~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
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[Year 1999]
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[Year 2001]

Vietnam's Communist chief to visit China

HANOI - Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu will make an official visit to neighbouring China from February 25 to March 2, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on Monday.
The visit was ``expected to bring about fruitful results, meeting the aspirations and interests of the peoples of the two countries,'' VNA said without giving details.
It was unclear if Phieu, Vietnam's top leader, and Chinese officials would discuss sticky sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea or the slow progress in resolving outstanding issues related to joint land and sea border demarcation.
Despite their ideological and cultural similarities, Vietnam and China have had testy relations for 2,000 years.
In 1979 Chinese soldiers streamed across Vietnam's northern border to punish Hanoi for toppling its ally the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.
But since the normalisation of ties in 1991 the two nations have regularly exchanged official visits and some analysts have said ties were as good as at any time in recent years.
VNA said two-way trade was worth $1.4 billion last year from $1.24 billion in 1997.

Reuters - February 22, 1999.


China to clear all mines on Vietnam border by 2000

BEIJING - China will clear all landmines from the Sino-Vietnamese border by the end of this year as part of the largest-ever construction drive in the border region, the China Daily said on Monday.
It said soldiers had already cleared 66,500 mines from 120 square km (46.32 square miles) in the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi which border Vietnam.
``All mines will be removed from the border areas by the end of this year,'' the daily quoted an officer from the Headquarters of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army as saying.
At least 800,000 mines were laid in Yunnan and Guangxi during a bloody border conflict between China and Vietnam in 1979, when Beijing wanted to punish Hanoi for its invasion of Cambodia a few months earlier.
Earlier this month, a regional newspaper said Chinese troops cleared more than 280,000 mines and unexploded bombs from border areas in Yunnan in a seven-month operation which had just ended.
Beijing has funded the construction of 5,000 km (3105 miles) of roads and 1,500 km (931.5 miles) of barbed wire walls in border areas, the daily said.

Reuters - February 22, 1999.


Hanoi drumroll, war cries mark key Chinese defeat

HANOI - Deafening drumbeats and battle cries rang out in Hanoi on Saturday as thousands of Vietnamese marked one of the country's greatest military victories over Chinese invaders.
Ironically, Emperor Quang Trung's rout of Qing army troops 210 years ago coincides almost to the day when Chinese soldiers streamed across Vietnam's border in 1979 to punish Hanoi for toppling its ally the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.
That more recent Chinese invasion, like many during 2,000 years of animosity between Vietnam and China, ended in a bloody nose for Beijing's troops.
But Hanoi officials were quick to deny any lingering ill-feeling towards the country's giant northern neighbour, which will soon play host to Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu.
A date for the visit has not been fixed. ``In relations toward China, as well as the United States and France, we are ready to forget the past and look forward to the future,'' said Le Xuan Tung, secretary of the Hanoi Communist Party branch and a member of the elite politburo.
``This (celebration) will not cause any animosity,'' he told Reuters after burning incense below a 20-metre- (65-feet-) high statue of Quang Trung.
While China has historically been Vietnam's chief opponent, there were frequent uprisings against French colonial rule until 1954, followed by the Vietnam War which pitted the communist North against the U.S.-backed South Vietnam.
Indeed, in another quirk of history, Quang Trung's victory in 1789 was achieved while Chinese troops celebrated the Lunar New Year, known to Vietnamese as Tet.
For some these echoes of the past arouse memories of the ``Tet Offensive'' in 1968, when North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attacked towns and cities throughout U.S.-backed South Vietnam, catching defenders off-guard.
Wearing a traditional costume and sporting a wispy white beard, Nguyen Mai Tu was not about to let old age stop him playing a role in the celebrations.
``This event has real historical meaning for Vietnamese. But we have no animosity toward the Chinese, we just commemorate the 210th anniversary this year,'' the 82-year-old Tu said.
Vietnamese mark the battle annually, but hold special ceremonies every five years to pay homage to Quang Trung, whose army swept up from Binh Dinh province in southern Vietnam, gathering disgruntled peasants along the way.
In Binh Dinh on a visit to the province, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai joined local people to commemorate the victory, state-run Voice of Vietnam radio reported.
Hundreds of Vietnamese took part in the Hanoi event, held under a chilly grey sky before several thousand onlookers.
Young men wielding swords and knives jumped in the air re-enacting the battle as women waved large traditional flags.
A group of men then placed a large ornate carriage on their shoulders bearing a framed picture of Quang Trung's statue and wound their way through the crowd.
Vietnam normalised ties with China in 1991. The two nations regularly exchange official visits and some analysts have said ties are as good as at any time in recent years despite verbal sparring over competing claims in the South China Sea.

Reuters - February 20, 1999.