French protesters held in plot on vietnamese envoy
SAN FRANCISCO - Two residents of France were ordered held
without bail here Friday on charges of conspiring to assault Vietnam's
Deputy Prime Minister Dzung Nguyen.
Federal investigators said one person was arrested as she was about to
set herself afire Thursday in a San Francisco hotel where Nguyen was
addressing Asian business leaders.
Authorities said that
as Nguyen was
talking, a woman
smelling of gasoline
entered the
conference room
holding two
cloth-wrapped
sticks and a cigarette lighter. They said she
unsuccessfully tried to light the sticks as
diplomatic security forces subdued her. The
other person, a man later identified as Coung
Anh Pham, was arrested after yelling and
approaching the security agent who had
subdued the woman, identified as Dang
Nguyen, authorities said.
They said the pair admitted that they had flown from Paris to San Francisco to disrupt the
conference and its Vietnamese delegation to protest communism. They are set to enter a plea in
U.S. court next week.
The Associated Press - December 15, 2001.
Deputy prime minister visits San Francisco
HANOI - Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung headed a government delegation on a
visit to San Francisco on Dec. 13 and 14.
This is the last leg of his five-day official visit to the United States, which also included in New York and
Washington.
During his stay in San Francisco, Deputy PM Dung met with Mayor Willy Brown and attended a seminar on
prospects for Viet Nam-U.S. economic and trade ties. He also visited the telecommunications company, Intel,
in the Silicon Valley.
In their meetings with Deputy PM Dung, leading officials of San Francisco and the business circle in
California expressed keen interest in cooperation with Viet Nam, particularly in trade and commerce. They
also expressed San Francisco's wish to expand cooperation relations with Ho Chi Minh City of Viet Nam in
order to make use of the advantages of the city and the state in which a large number of overseas
Vietnamese live.
Deputy PM Dung together with Mayor W. Brown, Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Tran
Xuan Gia and General Director of Viet Nam Airlines Nguyen Xuan Hien attended a Dec. 13 ceremony
inaugurating a representative office of Viet Nam Airlines in San Francisco.
The Mayor of San Francisco said he hoped that a direct air route linking his city with Viet Nam would be
opened soon.
The inauguration of the rep. office, together with the signing of a contract on Viet Nam's purchase of Boeing
777s from the U.S., mark a new stage of cooperation between the two countries in civil aviation and the
development of the two countries' economic and trade ties.
Vietnam News Agency - December 15, 2001.
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