon Commercial Bank because of its perceived connections with the group. Trong, who won a rare third term in 2021, said in a televised speech that “each party cadre and member needs to shoulder the responsibility of being a role model. Now as Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economy seeks to bolster its appeal as a destination for foreign investment in the midst of mounting trade tensions between the US and China, the fight seems to be flaring again. Police have also detained a number of executives as part of investigations into alleged fraud tied to corporate bond issuance and equity trading and stock price manipulation. No reason was given but each of the men had had an assistant detained in corruption cases.