Vietnam angered by US flag 'insult'
HANOI - The ruling authorities in communist Vietnam
have criticised a United States legislature for
what Hanoi's Foreign Ministry has described as
an insulting decision to replace the official
Vietnamese flag at public ceremonies.
The yellow star of the communists flies over
Vietnam, marking the victory of the communist
northern forces over those of the south in the
Vietnam War.
Vietnamese people
who fled the
Communist victory and
now live in the state
of Virginia in the USA
want their children to
go to school under a
yellow banner marked
with three red stripes,
the flag of the
defeated South.
Vietnamese Americans
say they want a flag
which symbolises
democracy and
freedom and that the communist flag - a
yellow star on a red background - represents
oppression and persecution.
A week ago, the lower house of the Virginia
state parliament passed a bill which will require
the flag of the defeated South to be hoisted in
the state.
The bill is sponsored by a Democrat, Robert
Hull, whose electorate contains a large number
of people from southern Vietnam.
The passage of the bill which will require the
flag to be hoisted on flag poles at schools and
official functions, still has to be debated in the
state Senate.
Angry reaction
But it has angered the authorities in Vietnam.
A week after the legislation passed the lower
house, editorials in Vietnam's state-controlled
newspapers have criticised it.
The army newspaper, Quan Doi Nhan Dan, says
that attempts to counter the positive trends
of history, including improved ties with the US,
will fail in the same way that history buried the
former Saigon administration.
Ha Noi Moi, the voice of the capital's People's
Committee, says the bill should be condemned
by all nations loving independence and
freedom.
But the US politicians will be conscious that
tens of thousands of their Vietnamese
constituents dislike the golden-starred red flag
of the Communist regime, and what they
believe it represents.
The debate will do little for warming relations
between Washington and Hanoi.
The US has had diplomatic relations with
Vietnam since 1995 and Washington recognises
the yellow starred flag.
Despite co-operation on bi-lateral trade and
the search for soldiers still missing from the
Vietnam War, there are some open wounds.
Hanoi is frequently moved to anger by
allegations of unfair trade practices, and by
the regularity with which campaigners in the
United States fly another flag, criticising
Vietnam over human rights.
By Clare Arthurs - BBC News - February 09, 2003.
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