Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui

Vietnam seen courting Western arms deals

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:05:00 +0100

SINGAPORE/LONDON - Vietnam is opening up to Western defence firms as tensions in the South China Sea trigger subdued yet growing warnings of a regional arms race, defence executives and security analysts said on Friday.

The Communist-ruled country is one of several Southeast Asian nations seeking to expand surveillance and maritime patrol capabilities, sparking fierce competition for regional deals estimated to be worth up to several hundred million dollars.

"Vietnam is opening to Western suppliers, which was not the case two or three years ago," said Marie-Laure Bourgeois, vice-president for South and Southeast Asia at France's Thales , Europe's largest defence electronics supplier.

"There has been a revival of tensions recently in the South China Sea and this is increasing demand for surveillance systems. Countries in the region want to ensure they have enough awareness of what is happening at sea and in the air."

Vietnam is locked in a complex set of territorial disputes with China and four other parties - Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan - over waters giving access to untapped oil and gas reserves and valuable fishing grounds.

China's claims, the broadest, cover all of the Spratly and Paracel islands and most of the South China Sea.

Concern over an accidental confrontation or even hostilities spiked in May when Vietnam and China exchanged fresh accusations of sovereignty violations. The issue has come off the boil but the region is bustling with deals from sonars to submarines.

"(Southeast Asian) states are boosting their military capabilities because they can afford to and as part of a hedging strategy both against China and each other," said Nigel Inkster, former deputy chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6.

"Though Southeast Asians don't like to hear it, there is an arms race going on in the region," said Inkster, now head of trans-national threats and political risk at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Purchasing talks

Half the globe's oil tanker traffic passes through the disputed area, underpinning demand for surveillance systems expected to be on display at next week's Singapore Air Show.

Vietnam has traditionally bought Russian hardware including a recent purchase of six Kilo-class submarines but is emerging as a market for other suppliers "as insurance against China", said James Hardy, Asia-Pacific Editor for Jane's Defence Weekly.

Israel is seen as front-runner to win the Vietnam contract Thales was bidding for, but other possible deals lie ahead.

"There are discussions with the Vietnam authorities which are no longer just buying Russian equipment. We have participated in discussions on radar and are still in some discussions," Bourgeois said on the eve of the Feb. 14-19 air show.

Israel and Vietnam have stepped up bilateral contacts of late, but any defence deals are months away, a source at Israel Aerospace Industries told Reuters, when asked about the comments.

On Thursday, the Israeli company announced a $150 million contract to supply radar to an unidentified Asian country.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said in Hanoi last week Vietnam needed to improve its human rights record before moving ahead with closer military ties.

"Growing tensions coupled with the wealth of Southeast Asia make it a very attractive market for defence companies, especially where the U.S. precludes itself," said defence consultant Alexandra Ashbourne-Walmsley.

In late December, China's Vice President Xi Jinping, widely expected to take over as top leader from late 2012, called for better relations with Vietnam, saying the two countries should properly handle their differences and do more to build trust.

Still, Western diplomats and defence executives said ahead of the air show that uncertainty and overlapping disputes had pushed up defence budgets and buying interest across the region.

The lessons of Iran's threat to close the Hormuz Strait are also not lost on a region hosting similar trade choke points.

"Vietnam would like to improve its links with the USA and other Western powers and is investing a lot in the development of some high-quality diplomatic resources," Inkster said.

"Whether the situation in Southeast Asia amounts to a new Cold War is not clear; but there are plenty of tensions which could boil over."

By Tim Hepher & Peter Apps - Reuters - February 10, 2012

Russia promises complete safety for Vietnam's 1st nuclear plant

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:15:00 +0100

The design of Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant incorporates the most comprehensive safety factors, a spokesperson for the Russian company that will start building the plant in 2014 was quoted as saying Wednesday.

Newswire VnExpress quoted Petr Shchedrovitsky from the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, or “Rosatom,” as saying the plant would use the advanced technology currently used by 80 percent of nuclear plants around the world.

It would not face the problems seen at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, he said. The plant was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 last year, leading to one of the world’s worst nuclear crisis.

Vietnam can rest completely assured about Russia’s safety standards, which are higher than international ones, Shchedrovitsky said.

He is currently in Vietnam with a Rosatom delegation for further discussions on atomic cooperation.

In October 2010 Vietnam signed a multi-billion-dollar deal with Russia to build the 4,000 MW nuclear power plant in the central province of Ninh Thuan. It is expected to begin operation in 2020.

Russia agreed last year to provide Vietnam credit of US$9 billion for the project, and has also been training Vietnamese technicians, according to the newswire.

A second nuclear power plant is also planned to be built in Ninh Thuan by 2020, and 13 plants in all with a total capacity of 16,000 MW in the next two decades.

Thanh Nien News - February 9, 2012

Vietnam farmer a hero after shootout with police

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:56:00 +0100

When local police arrived in riot gear to evict the Vuon clan, family members were ready with homemade land mines and improvised shotguns. In a guerrilla-style ambush reminiscent of a Vietnam War battle, they wounded six officers.

But instead of drawing public condemnation, last month's rare violence by fish farmers trying to hold onto leased land in the northern port city of Hai Phong has made a national hero of family ringleader Doan Van Vuon and ripped open a debate about heavy-handed seizures by local governments.

Though Vuon and three of his kin remain under arrest for their role in the attack, retired military generals and a former president have weighed in on his behalf.

The case has attracted so much attention that prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered an investigation, ruling Friday that the eviction was illegal and those who ordered it should be punished. He also encouraged local authorities to renew the family's land lease.

Many Vietnamese see Vuon as a symbol of the country's millions of farmers, many of whom are fed up with losing property or anxious about how new land rights laws will affect them as the government debates 20-year land grants that are due to expire next year.

Vuon stands accused of organising the attack and trying to kill police, but state-run media have openly sympathised with him in investigative reports. Their dispatches have alleged that Hai Phong officials lied about details of the eviction. They also have said the family was cheated in 1993 when they were given a lease of only 14 years instead of what should have been 20 years.

Nguyen Thi Thuong, Vuon's wife, remembers returning home from dropping her kids at school on January 5 to find a mob of armed police in riot gear surrounding her farm house. She heard gunfire and explosions erupt before ambulances rushed in and medical workers began carrying wounded officers out on stretchers.

"Our family was cornered," Thuong told The Associated Press by telephone. "We put all our efforts and money into our farm, but the authorities evicted us without compensation. It's very unjust."

Even before the standoff, Vuon's neighbours considered him a local celebrity.

The college-educated agricultural engineer spent 18 years and his life's savings turning 40 hectares (99 acres) of useless coastal swampland into a viable aquaculture farm. His daughter and nephew drowned in the process, but he pushed on and eventually built dykes capable of protecting the coastline from tropical storms.

Vuon, 49, had long been at odds with local authorities, and some legal experts say his 14-year grant agreement was illegal from the start. State media have reported that the surrounding area was slated to be developed for housing and an international airport.

Vuon and fellow farmer Vu Van Luan filed a lawsuit in 2009 challenging the proposed land seizure. Luan said the court had agreed to let them stay if they dropped the suit. But when they did so, the eviction order went ahead anyway.

That's when Vuon allegedly planned the attack on more than 100 police and soldiers. According to media reports, he was not at the scene when the violence erupted. The farmer and several members of his family are now under investigation for assault or attempted murder.

After the raid, two houses on the family's land were burned and bulldozed, forcing Vuon's wife to take shelter under a plastic tarp. Local officials first took responsibility for the destruction, but later denied involvement - fuelling rage among many following the case nationwide who have vented their frustration online.

In Vietnam all land belongs to the state, but sweeping economic reforms in the 1980s led to the 1993 land law that offered conditional 20-year land grants to many farmers. Legal experts say those leases will likely be extended when they expire next year, ensuring farmers quasi-private usage rights. However, other questions hover over clauses in Vietnamese law that allow authorities to seize land for national security or defense, economic development or the public interest.

In some cases, that translates into highways or industrial parks that bring jobs to the poor. But in an increasing number of cases, it means grabbing fish farms or rice paddies for swanky golf courses and resorts only accessible to the rich.

Most farmers accept compensation and move on, but a growing number have been resisting by filing lawsuits, holding protests or, in rare cases, battling police with sticks, stones or weapons. Millions of Vietnam's poorest workers struggle to make ends meet as the communist country battles Asia's highest inflation rate.

Farmers are typically compensated according to the land's agricultural value, not the amount developers pay. As property values climb and financial stakes increase, land rights disputes are growing "increasingly public and angry," said Mark Sidel, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin who consults on legal reform in Vietnam.

With popular frustration mounting against "rapacious developers and their allies in local governments," he added, "Hanoi deals with these disputes with some care."

And while Vuon's case alone will likely not push the country into making sweeping changes to its land laws, it also cannot be ignored, especially since more than 70 percent of the country's 87 million people still live in the countryside.

"Land issues affect the party's legitimacy because they pit the local power structure against farmers on a playing field that is tilted in favour of the former," said Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra.

In the Hai Phong case, Vuon's struggle has won favour with some who see indiscriminate land seizure as a symbol of greed and corruption. A Hanoi-based blogger has raised about 223 million dong ($10,600) for the family's legal fees, and former President Le Duc Anh has lauded Vuon as a model citizen.

"He should be encouraged, but instead he was evicted," Anh told Giao Duc (Education) newspaper on Tuesday. "It's so merciless."

Vuon's neighbours now worry they might be next to lose their farms. Prior to the attack in their sleepy seaside fishing community, they had planned to erect a statue in honor of the man who reclaimed swampland and tamed threats that wind and waves once posed to their coastline.

"The villagers considered him a hero," said Luan, who filed the lawsuit with Vuon.

But now that Vuon is in jail for attempted murder, their plans for the monument have been put on hold.

By Mike Ives - The Associated Press - February 10, 2012

Vietnam PM says high-profile forced eviction 'illegal'

HANOI — Vietnam's premier on Friday weighed in on a high-profile land dispute in the north, criticising the forced eviction of a fish farmer who resisted with landmines and a shotgun, an official said.

The January 5 incident in the port city of Hai Phong, in which farmer Doan Van Vuon injured six police officers as he resisted, has attracted unprecedented media attention in communist Vietnam.

"The decision to take back the land and the subsequent forced eviction of the farm were both illegal," said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in quotes read to reporters by Vu Duc Dam, head of the government office.

Dung, who commissioned a report into the "regrettable" incident and chaired a meeting on the findings on Friday, called on local officials nationwide to "actively reconsider" their land management policies.

Land disputes with local authorities are an increasingly contentious issue in the communist country, where all land is owned by the state and usage rights are not always clear or protected.

Officials must ensure evictions and land seizures are carried out "in strict accordance with the law", Dung said, according to a report posted on the government website late Friday.

Vuon's violent defiance of the authorities is extremely rare in authoritarian Vietnam, but his plight has attracted sympathetic coverage and a number of high-ranking officials, including former president Le Duc Anh, have championed his cause.

For the last month, Vuon's name has dominated headlines in the country's tightly-controlled press, becoming a symbol of widespread discontent over official handling of land disputes, experts say.

Vuon is currently in detention as police investigate him for attempted murder while his house on the outskirts of Hai Phong ~~Vietnam's third-largest city~~ has been razed to the ground.

On Friday, Dung also asked officials to expedite Vuon's trial and requested they attenuate the charges against him.

Dung has also ordered an investigation into the destruction of Vuon's house, which he described as "a violation of the law" saying that anyone found responsible would be punished, Dam said.

On Tuesday, two members of the local authorities were suspended for their role in the botched eviction.

Agence France Presse - February 10, 2012

US House moves to press Vietnam on rights‎

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:45:00 +0100

US lawmakers moved forward Wednesday on a bill that would curb aid to Vietnam unless it improves its human rights record, raising concern over the treatment of dissidents and religious practitioners.

The proposal would block any increase in non-humanitarian US assistance beyond 2011 levels unless the State Department certifies that Vietnam has made "substantial progress" in respecting freedom of religion and expression and that the Hanoi government is working against human trafficking.

"It is imperative that the United States government send an unequivocal message to the Vietnamese regime that it must end its human rights abuses against its own citizens," Representative Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey who sponsored the bill, told a hearing.

A House subcommittee on human rights led by Smith approved the proposal with support from both major parties. The bill still needs passage by the full House Foreign Affairs Committee, and then the full House and Senate.

The House has approved the bill twice in previous sessions, but it has died in the Senate.

The draft bill seeks Vietnam's release of prisoners detained "for their peaceful advocacy of religious freedom, democracy and human rights" including outspoken Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly.

The proposal also voices concern about restrictions on press freedom and the treatment of Buddhist clergy and churches, including those of the minority Montagnard and Hmong ethnicities.

A Vietnamese woman, testifying last month to a House panel, accused Hanoi authorities of complicity in human trafficking after she was sent to a factory in Jordan where she said she worked day and night for little pay.

Vietnam and the United States have been building closer relations, putting aside bitter memories of war, amid friction between Hanoi and Beijing over territorial claims in the South China Sea.

President Barack Obama's administration has repeatedly called on Vietnam to address human rights concerns, although it has also pushed ahead with greater cooperation with Hanoi including in military exchanges.

The US Agency for International Development said that the United States provided $134 million for Vietnam in the 2010 fiscal year, more than half of it devoted to improving health and child survival. The agency requested $125 million for 2012.

Agence France Presse - February 10, 2012

Optimistic signs for Vietnamese workers abroad

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:42:00 +0100

The year 2012 offers many opportunities for Vietnam to send workers abroad, according to the Overseas Labour Management Department under the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

According to the department, economies in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia are still growing and have high demand for foreign workers, including Vietnamese labourers.

After prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited Japan late last year, Japan agreed to receive Vietnamese nurses and hospital orderlies, giving Vietnamese workers opportunities to earn high income and respect.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Korea will receive 15,000 Vietnamese workers. Of them, 11,700 will work in the manufacturing sector; 1,000 in the construction sector; 1,000 in the agricultural sector and 1,300 in fisheries.

Malaysia highly appreciates hard-working Vietnamese workers and has strong demand for foreign workers in manufacturing, construction, agriculture, services and domestic work.

About 140 enterprises are allowed to send workers to Malaysia and have so far sent 200,000 workers.

Head of the Overseas Labour Management Department Nguyen Ngoc Quynh said that after a suspension period, Libya is expected to receive Vietnamese workers from June to serve their national reconstruction.

Based on these optimistic signals, Vietnam has set a target of sending 90,000 workers abroad this year.

Vietnam will strengthen vocational training for workers in the health care and service sectors in order to meet demand in traditional markets.

The country will also study and develop new markets for seasonal work, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland and Sweden.

According to the department, in 2011 more than 88,000 Vietnamese workers were sent to work in nearly 40 countries and territories, mostly in the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Malaysia.

Vietnam News Agency, February 10, 2012

Dong firms against US dollar after Tet

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:39:00 +0100

The dong has strengthened against the US dollar on both the official and black markets since the Tet (lunar new year) holidays.

The greenback was quoted on the streets here yesterday at buy/sell prices of VND20,950/VND20,970 per dollar, rates VND30/VND40 lower than on the previous day. These rates put the black market value of the dong below tSTC posted by commercial banks, a very rare situation.

Vietcombank yesterday posted dollar exchange rates at VND20,920/VND20,990, down from VND20,956/VND21,026 on Monday. Eximbank, meanwhile, listed exchange rates yesterday at VND20,900/VND21,000.

The interbank exchange rate remained unchanged yesterday at VND20,828 per dollar.

Lower foreign exchange rates have helped restrain the rise in domestic gold prices, even as global gold prices have risen. After skyrocketing to VND46 million (US$2,190) per tael ahead of Tet, gold was being traded yesterday at buy/sell prices of VND44.75 million/VND44.93 million per tael, thanks to the shift in exchange rates. (One tael is equivalent to 1.2 ounces)

The world spot gold price on the London Bullion Market yesterday was $1,720 per ounce.

Experts attributed the easing in foreing exchange rates to increased supplies of dollars on the market. A report released by HCM City Securities Co last week noted the large volume of overseas remittances pouring into Vietnam for the recent holiday, helping boost supplies of dollars the domestic market.

Significant levels of lending by commercial banks in US dollars have also pumped the greenback into circulation. The nation's two leading cities of Hanoi and HCM City saw strong credit growth in January, with credit growing 1.96 in Hanoi compared to December, while credit grew in HCM City by a whopping 6.3 per cent, according to the government website chinhphu.gov.vn.

In HCM City alone, outstanding US dollar loans reached a total of VND219.9 trillion ($10.4 billion), a year-on-year increase of 13.3 per cent, accounting for over 27 per cent of the city's total outstanding loans.

Nguyen Ngoc Thang, deputy director of the State Bank of Vietnam branch at HCM City, said that the forex market in the city has been quite stable.

At the beginning of this year, State Bank Governor Nguyen Van Binh said that, without any unexpected external shocks, the central bank would be able to maintain a stable foreign exchange market with currency devaluation this year of less than 3 per cent.

He noted that the surplus in the aggregate balance of payments was forecast to reach about $3 billion this year, helping increase supplies of foreign currency on the domestic market.

Vietnam Investment Review - February 10, 2012

Google and Facebook accused of evading taxes in Vietnam

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:35:00 +0100

Despite earning much from advertisements, the perhaps most well-known social networking sites, Google and Facebook, have paid very little in taxes in this country.

Huge advertising revenues

According to statisitics by AC Nielsen and TNS, Google holds around 95 per cent of online searches, and is the gateway for 70 per cent of websites in Vietnam, showing that its Google AdWords advertisement operation is thriving.

An undisclosed source said that somewhere around 60 per cent of online advertisements in Vietnam are delivered by foreign companies.

This same source added that Google earned $40 million from its advertising services in 2011, just from this country.

At the same time, Facebook and You Tube are also intensifying their advertising campaigns throughout the region. Even though there are no official figures from these companies, it is estimated that their ad revenues are extremely high.

Nguyen Hoa Hong Thanh, director of Emerald Company, one of Google's nine official agents in Vietnam, said that in order to become an official Google agent, they were required to be making profits of at least $10,000 per quarter. Only official agents are allowed to sign contracts with Google, a necessity for tax payment.

According to Thanh, Google's nine official agents in Vietnam account for around 50 per cent of online advert revenues in the country.

Lax management

Even though these sites reap great profits from Vietnam, they manage to evade paying taxes by using international credit card systems. This makes it difficult for authorities to levy taxes domestically.

Vo Do Thang, director of the Athena Network Security Centre, said, "International networks intentionally avoid establishing offices in Vietnam to avoid legal responsibility in the country."

Operations in Vietnam are maintained by separate representatives, based here, who are responsible for maintaining information exchange and communications with the headquarters outside the country. Thang added that unofficial agents also play a role by conducting transactions through credit card systems, which are difficult for Vietnamese authorities to trace.

These networks have also been seeking other ways of transferring funds, which would allow them to avoid paying taxes. For example, Facebook has begun to use as a means of payment.

Facebook itself claims that these new means of money transactions can open up a new era in the market by making it easier for users to sell ad space.

Le Thi Thu Huong, deputy director of HCM City Tax Department, admitted, "Although we have just recently become aware that these companies are making a lot of money in Vietnam, we are having difficulties in terms of taxing these earnings because they do not have branches within the country."

"The levying of taxes has, so far, been based on companies that register in Vietnam and declare their taxes here, and wSTC books are subject to inspection. We still don't have a system in place that is capable to deal with internet-based enterprises operating here," Huong shared.

The fact that foreign social networking websites make big money in Vietnam has put local digital content enterprises in great difficulties.

Nguyen Hoang Tuan Anh, External Affairs director of the game-operator VNG, said that, while local firms have to pay taxes and are overseen for their advert content, foreign social networking websites and search engines operating in Vietnam are not. This has fostered an unequal playing field, which puts domestic sites at a great disadvantage."

Solutions needed

Huong added that tax agencies are scrutinising the business practices of the large social networking sites.

The preliminary results of their inspection showed that Yahoo's tax payment in Vietnam has increasing marginally in recent years, reaching over VND4.8 billion ($228,180) in 2011, compared to VND2.7 billion ($128,351) in 2010, while, in 2010 they payed just VND690 million ($32,800) in 2009, she noted.

The HCM City Tax Department will soon inspect the tax declarations and payment by Google's nine official agents in Vietnam, she added.

In order to heighten tax collection from foreign social networking websites, Thang, from the Athena Centre, proposed that Vietnam should follow China's example in restraining the bandwidth of foreign social websites that do not declare taxes in the country.

Vietnam Investment Review - February 10, 2012

Le chef du PCV travaille avec la Commission de propagande et d'éducation

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:01:00 +0100

Le secrétaire général du Parti communiste du Vietnam, Nguyên Phu Trong, s'est vivement félicité des efforts des cadres chargés de la propagande et de l'éducation de tout le Vietnam, lesquels ont contribué aux réalisations communes du pays.

Le chef du Parti a rencontré le 7 février à Hanoi les responsables de la Commission de propagande et d'éducation du Comité central (CC) du Parti communiste du Vietnam (PCV).

Il a agréé les six tâches majeures de 2012 définies par la commission de propagande et d'éducation tout en insistant sur la nécessité d'une prise de conscience de la position et du rôle essentiels des tâches de propagande et d'éducation, comme de celles d'édification du parti sur le plan politique et idéologique en cette nouvelle période.

Les tâches en matière d'idéologie conservent leur importance fondamentale mais avec aujourd'hui de plus importantes exigences, impliquant donc une prise de conscience plus profonde, a poursuivi Nguyên Phu Trong.

Il faut accorder une attention particulière à l'enseignement de la théorie et de la politique afin d'assurer détermination et fidélité envers les idéaux du parti, veiller à la propagande orale, multiplier les dialogues, exploiter l'effectivité des mass médias et notamment des journaux en ligne, a souligné le secrétaire général.

La prise en compte de ces préoccupations a pour objet de servir le développement économique comme l'édification du parti, avec comme base spirituelle de la société la culture. Il faut se concentrer cette année à l'application des résolutions du CC du PCV, du Bureau politique du CC du PCV, notamment les résolutions des 3e et 4e Plénums du CC du PCV, intensifier le mouvement "Etudier et suivre l'exemple moral du Président Hô Chi Minh", mener à son terme la modification de la Constitution de la République socialiste du Vietnam de 1992, ainsi que régler les problèmes de développement de l'éducation, des sciences...

La branche de la propagande et de l'éducation doit achever toutes les tâches qui lui ont été confiées, à commencer par la formation d'un corps de cadres chargés de la propagande, de l'éducation et de l'idéologie..., a souligné Nguyên Phu Trong.

Chaque journaliste, chaque écrivain, chaque enseignant et chaque scientifique notamment, doivent avoir une confiance politique et une fidélité absolue, être fermement déterminés à lutter, ainsi que posséder des qualifications et une moralité infaillible afin de ne pas être séduits par des intérêts, de l'argent, une position sociale ainsi que par les pièges des forces hostiles, a estimé le secrétaire général.

Les enseignants doivent recevoir une formation complémentaire, et ceux qui chargent des tâches idéologiques doivent suivre une formation de renouvellement en la matière, a-t-il estimé.

De son côté, Dinh Thê Huynh, secrétaire du PCV et chef de la Commission de propagande et d'éducation du CC du PCV, a parlé des tâches idéologiques menées depuis 2011 ainsi que de leurs orientations pour les temps à venir.

Selon lui, elles ont suivi de près, défini, dirigé et diffusé les tâches de propagande sur les activités du Parti, de l'Etat comme des branches et localités. Il a encouragé les mouvements et événements importants ainsi que la sensibilisation de l'opinion publique aux problèmes sociaux épineux. Il a de même participé à la révision de définitions insuffisamment correctes, au rejet des points de vue erronés des forces hostiles, ainsi qu'à la préservation des politiques du Parti et grandes préconisations de l'Etat...

Agence Vietnamienne d'Information - 8 février 2012

Marseille : le procès d'un commerce occulte de médicaments

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:48:00 +0100

Sous couvert d'humanitaire, des médicaments périmés partaient au Vietnam

L'association humanitaire dissimulait-elle un trafic de médicaments vers le Vietnam ? Le tribunal correctionnel de Marseille doit juger aujourd'hui Grégory, 36 ans, soupçonné d'avoir, de 2005 à 2007, orchestré cette "contrebande". À l'origine, la société Interpharm qu'il crée, en 2001, est tout à fait légale. L'entreprise a pour objet la vente de médicaments en gros aux principaux hôpitaux d'Hô-Chi-Minh-Ville (ex-Saïgon). L'associé est un pharmacien, en respect des obligations de ce type de commerce, et l'Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé (Afssaps) délivre, le 31 mai 2001, son agrément.

Trois ans plus tard, une évolution de la législation vietnamienne contraint cliniques et hôpitaux à se fournir exclusivement auprès d'organismes d'État. Interpharm ferme ses portes. Mais Grégory, sous couvert d'une association humanitaire, Solidarité Santé (Solisan), entame la collecte dans le sud de la France - de Lyon à Toulouse - des médicaments non utilisés (MNU), récoltés par les pharmacies.

En juin 2007, après une alerte de la Drass qui soupçonne une collecte illégale, un coursier est interpellé alors qu'il opère la tournée des pharmacies pour y remplir des cartons frappés du sigle Cyclamed, l'organisme en charge du recyclage des médicaments. Ce label sera mis en avant par les pharmaciens comme un gage de sérieux de l'association sollicitant leurs dons de médicaments.

Dans deux boxes du boulevard Danielle-Casanova (15e arr.), les enquêteurs découvrent plusieurs mètres cubes de cartons et de sacs poubelles pleins de médicaments, en partie périmés. Certains relèvent de la législation sur les substances vénéneuses. La location de la camionnette et des boxes est réglée avec la carte bancaire de la Fédération française des arts martiaux vietnamiens, association que préside le père de Grégory.

Au Vietnam, M. Ba Linh, pharmacien, reçoit deux colis mensuels de dix kilos de médicaments. En échange, Grégory perçoit 2 000 à 2 500 euros par mois, une somme remise par un cousin du pharmacien de Saïgon. La demande d'entraide judiciaire de la justice marseillaise a été infructueuse, Interpol Vietnam estimant l'affaire "très complexe", façon de ne pas mettre son nez dans l'approvisionnement douteux d'officines locales.

Devant le juge d'instruction du pôle santé du tribunal de Marseille, Grégory a reconnu le caractère irrégulier de ce commerce qui lui vaut d'être jugé pour contrebande de marchandises prohibées mais également pour exercice illégal de la profession de pharmacien. En 2002, l'Afssaps l'avait rappelé à l'ordre soulignant que les collectes de son association étaient illégales en l'absence de pharmacien. En 2005, la Drass Paca avait provoqué une enquête s'étant aperçue de cette collecte de l'association Solisan sans agrément. Un an durant, il mettra la pédale douce. Lors de son audition, le 5 juillet 2005, par les services de police Grégory expliquait une confusion maladroite entre Interpharm, vitrine légale de son activité, et l'association humanitaire. Il assure n'avoir expédié que des antibiotiques et médicaments - mais aucun psychotrope - dont la date de péremption était supérieure à un an. Ce sera l'une des principales questions de cette affaire qui avait valu à ce marchand de pilules d'être provisoirement détenu durant trois mois et demi en 2007.

Par Luc Leroux - La Provence - 8 février 2012

Vietnam's contentious land law - part 3

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:40:00 +0100

The Wisdom of Farmers : this is the final part of a three-part series on corruption Vietnam's land ownership by David Brown, a retired US Foreign Service official who served in several posts throughout Southeast Asia.

Vietnam’s vaunted doi moi, the economic reforms that ended Vietnam’s disastrous attempt to build a Soviet-style economy in the years after their ‘American war,’ meant for nearly all the nation’s farmers the end of collective farms. With few exceptions, the village-sized collectives were broken up, and each farm family was given a 20-year lease. Freed to work individual plots and profit from their own labor, they powered extraordinary growth in agricultural productivity.

In the 15 years after 1993, agricultural production more than doubled. By 2008, Vietnam had become a leading exporter of rice, coffee, cashews, pepper and farm-raised fish and shrimp, even while surplus manpower drifted away from rural villages to work in the booming new industrial zones.

Next year, however, the initial 20-year leases of farmland will expire. In Vietnam there seems to be consensus that the land law must be revised again. The question is how. Literally interpreted, provisions in force since 1993 permit the state to take back farms without any compensation at the end of the lease period. It seems, say expert commentators, that farmers’ belief that they were secure in their right to continue to work their land was just that – a belief. It has no juridical foundation in Vietnamese law.

Recent scholarship has confirmed the general perception that the vagueness of the current land law, the non-transparency of administrative procedures and the quick profits that can be made by insiders when farmland is expropriated and converted to other uses are a principle driver of official corruption. Years of effort to codify procedures seem simply to have multiplied opportunities to extort under the table payments. Ninety percent of the civil complaints brought to the courts concern land disputes.

Even were the process not shot through by corruption, the reckless and seemingly relentless conversion of prime agricultural land into industrial parks, housing estates, roads and golf courses would be a matter of growing concern. Vietnam’s Agriculture Ministry calculates that in 2001-2006, some 376,000 hectares of rice land were expropriated, displacing over a million farmers. Amendments to the land law in 2003 that spurred ‘development’ by making it easier to ‘liberate’ large tracts appear to have accelerated the pace of displacement. Of the 31,000 land-related complaints filed in 2007, some 70 percent alleged inadequate compensation for expropriated land.

There’s no solid evidence yet that the politburo has decided to amend Vietnam’s constitution, which declares that “the land belongs to all of the people, and the state manages it on their behalf.” However, the shootout early in January between a farm family and police sent to repossess their 20 hectare fish farm has framed their problem in the starkest way.

Analyzing the Tien Lang incident, Saigon Tiep Thi, a Ho Chi Minh City newspaper , commented that “for nearly 20 years, since the 1993 revision of our Land Law, farmers have believed in the doi moi policy because they firmly believed that when their initial 20 year land rights grant ended, they would continue to have the right to work that land if they wished, and that the law would protect their ownership of improvements to the plot. That is the political basis of their continued belief in the ruling Communist Party, their readiness to follow its lead.”

Now it seems that only a radical move by party and government that renders farmers secure in their possession of the land they work will satisfy Vietnamese public opinion. Only an unequivocal right to own the land they work, to transfer it, add to it or improve it as they choose is likely to quiet the farmers’ fears. In short, the Party and government are pressed to codify rural tradition.

There’s much to be said for such an approach, says John Gillespie, an Australian who recently studied how Vietnam’s local courts manage disputes over property rights. Judges routinely steer litigants toward arbitration, and arbitrators have a strong tendency to propose a settlement based on ‘common sense and community sentiment’ than to rely on the letter of the law. They do so, Gillespie found, because conciliation is is far more likely than confrontation to bring a durable conclusion to land disputes.

That was the solution attempted when Dang Van Vuon and other Tien Lang farmers appealed a local court’s order to vacate the fish farms they’d worked long and hard to establish. The farmers and a Tien Lang district representative agreed on the face-saving solution the arbitrator proposed. However, the district chairman and the chairman of Vuon’s home village, a pair of brothers, refused the deal.

Literally thousands of articles on the shootout at Tien Lang have appeared in the Vietnamese press, and thousands more have been posted on Vietnam’s lively blogosphere. So far, however, the motives of the local officials who demanded the return of Doan Van Vuon’s leased swampland and who ultimately decided to repossess Vuon’s farm by force remain uncertain.

The local officials told an investigator from the Fatherland Front that they intended to save the government the trouble of paying a large sum for the property if rumors were confirmed that a new airport would be constructed there along the shoreline. Villagers told the same investigator that they believe the officials intended to profit by the resale of the fish farm, and indeed already had buyers already lined up.

It’s a measure of the public’s inclination to suspect ulterior motives when the state expropriates property in Vietnam that no commentator has suggested that the officials were simply trying to do what they believed the land law required them to do.

By David Brown - Asia Sentinel - February 3, 2012

Vietnam's contentious land law - part 2

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:38:00 +0100

Shootout in Tien Lang : this is the second of a three-part series on corruption Vietnam's land ownership by David Brown, a retired US Foreign Service official who served in several posts throughout Southeast Asia.

Early last month, the Vietnamese public, weary after a year of high inflation and slow growth, was turning its attention to the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday only a few weeks off. In the far south of Vietnam, the long ordeal of labor hero Tran Ngoc Suong was about to end – local authorities had decided to drop charges that she had embezzled funds from the nation’s last thriving collective farm.

Then an extraordinary report from Tien Lang district, on the outskirts of Haiphong, a port city east of Hanoi, sent a shock through the body public. A fish farmer and his family had resisted a large force moving in to enforce an eviction order. With an improvised mine and muskets bought on the black market, they’d wounded two soldiers and four policemen, including the local police chief.

As in the Song Hau Farm affair, it was local authorities’ determination to wrest control of rich agricultural land that provoked the incident.

In 1997, Doan Van Vuon moved to Vinh Quang Village and leased nine hectares of coastal wetlands from the village People’s Committee. Trained as an engineer, Vuon began to build the dikes, sluices and ponds needed to raise fish and shrimp. No one expected Vuon and his family to succeed, but after several years of effort and experimentation, the fish farm turned a small profit. Other pioneers followed Vuon’s example. By 2004, some 20 families in Tien Lang district were developing fish farms covering approximately 250 hectares of previously worthless land. Vuon himself had reclaimed a further 11 ha from the sea, increasing his family enterprise to 20 ha of ponds altogether.

In 2005, however, the fish farmers of Tien Lang received a shocking notice from the district administration. The swampland that they had rented would be repossessed when their leases expired, it said. There would be no compensation for improvements.

All land in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is owned by the state. Since 1993, however, individuals and enterprises have been granted ‘land use rights.’ For most farmers, that meant that they were allotted a piece of their former collective farm for a 20 year period.

Vuon, for reasons still unclear, had been given only a 14-year lease backdated to 1993. He was ordered to vacate by 2007.

Vuon and the other fish farmers say they had believed – in accordance with rural custom – that their leases on the land they’d improved would be routinely extended. Further, like all farmers, they expected that if the local government took a piece of land back for some public purpose, they’d be compensated for the improvements they’d made.

The fish farmers protested. The district authorities wouldn’t budge. The district court upheld the authorities’ order to vacate. The farmers appealed to a higher court in Haiphong City.

As is common in Vietnam, the Haiphong court referred the appeal to an arbitrator, a local magistrate, in hope that the dispute could be resolved informally. The procedure resulted in April 2010 in a “memorandum to create conditions for mutual agreement on resolution of the matter.”

Reportedly, the Tien Lang district agreed to extend the fish farmers’ leases when they expired and the farmers agreed to withdraw their complaint. The document was signed by Vuon and other representatives of the fish farmers and, representing the district government, by the chief of the Tien Lang district office of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The magistrate then affixed the appeals court’s vermillion stamp.

Undeterred, the district authorities reneged on the bargain. No sooner had the farmers withdrawn their complaint than the district declared the local court’s ruling still valid. Again it pressed Vuon to hand over his fish farm. Driven to desperation, Vuon resolved to fight back. When police, reinforced by soldiers – 80 armed men altogether – moved in on his farm on the morning of January 5, Vuon and his family fired the shots that roused the nation.

It’s not so clear what will happen next. Vuon’s fish farm was devastated, three houses bulldozed and a quarter million dollars’ worth of mature fish looted by strangers. Vuon and his brother are in jail, charged with attempted murder of police officers who were carrying out their duties.

To Vietnamese public opinion, however, the brothers are heroic figures.

Dang Hung Vo, a retired high official, comments that “it’s possible to see the recent incident at Tien Lang as a climactic demonstration of the faults in our Land Law and how it is implemented at the local level. A good farmer, pure, simple and hard-working, who’s driven to defend his right to his land with home-made weapons – what misery! Everybody believes that there’s such a thing as justice and that the law ensures it. Certainly that’s what the farmers who built the fish ponds at Tien Lang believed. They went to the court expecting fair play, but the simple truths they understood proved elusive. The hopelessness of their situation drove them to take desperate measures.”

Vo and other experts on land policy have blasted the Tien Lang officials and the Haiphong deputy province chief who defended them for fundamental errors in the interpretation and execution of the law, but that’s not what’s really at issue here. It’s really a question of common sense and decency, of respect for a farmer’s bond with the land he’s worked – or so many commentators say.

Prime Minister Dung has ordered the Haiphong City authorities to explain how the shootout at Tien Lang came to pass, and how they intend to repair the situation there. Probably a few heads will roll; Vietnam’s public clearly hopes that Farmer Vuon’s won’t be among them.

It’s Dung and his colleagues in the government and Communist Party politburo who must deal with the larger problem, however. Vietnam’s current land law is a time bomb set to go off in 2013 -- without fundamental reform, the sort of tragedy that overtook Dang Van Vuon threatens half the nation’s population.

By David Brown - Asia Sentinel - February 2, 2012

Vietnam's contentious land law - part 1

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:35:00 +0100

This is the first of a three-part series on corruption in Vietnam's land confiscation, which in many ways rivals China's, by David Brown, a retired diplomat with the US Foreign Service who served in several posts throughout Southeast Asia.

When Vietnam veered onto the capitalist road a quarter century ago, there was hardly a hint of pushback by the officials and apparatchiks that had, until then, been entrusted with the enormous – and futile – task of building socialism. To the contrary, many enthusiastically set about to exploit the opportunities that doi moi, or reform, brought to hand.

It turned out that one of the surest routes to wealth in contemporary Vietnam lies in expropriating farmers and converting farmland to more immediately profitable uses. In January of this year, the attention of the nation was riveted by two stories with that theme.

The first, beginning on Jan. 5, concerned a sensational shootout on the outskirts of Haiphong City. The incident, which is discussed in part 2 of this three-part series, followed local authorities’ demand that a fish farmer surrender land that he and his family had reclaimed and made profitable after 14 years’ hard work. Some reports say the tract was under consideration as the site of a new airport.

The second story, reported on Jan. 20, concerned the end of a three year effort to put Tran Ngoc Suong in jail, allegedly for embezzlement but, it seems well-established, actually for resisting the takeover of her flourishing agribusiness venture, the Song Hau Farm.

Land conversion was what the Party brass in Can Tho City and nearby Co Do District had in mind when in 2005 they proposed to take over the Song Hau Farm. With the cooperation of Korean and American investors, they planned to build a ‘new town’ bordering the city’s planned modern airport on the former collective farm’s 4000 hectares.

First, however, they had to deal with Tran Ngoc Suong. Suong, then 56, had been director of the farm for seven years. Before that, she was chief assistant to her father, a demobilized Viet Cong officer who had been assigned in 1978 to create a collective farm from a vast expanse of swamp deep in the Mekong Delta. The success of the father-daughter team in the endeavor is legendary in Vietnam, one of the few brilliant achievements of the grim years following the end of the ‘American War’ and the nation’s reunification.

By 2005, the Song Hau Farm was selling rice and fish profitably to home and overseas markets. Though reconfigured as a joint stock company in 1991, the farm had remained remarkably true in important respects to its founding ideals, providing reliable income and social services for some 3000 farm families. Suong wasn’t going to let them down.

“Song Hau is the last true example of agricultural production following socialist principles,” Suong says she told the local Party chiefs at a meeting in October 2007. “I personally have never taken a penny that wasn’t due me. You call me ‘behind the times,’ comrades, too backward to lead such an enterprise. Well, I’m ready to hand over leadership to the people I’ve trained over the years.

“You want to turn Song Hau over to somebody else – are they going to regard the farm as their own flesh and blood? Song Hau is a highly productive farm community. If they turn Song Hau Farm into an industrial zone, what’s going to happen to our people?”

Can Tho’s power elite wasn’t a bit concerned by the social costs that Suong foresaw. Perhaps they reasoned that the dispossessed farmers could find work in the new factories or on the golf course they expected to spring up on the former rice paddies and fish ponds. And they had a Plan B.

If it’s deemed necessary to punish someone, Vietnamese law provides any number of possibilities. A staggering number of activities are technically illegal but routinely tolerated because to enforce the law would cause the system to freeze up. However, they can be invoked to force a dissident into line.

In September 2008, Suong was indicted in the local Co Do District Court on charges of embezzling 9 billion dong (US$428,857 at current exchange rates) from Song Hau Farm. When the case came to trial in August 2009, she was convicted of running an illegal slush fund and sentenced to eight years in prison. Four subordinates drew lesser terms.

Suong appealed. The appeals court in Can Tho City upheld the lower court’s verdict.

When it looked as though Suong might actually serve time in prison, her case became front page fare in Vietnam’s national press. A platoon of aging revolutionaries, prominently including Mme Nguyen Thi Binh, once the Viet Cong foreign minister, rallied to Suong’s defense. Supporters argued that setting up an unreported fund for social welfare purposes was an entirely ethical way of dodging red tape and in any event, was not illegal when it was established many years earlier.

Former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, a hero to Vietnamese reformers, had already connected the dots in a May 2008 letter to the Can Tho Party Committee. “I understand that it was your idea, not the public prosecutor’s, to bring criminal charges against Suong, Kiet wrote. “She’s made great contributions to the agricultural progress of the region, and if there was wrongdoing, it should be dealt with in a reasonable way.” Further, wrote Kiet, “I can’t support your plan to take the collective’s land to set up an industrial zone.”

Moved by photos of the frail but unbowed Miss Suong in the dock, public opinion was overwhelmingly on her side. In Hanoi, impatience with the Can Tho authorities was manifest, the center’s typical reaction when the actions of ham-handed local officials stir up public unrest.

In May 2010, after central prosecutors found procedural violations, Vietnam’s Supreme Court threw out the verdict.

Seemingly unfazed, in February 2011 the Can Tho Police reported that further investigation had found fresh evidence pointing to Suong’s guilt. In August, prosecutors filed updated embezzlement charges against Suong and her subordinates.

Suong’s friends did not give up. Their chosen instrument was Vietnam’s ‘Fatherland Front,’ a Communist Party-dominated amalgam of groups that purports to ‘represent the entire people.’ On the heels of the new indictment, the Front urged administrative remedies for Suong’s wrongdoings, if truly there were any.

Its own investigation, the Front advised the Supreme Procurator in a public letter, showed that Suong was blameless. The welfare fund was established in 1994, it reasoned, was established well before Suong became the farm’s director and was not at that time illegal. Further, harrumphed the Front, “the investigation is sullying the name of a farm that has a fine reputation among senior government officials and has gained outstanding achievements.”

And finally, it appears, the Can Tho authorities have agreed to drop the charges. It’s not because they agree she’s innocent, they said on Jan. 19. It’s “because of the contributions made by Suong and her family to the state.”

By David Brown - Asia Sentinel - February 1st, 2012

Massive losses cost EVN chair his seat

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:56:00 +0100

The prime minister has dismissed Dao Van Hung, chair of the Electricity Group of Vietnam (EVN), which has been making losses while under his control, with the loss-stricken EVN Telecom the most infamous example.

Besides EVN Telecom, which was forced to accept acquisition by the military-run Viettel Group to avoid insolvency, EVN also incurred enormous losses from other investments in non-core businesses, said Vu Duc Dam, head of the government Office.

By the end of 2010, EVN sank a total of VND2.44 trillion (US$117.1 million) in investments into EVN Telecom, while also covering expenses of more than VND1 trillion to supply terminal devices for the telecom operation.

During the initial stages of entering the telecom industry, EVN received warnings from industry insiders that telecom is a non-core sector to the power enterprise. However, EVN executives claimed that it could make use of the already existing infrastructure of power poles and wires for telecom development.

Moreover, they said, with the advanced 3G technology, EVN Telecom would be able to compete successfully against other rivals in the industry.

However, since EVN Telecom could not afford to offer promotional campaigns to attract subscribers like its Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone rivals, it soon drowned, unable to withstand the competition of the industry.

With the number of subscribers dramatically slumping, EVN officially declared the failure of EVN Telecom at the end of 2010, when Hung admitted that the telecom had been incurring a monthly loss of dozens of billions of dong.

Haphazard investment

Under Hung's regime, EVN has sunk thousands of billions of dong in investments in many other non-core sectors such as securities, banking, and real estate, while the power industry faced a capital shortage for power production.

By the end of 2010, EVN's total non-core investment topped VND50 trillion ($2.4 billion), nearly 90 percent of which was accounted for by EVN's affiliates and subsidiaries.

However, such a huge investment would only yield profits worth a mere VND540 billion, or a return-on-equity ratio of only 1 percent.

EVN also had a total investment of VND2.1 trillion in four other "sensitive" sectors, including real estate, insurance, banking, and finance, accounting for 3.27 percent of its equity.

According to audit results of EVN in 2010, the state-run enterprise suffered a total loss of VND8.41 trillion, while the figure in 2011 was nearly VND17 trillion.

Last October, the government Office ordered that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade conduct check-ups of EVN's power pricing scheme, and its investment in the non-core businesses, especially the securities, banking and insurance sectors.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade should order EVN to provide discipline and other sanctions on relevant agencies and individuals, the prime minister ordered.

Tuoi Tre - February 7, 2012

Poor Tet sales leave firms with stockpiles

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:53:00 +0100

Many companies that participated in HCM City's Tet price-stabilisation programme are struggling to liquidate the stocks they had built up following unusually sluggish demand during the year's biggest festival.

he Ministry of Industry and Trade blamed the poor sales on the economic crisis and a change in people's consumption habits.

Unofficial figures from the Vietnam Plastic Association (VPA) showed that members only managed to sell two-thirds of their stockpiles, the association's vice president, Ho Duc Lam, said.

"With such large amounts of goods in stock, the enterprises will be facing difficulties in doing business because their money is stuck," he told Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Demand has been unusually low even for essential goods such as cookies and candies.

Tuoi Tre quoted a deputy director of a HCM City-based confectionery company as saying its stocks had increased by 5 percent compared to last year.

Garment companies were facing similar trouble after Tet demand fell by 30 percent, Nguyen Huu Toan, deputy general director of the Sai Gon 2 Garment Company, said.

Though the company reduced production compared to other years, it still had a hard time because of the low demand.

Many firms blamed the early arrival of Tet - too close to the New Year, which made it one extended shopping season - for the low demand.

Normally the Lunar New Year comes later, making it a distinct shopping season.

Lam said companies will be more cautious this year following the changes in consumption habits.

The director of An Phuoc Garment Company Ltd, Nguyen Thi Dien, agreed, saying that people tend to be cautious in their buying habits amid the economic difficulties, and so firms should review demand carefully.

They should distribute their products efficiently around the country to ensure sales, she added.

Phan Van Thien, deputy general director of Bibica Corporation, a confectionery industry leader, said firms should better research the market to understand consumers' needs.

Vietnam Investment Review - February 6 , 2012

Vietnam's housing market too expensive for workers

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:47:00 +0100

The cost of housing in Vietnam is 25 times higher than the average workers wage, 5 times higher than housing in developed countries and 10 times higher than housing in developing countries according to a real estate expert.

The State is implementing a strategy to apply the necessary policies to help develop the housing market and help low income earners who struggle to find adequate housing.

Over the next five years, Vietnam aims to have 10 million square meters of housing, including housing for low income earners in urban areas, help 400,000 poor households in rural areas improve their accommodation conditions and reduce the percentage of undeveloped housing to less than 5 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of housing for lease would reach 20 per cent of the total housing fund to serve low income earners.

During the next ten years, Vietnam hopes to have 12.5 million square meters of housing in urban areas and help 500,000 households in rural areas improve their accommodation situation and eliminate undeveloped housing across the country

A survey of households and housing by the general Statistical Office (GSO) showed Vietnam still has 1.6 million temporary accommodations, 0.5 million apartments with an area of less than 15 square meters in urban locations and 1.5 million undeveloped houses in rural areas.

It would take an average labourer 75 years to save enough money to buy a house in Vietnam with the current house values. Former deputy minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Dr Dang Hung Vo, believes the housing strategy requires investment by the State and the community if it is to succeed.

"Once the problem is settled well in Vietnam, this means that we can eliminate the housing price paradox, i.e. narrowing the gap between the average price and the annual income of workers," he said.

Property-report.com - February 6, 2012

Vietnam coffee premiums jump

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:45:00 +0100

Robusta sellers in top producer Vietnam jacked up premiums to offset declines in London futures, while beans from the new harvest in Indonesia began entering the physical market and were snapped up by roasters, dealers said on Friday.

New-crop beans from second-largest producer Indonesia were sold at premiums of up to $100 to London futures.

The beans are either priced against London's May or July contracts, depending on the period of delivery.

Although moisture content was high at 25 percent from a normal 13 percent due to persistent rains, Indonesian beans fetched hefty premiums, compared with Vietnamese robustas that were offered at $40 above London futures from as little as $10 two weeks ago.

Premiums for robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken robustas were last quoted at $10 to $20 above London's March contract in mid-January before the local markets were shut for Tet, Vietnam's biggest festival to mark the Lunar New Year.

Vietnam plans to export 1.2 million tonnes, or 20 million bags, of coffee this year, down 4 percent from the amount shipped in 2011.

Reuters - February 6, 2012

Vietnamese coffee sales reached about 40pct of crop

Coffee farmers in Vietnam, the world's largest producer of the robusta variety, have sold about 40 percent of the crop ending September 30, according to Volcafe, the coffee unit of commodities trader ED&F Man Holdings Ltd

Growers in the Southeast Asian nation had been holding back beans before the Tet festival, which marks the Lunar New Year, awaiting better prices. Vietnam's coffee exports may increase this month as good weather helps beans to dry and the holiday ends, said traders and officials. The sales pace may slow after February as farmers wait for price direction, said Le Tien Hung, deputy director of September 2nd Import-Export Co., known as Simexco, based in Dak Lak the biggest growing province.

"Liffe and disciplined farmer selling prevented a sell-off in Vietnam," Volcafe said in a report e-mailed to clients today. "External demand is good for all qualities."

Vietnamese coffee for shipment in March and April was at a premium of $20 a metric tonne to the price on the NYSE Liffe exchange in London, down from $40 a tonne last week, data from the Winterthur, Switzerland-based trader show.

Indonesian imports of Vietnamese beans are "picking up to satisfy the local roaster demand," according to the report. Output in the third-largest robusta grower fell to 8.3 million bags of 60 kilograms (132 pounds) in the 2011-12 season from 9.3 million bags a year earlier after rains damaged the crop, data from the US Department of Agriculture show.

Indonesia is the fourth biggest importer of Vietnamese coffee, Volcafe said in the report.

Robusta coffee for March delivery rose 1.8 percent to $1,833 a tonne by 1:53 p.m. in London.

Bloomberg - February 6, 2012

Un nid de réactionnaires détruit à Phu Yên

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:33:00 +0100

Le directeur de la Police de la province de Phu Yên (Centre), Pham Van Hoa, a présidé le 6 février une conférence de presse pour rendre public un cas d'"abus des droits de liberté de la démocratie pour porter atteinte aux intérêts de l'État, aux droits et aux intérêts légitimes des organisations et des individus".

Cette affaire, qui a eu lieu dans le site d'écotourisme de Da Bia, implique l'organisation réactionnaire portant le nom de "Hôi dông công luât công an Bia Son" (Conseil des lois et des affaires publiques de Bia Son).

Selon Pham Van Hoa, cette organisation réactionnaire était autrefois appelée "An dan dai dao", créée en 1975 et dirigée par Phan Van Thu (né en 1948 dans la commune d'An Thach, district de Tuy An, province de Phu Yên), arrêté et envoyé à plusieurs reprises dans des établissements de rééducation.

Entre 2004 et 2011, Phan Van Thu, alias Trân Công, s'est rendu dans la zone d'écotourisme de Da Bia (ou la zone d'écotourisme de Hoàng Long, district de Dông Hoa, province de Phu Yên) pour établir une base de direction des actions et développer clandestinement des organisations réactionnaires dans certaines villes et provinces. Phan Van Thu a regroupé plus de 300 personnes, dont des Viêt kiêu. Cette organisation fonctionne sous la modalité de "non violence" mais elle vise clairement à renverser l'administration populaire.

La police de Phu Yên a créé un groupe policier spécial dénommé C611 et a fait irruption le 5 février dans les locaux de cette organisation. Les policiers ont arrêté le leader Phan Van Thu et cinq de ses complices que sont Lê Duy Lôc (né en 1956 à Ninh Thuân), Vo Thanh Lê (né en 1955 à Phu Yên), Lê Phuc (né en 1951 à Ninh Thuân), Lê Duc Dông (né en 1983 à Thua Thiên-Huê) et Lê Trong Cu (né en 1966 à Phu Yên). Le 6 février, les policiers ont également arrêté trois autres personnes impliquées.

Ils ont saisi des centaines de volumes de documents sur les activités de cette organisation réactionnaire, plus de 12.000 dollars, près de 190 millions de dôngs ainsi que des ordinateurs, walkies-talkies, appareils photos, caméras...

La police de Phu Yên continue de rassembler les documents pour introduire cette affaire en justice.

Agence Vietnamienne d'Information - 6 février 2012

La nouvelle gouvernance de l’eau au Vietnam est à reconsidérer selon l'IRD

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:27:00 +0100

Des chercheurs de l’Institut de Recherche pour le développement (IRD) et de l’International Water Management Institute ont étudié la refonte du secteur de l’eau mise en place au Vietnam.

Selon les chercheurs qui ont étudié de près les effets de cette réforme, celle-ci est largement déconnectée des structures en place. Les résultats sont décevants : la tarification de l’eau n’a pas permis les gains escomptés, la gestion intégrée par bassin s’avère difficile à mettre en œuvre, des conflits d’autorité ont émergé…

Face aux besoins croissants de la population, le gouvernement a souhaité développer une gestion intégrée des ressources en eau, notamment sur le bassin du fleuve Rouge, deuxième cours d’eau du Vietnam, après le Mékong -un fleuve qui qui abrite près d'un tiers de la population vietnamienne, soit 30 millions de personnes, dont les habitants de la capitale, Hanoï.

Barrages hydro-électriques, systèmes d’irrigation, digues, dérivations : les aménagements effectués par l’homme sur le fleuve Rouge sont anciens, parfois même séculaires. Mais une nouvelle gouvernance de l’eau est venue s’ajouter au réseau existant de gestion de la ressource, sans que soit prise en compte la complexité du terrain. Selon les chercheurs, ces mesures s’avèrent peu efficaces, voire contreproductives à court terme.

Le mieux ennemi du bien ?

« Les digues imposantes qui bordent le fleuve Rouge et ses défluents impressionnent. Elles dénotent l’existence d’une lutte continuelle existant entre l’homme et le fleuve pour se prémunir de ses crues. En dehors d’événements climatiques exceptionnels comme les typhons, l’immense étendue de parcelles rizicoles cultivées intensivement, entre lesquelles courent de nombreux canaux, semble être le signe de l’emprise de l’homme sur la nature, l’eau domestiquée lui apportant prospérité. Ces systèmes de production très intensifs ne pourraient pas être garantis sans un service performant d’hydraulique agricole », rappelait en 2006 Jean-Philippe Fontenelle aux éditions La Découverte, dans une étude publiée en ligne et intitulée « La décentralisation de l'hydraulique agricole du delta du fleuve Rouge au Viêt-nam : rupture ou continuité ? ».

Pourtant, dans une synthèse présentée en ligne les chercheurs de l'IRD il est expliqué comment, au cours de la dernière décennie, et encouragé par les instances et bailleurs de fonds internationaux, le gouvernement vietnamien a instauré une nouvelle gouvernance aux effets plutôt néfastes:

Par exemple, le ministère de l’Agriculture et du développement rural a vu l’émergence des Organisations de bassin comme une menace, entraînant le transfert de certains de ses pouvoirs politiques et de ses prérogatives financières à ces nouvelles structures.

La tarification de l’eau n’a que rarement, sinon jamais, permis les gains escomptés.

La gestion intégrée des ressources en eau s’est avérée difficile à mettre en œuvre.

Une confusion institutionnelle s’est instaurée, en particulier quand le ministère des Ressources naturelles et de l’environnement a émergé.

Des conflits d’autorité se sont cristallisés.

Par Dominique Raizon - Radio France Internationale - 6 février 2012

Alstom signs $23.6 million hydropower contract in Vietnam

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:17:00 +0100

Alstom and its consortium partner, Hydrochina Huadong Engineering Corp., signed a contract worth about $23.6 million, with Vietnam Electricity, to provide electro-mechanical equipment and technical services for Song Bung 4 hydropower project in Vietnam.

According to the contract, Alstom, a supplier of hydropower equipment, and its Chinese partner will provide two 78 MW Francis turbine-generator sets and related equipment (balance of plant) for this project. The scope of the contract covers the equipment's design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and testing.

Located 43 kilometers from Danang city, Song Bung 4 Hydro Power Plant is one of the main hydropower projects on Vietnam's Bung River. Once completed, the Song Bung 4 project will be a contributor to supply power to the central area of Vietnam grid.

Manufactured at Alstom's hydropower brand new industrial facility in Tianjin, China, the first turbine unit will be put in operation by 2014. Tianjin Alstom Hydro is Alstom's largest hydropower manufacturing base and it is a leading supplier of equipment in China and across Asia.

Alstom has been a player in the Vietnam hydro market for over 20 years. By participating in a number of hydro projects, such as Son La, Sesan 4, Huoi Quang, Hua Na Alstom is contributing to the development of the Vietnamese power production, boosting the country's economic development.

Electric Light & Power - February 6, 2012

Vietnam hospital fees set for five-fold increase

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:12:00 +0100

Fees for hundreds of medical services at public hospitals are expected to increase up to five times the current rates issued in 1995, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen said at an online forum recently.

A circular on the modification of fees for 220 medical services is expected to be signed by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, she said at the forum held on the government website.

In 2010, the Health Ministry proposed to increase prices for 355 medical services. The proposal was rejected by the central government after it attracted wide critisism from the public and the Vietnam Social Insurance - which manages social and health insurance fund.

Under the new plan, fees for 70 percent of 220 services will increase by up to five times the current rate. For example, examination fees will increase from VND10,000 to VND20,000 at central hospitals. The same fee at communal medical stations will increase from VND1,000 to VND5,000.

Tien said the prices were being raised because of inflation and the fact that the basic salary in Vietnam has increased by 6.9 times over 1995. Per capita income has also increased to US$1,000 per year - more than two times over 1995, she said.

She said the fee increase is expected to improve the quality of medical services, facilities and doctors’ diligence.

The Vietnam Social Insurance has paid about 60 percent of medical fees nationwide for many years now, has backed the proposal.

Pham Luong Son of Vietnam Social Insurance said the new plan is more practical because it is more detailed and based on hospitals at central, provincial, district and communal levels.

He said reimbursement is expected to increase by between VND6 trillion and VND7 trillion per year with the new plan. Thus, he said, they would consider increasing health insurance fees by ten percent.

Thanh Nien News - February 5, 2012

Vietnam arrests nine members of 'reactionary' group

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:07:00 +0100

HANOI - Vietnam has arrested nine men said to be members of a 'politically reactionary' organisation that was aiming to overthrow the country's communist government, state media said on Monday.

Raids on a secret rural command centre in recent days led to the arrest of the group and its leader Phan Van Thu, alias Tran Cong, according to a senior police officer quoted by the VNA news agency.

The men are being held and investigated for 'abusing freedom and democratic rights to violate state interests', Mr Pham Van Hoa, director of central Phu Yen province police department, told reporters at an official press conference.

He said the organisation operated 'non-violently' but aimed to topple the current administration.

Agence France Presse - February 6, 2012

Vietnam gives condolences for AP war correspondent

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:04:00 +0100

HANOI - Vietnam has extended its condolences for late Associated Press correspondent George Esper, who covered both war and peace in the country he came to love.

The Foreign Ministry delivered a letter to the AP's Hanoi bureau Monday remembering a "kind and caring gentleman and friend" whose "professionalism and tenacity impressed us very much."

Esper died Thursday in Massachusetts after a long illness. He had retired from AP in 2000 after 42 years.

He reported on the Vietnam War for 10 years from the former U.S.-backed Saigon and refused to leave when it fell to the northern communists on April 30, 1975. He returned in 1993 to open the AP's first postwar bureau in Hanoi and maintained close ties with many Vietnamese after leaving.

By Margie Mason - The Associated Press - February 6, 2012

Grippe aviaire: 2e décès au Vietnam

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:46:00 +0100

Une femme est décédée après avoir été contaminée par la grippe aviaire dans le sud du Vietnam, deuxième victime du virus depuis le début de l'année dans un pays qui avait été l'un des plus touchés par la maladie au milieu des années 2000.

Le virus H5N1 suscite de nouveau des inquiétudes dans la région, où la Chine, le Cambodge et l'Indonésie ont aussi fait état de décès. La dernière victime, une femme de 26 ans de la province de Soc Trang, dans le delta du Mékong, est décédée le 28 janvier après avoir été testée positive, selon un communiqué du Département des soins préventifs de Hanoï. Elle "a abattu et mangé un poulet contaminé. Il y a avait aussi de la volaille malade et morte autour de sa résidence", a-t-il ajouté.

Un homme de 18 ans était déjà décédé le mois dernier dans le delta, devenant le premier décès au Vietnam depuis avril 2010. Le pays communiste a été l'un des pays les plus touchés par le H5N1 en Asie du Sud-Est depuis fin 2003, mais il avait réussi à contrôler l'épidémie en 2006. Au total, au moins 59 décès ont été enregistrés selon l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS).

Les contaminations par le virus H5 se sont jusqu'ici déroulées de l'animal vers l'homme, mais les scientifiques craignent qu'une mutation ne permette des contaminations d'homme à homme, déclenchant une pandémie potentiellement meurtrière. L'OMS s'est dite récemment "profondément inquiète" par les recherches menées sur un virus mutant de la grippe aviaire H5N1, par des laboratoires néerlandais et américain.

Agence France Presse - 2 février 2012

Le film Bi, dung so projeté au 2e Festival Étoiles Francophones

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:43:00 +0100

Le film Bi dung so (Bi, n'aie pas peur) vient d'être présenté en France, dans le cadre de la semaine du 2e Festival Etoiles Francophones, qui se tient du 31 janvier au 7 février à Paris.

Bi dung so (Bi, n'aie pas peur) est une co-production de deux réalisateurs : le Vietnamien Phan Dang Di et la Française Claire-Agnès Lajoumard.

La première du film a eu lieu le 1er février, à Paris, et a été honorée par la présence de Lê Hông Chuong, directeur du Centre culturel du Vietnam en France, de Philippe Kaltenbach, directeur adjoint du Conseil régional d'Île-de-France, et d'autres cinéphiles venus de pays francophones (Canada, Belgique, Cambodge, Suisse, Niger)...

Bi, n'aie pas peur a bénéficié des financements du Fonds Sud cinéma, des ministères français de la Culture et de la Communication, des Affaires étrangères et européennes, de la région Île-de-France, de l'organisation World Cinema Fund, du Festival international du film de Berlin en coopération avec l'Institut Goethe.

Il a représenté le Vietnam à la Semaine de la Critique du 63e Festival de Cannes, et a remporté le prix Mention spéciale au Festival de Vancouver 2010 et à celui du film d'Asie de Tours 2011.

Le 2e Festival Étoiles francophones, organisé par le conseil régional d'Île-de-France et l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), vise à valoriser le cinéma francophone et l'utilisation du français comme un outil actif pour le développement, la démocratie, la solidarité et la connectivité dans le monde entier.

Agence Vietnamienne d'Information - 2 février 2012

La presse contribue à une nouvelle vitalité

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:39:00 +0100

Dinh Thê Huynh, membre du politburo et secrétaire du Comité central du Parti communiste vietnamien, chef de la Commission de l'idéologie et de la culture, s'est félicité des grandes contributions de la presse aux acquis de tous les secteurs du pays durant 2011.

Lors d'une rencontre le 31 janvier à Hanoi avec de nombreux responsables de journaux des ressort central comme local, il a estimé que les journalistes ont informé à bon escient de ce qui se passe dans l'ensemble du pays, motivant tous à s'efforcer d'aboutir à de grands succès en matière d'édification nationale.

Il a également présenté ses meilleurs voeux au milieu du journalisme et aux agences de presse du pays à l'occasion de la nouvelle année lunaire.

En 2012, la presse est appelée à mettre l'accent sur l'accélération du mouvement "Étudier et suivre l'exemple moral du Président Hô Chi Minh", ainsi qu'à poursuivre son information sur les activités intérieures comme extérieures, la législation, et l'amendement de la constitution du pays...

Dans les temps à venir, la presse devra par ailleurs donner plus d'informations sur la prochaine célébration de la fondation du Parti communiste du Vietnam (3 février) et les fêtes traditionnelles, ainsi que critiquer davantage les phénomènes négatifs, selon le ministère de l'Information et de la Communication.

Agence Vietnamienne d'Information - 1er février 2012

Jetstar Pacific au Vietnam, compagnie aérienne la moins chère au monde

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:34:00 +0100

D'après l'agence espagnole de voyage en ligne eDreams, Jetstar Pacific, première compagnie aérienne charter au Vietnam relevant du groupe australien Qantas, est celle qui propose les vols les moins chers au monde.

Selon les résultats d'une étude sur les vols à courte distance réalisée par eDream, basés sur les prix de toutes les réservations faites en 2011 par l'intermédiaire de ce dernier, Jetstar Pacific propose les billets d'avion les moins chers, à seulement 8,55 euros/160 km en moyenne. La compagnie aérienne britannique Monarch et la roumaine Blue Air arrivent en 2e et 3e positions, à respectivement 9,61 euros et 10,43 euros sur cette même distance.

Dans la liste des 50 compagnies aériennes proposant les vols à courte distance les moins chers au monde publiée par eDream, les 15 premières places reviennent aux compagnies charter. La compagnie aérienne "standard" la moins onéreuse est Kuwait Airways, avec 13,37 euros/160 km.

Les deux autres filiales de Jetstar Pacific que sont Jetstar Asia à Singapour et Jetstar Airways en Australie figurent également sur cette liste.

La compagnie aérienne par actions Jetstar Pacific a été rebaptisée Pacific Airlines en mai 2008, suite à l'acquisition de 27% du capital par le groupe Qantas. Ses deux autres actionnaires sont la compagnie générale vietnamienne SCIC (State capital investment Cooporation) et la compagnie générale vietnamienne Saigontourist.

Jetstar Pacific exploite à ce jour des vols intérieurs à destination de Hanoi, Hô Chi Minh-Ville, Dà Nang, Huê, Vinh, Hai Phong et de Nha Trang.

Agence Vietnamienne d'Information - 2 février 2012

Sandwich rond en riz, nouveau fast-foot au Vietnam

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:31:00 +0100

A côté des restaurants rapides comme KFC, Lotteria, BBQ..., le sandwich rond en riz (com kep en vietnamien) est considéré comme un nouveau mets pour le déjeuner des Vietnamiens, surtout le personnel des services publics, entreprises.

Le sandwich rond en riz (com kep en vietnamien) est un produit de Nguyên Thành Duong, 28 ans, directeur de la compagnie VietMac.

Pour perfectionner ce nouveau mets, ce jeune homme, sorti en 2007 de la faculté de marketing de l’Université du commerce, a demandé l’assistance de professionnel de la gastronomie.

La difficulté a porté sur le traitement de l’enveloppe de riz qui nécessite un riz particulier. «J’ai du essayé une trentaine de sortes de riz avant de trouver la meilleure», a-t-il confié.

Chaque com kep est composé d’une tranche de poisson, de boeuf, poulet ou d’autruche entre deux galettes que l’on peut agrémenter de salade et épices variées, pour un prix de 27.000 dôngs.

Côté nutrition, la directrice générale de VietMac, Lê Bich Phuong, souligne que : «Nous avons décidé de recourir au minimum aux fritures pour la préparation de ce produit».

Le directeur exécutif de VietMac, Nguyên Thành Duong, ajoute que les quatre garnitures disponibles permettent de varier son menu, avant de préciser qu’il vaut toutefois mieux «Éviter une trop grande répétition».

«Il s’agit d’un mets délicieux apportant tous les nutriments nécessaires», souligne Dinh Duc Hanh, une jeune femme employée par l’Association des femmes de Hanoi.

D’un prix raisonnable, utilisant des aliments frais aux normes de sécurité alimentaire, le com kep VietMac est un choix privilégié de nombreux employés de la capitale.

Né désormais il y a plus d’un an, le com kep VietMac est vendu dans six magasins à Hanoi, et notamment au 4e étage du centre commercial Grand Plaza dans la rue Trân Duy Hung, au 15e étage de la tour FPT rue Duy Tân, et au 80 rue Ly Thuong Kiêt, dans l’arrondissement de Hai Bà Trung...

Le 1er février dernier, le com kep VietMac a officiellement sa présence dans un premier magasin à Hô Chi Minh-Ville, situé au 207, rue Nguyên Van Trôi, dans l’arrondissement de Phu Nhuân.

Et le Com kep VietMac a également pour ambition de dominer prochainement le marché à Dà Nang au Sud et à la ville portuaire de Hai Phong.

Par Thanh Tuê - Le courrier du Vietnam - 3 février 2012

Le Myanmar est un marché encore à explorer

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:26:00 +0100

Les entreprises vietnamiennes peuvent saisir des opportunités au Myanmar après la mise en œuvre de nouvelles mesures de promotion d’investissement étranger dans ce pays, selon un diplomate vietnamien.

Les opportunités d’investissement sont nombreuses au Myanmar, a déclaré au journal Tuôi Tre (Jeunesse), Trân Phuoc Anh, conseiller d'ambassade du Vietnam au Myanmar, suggérant les domaines aussi divers que l’agriculture, l’assemblage automobile, l’industrie électronique, l’aquaculture.

Les mesures incitatives adoptées par le Myanmar comprennent l’octroi des autorisations d’investissement dans un délai de 14 jours, contre six mois, la location des terres pour une durée de 50 ans au lieu de 30 ans, et la part illimitée d’apports en capital effectués par la partie étrangère.

Le président de la Commission des investissements du Myanmar et ministre de l’Industrie, U Soe Thane, a également indiqué envisager d’offrir aux investisseurs étrangers une exemption des impôts pendant huit ans, au lieu de cinq ans actuellement, et une réduction des impôts de 50% les trois années suivantes.

La mise en œuvre des politiques plus ouvertes en faveur des investisseurs étrangers laisse espérer que davantage d’entreprises vietnamiennes viendront s’implanter au Myanmar, a plaidé Trân Phuoc Anh.

Les ventes vietnamiennes au Myanmar se limitent encore aux produits comme friandises, café, aromates, matières premières pour l’agroalimentaire, réchauds à gaz. Nombre d’atouts d’investissement restent à exploiter dans le tourisme, l'agroalimentaire, la production de marchandises.

Lors d’une rencontre au niveau gouvernemental en décembre 2011, Vietnamiens et Birmans ont évalué une année d’exécution des accords bilatéraux signés concernant 12 secteurs de coopération prioritaires, dont l’agriculture, le pétrole et le gaz.

Le gouvernement birman a promis que le Vietnam serait l’un des premiers pays à obtenir l’autorisation d’ouvrir une banque au Myanmar si le secteur bancaire birman s’ouvait aux capitaux étrangers.

Le Vietnam compte actuellement deux projets d’investissement au Myanmar. La compagnie AFV Pharma a obtenu l’autorisation de fabriquer des produits pharmaceutiques, et le groupe Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, de développer un projet immobilier.

Agence Vietnamienne d'Information - 5 février 2012

Vietnam resists Beijing’s charm offensive

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:11:00 +0100

Vietnam is arguably the most “sinicized” country in Southeast Asia, a distinctive result of more than 2,000 years of intense interaction between Vietnam and China.

But the Vietnamese absorption of Chinese culture is neither a straightforward process nor an inescapable outcome of geographical proximity; it is much more nuanced. China’s cultural influence forms only one layer of Vietnam’s cultural identity. The most important and substantial element still rests with indigenous norms, customs and practices, while Vietnam’s cultural borrowings from Southeast Asia and the West form yet another layer.

Two distinct features characterize the Vietnamese absorption of Chinese cultural elements over the past 2,000 years. First, Vietnam has been willing to borrow culturally from China as long as it is a voluntary, internal process rather than a forceful imposition from the north.

Second, Vietnam’s borrowing from China is a selective process — most Chinese influences are filtered and adapted to fit local needs. So the “sinicization” of Vietnam could also be understood as the “Vietnamization” of Chinese elements.

At the core of Vietnamese society and culture is still the overwhelming presence of its indigenous cultural and social values and norms, which shape Vietnam’s national identity and guide its perception of, and relations with, China.

One particular example is the spread of Confucianism into Vietnam. It was introduced during the Chinese-domination era that lasted more than 1000 years. But it could not gain a foothold in Vietnamese society until the country won its independence from China and began to treat Confucianism as a tool of nation-building rather than a cultural legacy imposed by the north.

Accordingly, the Ly dynasty built the Temple of Literature in 1070 to worship Confucius and established the Imperial Academy six years later to educate Vietnamese nobles and bureaucrats along Confucian lines. By the time the Le dynasty came to power, Confucianism had been enthusiastically embraced as the ideological framework on which the Vietnamese state and society operated.

The Vietnamese also made a number of significant modifications to the imported ideology. For example, contrary to the Chinese Confucian tradition, Vietnamese society had a much greater recognition of women’s rights and accorded them a higher social status, and while Chinese Confucianism emphasizes loyalty to rulers only, Vietnamese Confucianism stresses both loyalty to rulers and a sense of patriotism.

China’s cultural influence on Vietnam began to dwindle in the late 19th century. The sinicization of Vietnam symbolically ended in 1918 with the abolition of civil service exams testing candidates on Confucian classics, and skills in prose and poetry using Han and Nom characters. But more than 2,000 years of interaction with China has left Vietnam with a multitude of cultural influences that cannot be undone overnight.

More recently, with the resurgence of China as a global power, Vietnam has been subject to a Chinese “charm offensive,” as the country seeks to spread its soft power. Since the early 1990s, Vietnam has been engulfed in a Chinese “cultural tsunami” brought about by the overwhelming success of Chinese historical television series, music, movies and kung-fu novels.

The popularity of Chinese cultural products in Vietnam — while partly explainable by the dearth of comparable Vietnamese products — can also be attributed to their quality, which has earned them a positive reception from Vietnamese audiences.

But this excessive Chinese cultural influence seems to have alarmed the government and Vietnamese Communist Party ideologists. Some critics have even complained that popular Chinese television series have made Vietnamese people more familiar with Chinese history than their own national history. This has triggered a number of reactions from the Vietnamese government, including a government-issued decree that ordered Vietnamese movies and television series to account for at least 30 to 50 percent of the allotted time for movies on any Vietnamese television station.

Despite the apparent success of Chinese popular culture with Vietnamese audiences, resistance to unwarranted Chinese cultural influence seems to become stronger when China makes purposeful, self-interested attempts to impress its cultural values. For example, the Confucius Institute initiative, one of the major components of China’s soft power project, has made little headway in Vietnam despite global success.

While voluntary borrowings from China have formed a substantial layer of the country’s culture, Vietnam is also a country where memories of a millennium of forceful Chinese cultural assimilation are still alive today. Consequently, Chinese attempts to spread its soft power into Vietnam are likely to be limited by the country’s overfamiliarity with Chinese culture.

Vietnam’s traditional resistance to Chinese cultural influence now stands as yet another obvious challenge that China must overcome if its “charm offensive” is to ever succeed in this particular southern neighbor.

By Le Hong Hiep - The Jakarta Globe - February 4, 2012

Vietnam starts seismic surveys for first nuclear power plant

Vietnam aujourd'hui — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:06:00 +0100

Nearly 100 workers and engineers Thursday started seismic surveys at the location of Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant in the central province of Ninh Thuan, a local news website reported the same day.

VnExpress quoted Phan Minh Tuan, deputy chief of Ninh Thuan nuclear power project management board, as saying that the survey team will also drill for more than 3,000 meters at sea to collect comprehensive data for construction and operation works later.

According to the plan of national electricity development, work on the country’s first two nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan will start in December 2014, and be completed in 2022;

The plants will be built with hi-end technology that is able to handle heat radiation automatically within 72 hours in case of problems, the VnExpress report said.

In October, 2010, Vietnam signed a multi-billion-dollar deal with Russia to build its first nuclear power plant. Russia in November last year agreed to lend Vietnam some US$9 billion for the project.

Vietnam also plans to cooperate with Japan on two other nuclear reactors. Thirteen nuclear plants with the total capacity of 16,000 megawatts are slated to go into operation in the country over the next two decades.

Thanh Nien News - February 3, 2012