Timeline Vietnam 1974-2010
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1974 Jan 17-1974
Jan 19, China occupied the Paracel Islands following the Battle of
Hoang Sea, a bloody skirmish with Vietnam.
(Econ, 3/31/07, SR
p.7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hoang_Sa)
1974 Feb 21, A report claimed that
the use of defoliants by the U.S. had scarred Vietnam for century.
Defoliation was meant to save lives by denying the enemy cover. But for
some the 'cure' was worse than the problem.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1974 Mar 22, The Viet Cong
proposed a new truce with the United States and South Vietnam, which
included general elections.
(AP, 3/22/99)
1974 Oct, The Politburo in North
Vietnam decided to launch an invasion of South Vietnam in 1975.
(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 Jan 7, Hanoi troops took
Phuoc Binh in new full-scale offensive.
(HN, 1/7/99)
1975 Jan 8, NVA general staff plan
for the invasion of South Vietnam by 20 divisions is approved by North
Vietnam's Politburo. By now, the Soviet-supplied North Vietnamese Army
is the fifth largest in the world. It anticipates a two year struggle
for victory. But in reality, South Vietnam's forces will collapse in
only 55 days.
(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 Mar 10, The final North
Vietnamese Army offensive began as 25,000 troops attacked the South
Vietnamese town of Ban Me Thout, in the central highlands.
(HN,
3/10/99)(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 Mar 18, South Vietnam
abandoned most of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to Hanoi.
(HN, 3/18/02)
1975 Mar 21, As North Vietnamese
forces advanced, Hue and other northern towns in South Vietnam were
evacuated.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1975 Mar 25, Hue was lost and Da
Nang was endangered. The U.S. ordered a refugee airlift to remove those
in danger. The South Vietnamese army is now in full retreat.
(HN,
3/24/98)(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 Mar 30, As the North
Vietnamese forces moved toward Saigon, desperate South Vietnamese
soldiers mobbed rescue jets. Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap masterminded the North
Vietnamese victory. Da Nang fell as 100,000 South Vietnamese soldiers
surrender after being abandoned by their commanding officers.
(SFEC, 4/9/00,
p.C16)(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 Apr 4, The first group of
boat people from Vietnam began arriving in Malaysia. More than 1
million people fled from the close of the war to the early 1980s.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-9)
1975 Apr 4, Some 155 people, most
of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force C-5A transport
plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans as part of "Operation Babylift"
crashed shortly after takeoff from Saigon.144 adults and 76 babies were
killed. There were over 170 survivors.
(AP, 4/4/97)(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A8)
1975 Apr 21, Nguyen Van Thieu, the
last South Vietnamese President, resigned after 10 years in office
condemning the United States. Thieu resigned and was succeeded by Vice
President Tran Van Huong. With the collapse of the Saigon regime
imminent, Thieu addressed his nation on April 21, accused the U.S. of
breaking its promises of support and military aid, and then
resigned. Huong took control but at the National Assembly meeting
on April 27, he named General Duong Van Minh to become president and
end the war. On April 30, President Minh announced the unconditional
surrender of South Vietnam to the Provisional Revolutionary Government
of South Vietnam.
(AP, 4/21/97)(HN, 4/21/99)(HNQ, 6/5/00)
1975 Apr 25, Former Foreign
Minister Vu Van Mau (d.1998 at 84) was named prime minister.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.C3)
1975 Apr 27, Saigon was encircled
by North Vietnamese troops. NVA fire rockets into downtown civilian
areas as the city erupts into chaos and widespread looting.
(HN,
4/27/99)(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 Apr 28, Gen. Duong Van Minh
was named the interim President of South Vietnam and promised to seek
reconciliation with North Vietnam.
(SFC, 8/8/01, p.A20)
1975 Apr 29, US forces pulled out
of Vietnam. The U.S. embassy in Vietnam was evacuated as North
Vietnamese forces fought their way into Saigon. Just hours after the
last American was lifted out by helicopter from the roof of the
embassy, James Reston of the NY Times issued an apologia for the press.
NVA shell Tan Son Nhut air base in Saigon, killing two U.S. Marines at
the compound gate. Conditions then deteriorate as South Vietnamese
civilians loot the air base. President Ford orders Operation Frequent
Wind, the helicopter evacuation of 7000 Americans and South Vietnamese
from Saigon. At Tan Son Nhut, frantic civilians begin swarming the
helicopters. The evacuation is then shifted to the walled-in American
embassy, which is secured by U.S. Marines in full combat gear. But the
scene there also deteriorates, as thousands of civilians attempt to get
into the compound. Three U.S. aircraft carriers stand by off the coast
of Vietnam to handle incoming Americans and South Vietnamese refugees.
Many South Vietnamese pilots also land on the carriers, flying
American-made helicopters which are then pushed overboard to make room
for more arrivals.
(WSJ, 10/5/98,
p.A21)(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 Apr 29, The last four
Americans killed in action in Vietnam included two Marines: Lance
Corporal Darwin Judge of Marshalltown, Iowa, and Corporal Charles
McMahon Jr. of Woburn, Massachusetts, by rocket and artillery
bombardment following an air raid on Tan Son Nhut. Two Marine
helicopter pilots died when their chopper crashed into the sea near an
aircraft carrier taking part in the evacuation: Captain William Craig
Nystul of Coronado, California, and First Lieutenant Michael John Shea
of El Paso, Texas.
(www.dixiedavis.com/michaelshea.htm)
1975 Apr 30, The city of Saigon
fell to the North Vietnamese and National Liberation Front forces. The
last American forces evacuated Saigon as South Vietnam surrendered
unconditionally to the Communist North Vietnamese. At 8:35 a.m. the
last Americans, ten Marines from the embassy, departed as North
Vietnamese troops pour into Saigon and encounter little resistance. By
11 a.m. the Viet Cong flag flew from the presidential palace. President
Minh broadcast a message of unconditional surrender. Graham Martin, the
US ambassador to South Vietnam, made a hasty departure. The city was
renamed Ho Chi Minh City and Nguyen Huu Tho was the first mayor. The
war left 58,200 Americans dead, 153,300 wounded, and 2,124 missing in
action. The Communists listed 1 million dead, 300,000 missing and 2
million dead civilians. President Gerald Ford, closing a chapter in
United States history, called upon Americans "to avoid recriminations
about the past, to look ahead to the many goals we share."
(SFC, 5/10/97,
p.A1)(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975 May 7, President Ford
formally declared an end to the "Vietnam era."
(AP, 5/7/97)(HN, 5/7/98)
1975 May 7, The Viet Cong staged a
rally to celebrate the takeover of Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon.
(AP, 5/7/97)(HN, 5/7/98)
1975 Aug 11, The United States
vetoed the proposed admission of North and South Vietnam to the United
Nations, following the Security Council's refusal to consider South
Korea's application.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1975 The film "The People's War,"
shot in North Vietnam by Robert Kramer (d.1999 at 60) in 1969, was
released in the US. Kramer's work also included the opposition war
films "Ice," "In the Country," and "The Edge."
(SFC, 11/12/99, p.D6)
1975 Upon re-unification Nguyen
Huu Tho (1910-1996) was appointed vice-president of Vietnam and served
to 1992.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A24)
1975 By the end of the
Vietnam war, Vietnamese SA-2 missile effectiveness had been reduced to
a kill-ratio of less than 2 percent. Elint (Electronic Intelligence)
collected information on and analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of
all forms of hostile electronic transmissions. Focusing on the "Fan
Song" radar system that acquired targets for and then guided the
dreaded SA-2 SAM, Elint was able to identify four key weakness that
pilots could use to defeat the missile.
(HNQ, 11/23/01)
1975 After Saigon fell some 65,000
South Vietnamese were killed as the North Vietnamese overran the south.
Thousands of boat people died fleeing the communist regime. An
estimated 250,000 South Vietnamese died in re-education camps.
(WSJ, 4/7/09, p.A13)
1976 Jul 2, North and South
Vietnam were officially reunified.
(HN,
7/2/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War)
1976 Aug 6, Thailand and Vietnam
established diplomatic relations.
(WSJ, 3/5/97,
p.A16)(www.vietnamembassy.or.th/relations.html)
1976 Sep 13, The United States
announced it would veto Vietnam's UN bid.
(AP, 9/13/98)
1976-1987 Pham Van Dong headed the reunified Vietnam.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A24)
1977 Mar 9, Pres. Carter proposed
an end to travel restrictions to Cuba, Vietnam, N. Korea and Cambodia
effective as of March 18.
(www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=7139)
1977 Mar 18, The Vietnamese
"discovered" and returned to the US the remains of Bruce C. Ducat. For
eleven years, Ducat, alive or dead, was a prisoner of war.
(www.pownetwork.org/bios/b/b107.htm)
1977 Jul 20, The UN Security
Council voted to admit Vietnam to the world body.
(AP, 7/20/07)
1977 Dec 31, Cambodia broke
relations with Vietnam.
(HN, 12/31/98)
1977 Gloria Emerson (1929-2004),
Vietnam war correspondent, authored “Winners & Losers: Battles,
Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins From a Long War,” based on
interviews with people involved in the Vietnam War.
(SFC, 8/6/04, p.B7)
1978 Jan 3, Vietnamese troops
were reported to be occupying 400 square miles in Cambodia. North
Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging
areas for attacks against allied forces.
(HN, 1/3/02)
1978 Dec 25, Vietnam invaded
Cambodia and drove the Khmer Rouge into sanctuaries along the Thai
border, finally ending the mass genocide depicted in the 1984 film "The
Killing Fields." It was the first full-scale war between the two
countries since 1917. 400 people were killed in initial clashes.
(NG, 5/85, p.574-5)(WSJ, 2/27/96, p.A-1)(SFC,
6/14/97, p.A15)(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A11)
1978 Gen. Van Tien Dung published
"Our Great Spring Victory." He described how the loss of political will
in Washington helped shape Hanoi's decisions.
(WSJ, 10/21/99, p.A20)
1978 Ulysses Grant Sharp Jr.
(d.2001 at 95), US Admiral, authored "Strategy for Defeat: Vietnam in
Retrospect." He criticized American strategy and believed the war could
have been won.
(SFC, 12/15/01, p.A25)
1978 The Vietnamese government
loosened its policy on bourgeois dance after officials visiting Cuba
witnessed dancers doing the Cha Cha.
(WSJ, 4/29/99, p.A24)
1979 Jan 7, The Vietnamese army
captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh overthrowing the Khmer
Rouge government. The People's Party, a Hanoi installed Khmer Rouge
faction, took power with Hun Sen as prime minister. This finally ending
the mass genocide depicted in the 1984 film "The Killing Fields." The
Khmer Rouge retreated into sanctuaries along the Thai border, set up
bases and picked up support from Thailand and China.
(NG, 5/85, p.574-5)(WSJ, 2/27/96, p.A-1)(SFC,
6/14/97, p.A15)(WSJ, 5/3/96, p.A-10)(SFC, 4/29/97, p.A8)(AP, 1/7/98)
1979 Jan 7, The Vietnamese army
captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh overthrowing the Khmer
Rouge government. The People’s Party, a Hanoi installed Khmer Rouge
faction, took power with Hun Sen as prime minister. This finally ended
the mass genocide depicted in the 1984 film "The Killing Fields." The
Khmer Rouge retreated into sanctuaries along the Thai border, set up
bases and picked up support from Thailand and China.
(NG, 5/85, p.574-5)(WSJ, 2/27/96, p.A-1)(SFC,
6/14/97, p.A15)(WSJ, 5/3/96, p.A-10)(SFC, 4/29/97, p.A8)(AP, 1/7/98)
1979 Jan 15, The Soviet Union
vetoed a United Nations resolution and called for the withdrawal of all
Vietnamese troops from Cambodia.
(HN, 1/15/99)
1979 Feb 17, China invaded Vietnam
and began a "pedagogical" war against Vietnam. China completed its
withdrawal on March 19. In China’s border war with Vietnam deputy
commander Zhang Wannian led a victorious division offensive in the
battle of Liang Shan.
(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/prc-vietnam.htm)(SFC,
9/18/97, p.C2)
1979 Mar 6, Chinese forces
occupied the city of Lang Son. They claimed the gate to Hanoi was open,
declared their punitive mission achieved, and withdrew quickly.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War)
1979 Nov 24, U.S. admitted that
thousands of troops in Vietnam were exposed to the toxic Agent Orange.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1980-1991 Nguyen Co Thach (d.1998 at 75) served as
the foreign minister of Vietnam.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.C3)
1981 Hoang Dang, Vietnamese
artist, painted his A Corner of the Fish Market.
(SFC, 5/19/96, DB, p.15)
1982 Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese
Zen master, founded Plum Village, a Buddhist community in southern
France.
(SFC, 10/12/97, Z1 p.3)
1982 Retired Gen. William
Westmoreland (1914-2005) filed a $120 million libel suit against CBS
News for its documentary “The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception.”
The documentary charged that Westmoreland had directed a conspiracy to
suppress and alter critical intelligence on the enemy in 1967 and 1968
in order to deceive Americans into believing the war in Vietnam was
being won. The suit was settled out of court and CBS acknowledged that
the documentary was seriously flawed.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.B5)
1983 Stanley Karnow published
"Vietnam: A History."
(SFC, 5/11/99, p.A19)
1983 PBS first showed the 13-hour
series "Vietnam: A Television History" in the US. It won every award in
TV. It was rebroadcast in 1989 and 1997. The 6-year work was produced
by Richard Ellison (1924-2004).
(SFC, 10/12/04, p.B8)(SFC, 5/26/97, p.B1)
1983 Gen. Duong Van Minh (d.2001),
the President of South Vietnam in April 1975, was allowed to emigrate
to France.
(SFC, 8/8/01, p.A20)
1984 Apr, Chinese launched renewed
attacks against Vietnam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War)
1985 Jan 7, Vietnam seized the
Khmer National Liberation Front headquarters near the Thai border.
(HN, 1/7/99)
1985 Feb 14, Hanoi troops
surrounded the main Khmer Rouge base at Phnom Malai, Cambodia.
(HN, 2/14/98)
1986 Duong Thu Huong, dissident
author, wrote her 1st novel "Beyond Illusions," set in Hanoi. She later
authored "Novel Without a Name" and Memories of a Pure Spring." In 1991
she was imprisoned for 7 months.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.M4)
1986 Douglas Eugene Pike (d.2002
at 77), former US State Dept. officer, authored "PAVN: People's Army of
Vietnam" a study of the North Vietnamese Army. In 1966 he authored
"Viet Cong."
(SFC, 5/18/02, p.A22)
1986 Vietnam introduced doi moi
(renovation), a policy of economic renovation, that sparked massive
economic change. It gradually shifted the centrally planned economy to
a market economy.
(SFEM, 6/9/96, p.9)(NG, May, 04, p.96)(SFC, 5/30/06,
p.C1)
1986-1991 Nguyen Van Linh (d.1998) served as the
Communist party general-secretary. He urged free-market policies and
wrote a newspaper column titled "Things That Must Be Done Immediately."
He ended collective farming and loosened government controls over state
factories. He ended the decade long occupation of Cambodia and
normalized relations with China.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A16)
1987 Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese
Zen master, published "Being Peace," the first of his 35 books and
tapes.
(SFC, 10/12/97, Z1 p.3)
1987 By this year China had
stationed nine armies (approximately 400,000 troops) in the
Sino-Vietnamese border region, including one along the coast. It had
also increased its landing craft fleet and was periodically staging
amphibious landing exercises off Hainan Island, across from Vietnam,
thereby demonstrating that a future attack might come from the sea.
(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/prc-vietnam.htm)
1988 Vietnam began letting US
military search teams into the countryside to look for the remains
missing US servicemen.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A4)
1988 Chinese troops killed 70
Vietnamese sailors in a clash over the Spratly Islands.
(Econ, 5/22/04, p.40)
1988 Vietnam’s exports totaled
about $1 billion. In 2004 exports reached $30 billion.
(SFC, 5/30/06, p.C1)
1989 Sep 26, The last Vietnamese
soldiers left Cambodia. Vietnam withdrew the last of 26,000 troops.
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.A15)(PC, 1992 ed, p.1113)
1989 Dec 12, Amid international
criticism, Britain forcibly removed 51 Vietnamese from Hong Kong and
returned them to their homeland.
(AP, 12/12/99)
1990 Oct 13, Le Duc Tho,
co-founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party, died in Hanoi at age 79.
He was the 1975 North Vietnamese negotiator in Paris.
(AP, 10/13/00)(MC, 10/13/01)
1990 Dec 14, In Hong Kong 10
Vietnamese boat people set fire to themselves to protest screening
policy that could prevent them from settling in the West.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1990 The 1st case of AIDS was
reported in Vietnam.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A15)
1991 Nov 9, Police in Hong Kong
forcibly repatriated 59 Vietnamese boat people, carrying them onto a
transport plane.
(AP, 11/9/01)
1991 Pham Dai, an artist from Hue,
produced an ink painting: Flocks of Wicked Birds. He adopts the
pictorial language of surrealism in depicting crazed raptors as figures
for human evil.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.E3)
1992 Sep, In Vietnam Ly Tong
hijacked a Vietnam airlines jet from Thailand and dropped 50,000
anti-government leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City. He parachuted down and
was arrested. He was released in a 1998 amnesty.
(SFC, 9/2/98, p.A9)
1992 Nov 17, Sens. John Kerry of
Massachusetts, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Hank Brown of Colorado
made an unprecedented tour of Vietnam's military headquarters but found
nothing to substantiate reports of American prisoners sighted there
after the Vietnam War.
(AP, 11/17/97)
1992 Dec 14, Easing a 17-year
trade embargo, the United States allowed its companies to sign
contracts in Vietnam.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1992 The Asian Development Bank
began building and improving transport and telecom links between China,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
(Econ, 11/8/03, p.42)
1992-1993 Nguyen Dinh Huy founded the "Movement to
Unite the People and Build Democracy" after 7 years in prison for
opposing communist rule. He was arrested 6 months after release and was
tried in 1995 and convicted of subversion.
(SFC, 1/20/98, p.A17)
1993 Oct 2, In Son La, Vietnam, 53
members of the Thai minority died in a mass suicide organized by Ca Van
Lieng, leader of a doomsday cult.
(SFC, 3/27/97, p.A19)
1993 Vietnamese border crossings
with China were opened for trade.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.A12)
1993 Jimmy Tran was sentenced to
20 years in prison for plotting to explode bombs in Ho Chi Minh City.
He was released in a 1998 amnesty.
(SFC, 9/2/98, p.A9)
1993-2004 The proportion of Vietnam’s population that
the government deemed poor fell from 58% in 1993 to 20% in 2004.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.49)
1994 Jan 27, The US Senate passed
a non-binding resolution, 62-38, calling on the Clinton administration
to lift the U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam.
(AP, 1/27/04)
1994 Feb 3, President Clinton
lifted the 19-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam.
(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A9)(AP, 2/3/99)
1994 In Vietnam worker strikes
were made legal.
(SFC, 6/23/97, p.A10)
1994 Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, was
named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T1)
1994 In California Paul DeCillis,
Vietnam war veteran, donated his collection of over 800 books and 650
videotapes on the Vietnam War to DeAnza Community College in Cupertino.
(SFC, 2/12/98, p.A19)
1994 Ha Long Bay was named a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T1)
1994 Laos signed a bilateral
Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Vietnam.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
1995 Apr 30, More than 10,000
soldiers, students and children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,
celebrated the 20th anniversary of the end of the war.
(AP, 4/30/00)
1995 Jul 11, Full diplomatic
relations were established between the United States and Vietnam
following an order by Pres. Clinton.
(SFEM, 6/9/96, p.9)(HN, 7/11/98)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.I6)
1995 Jul 28, Vietnam joined the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN was established in
Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
(www.aseansec.org/64.htm)
1995 Aug 5, Secretary of State
Warren Christopher arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, to "build a bridge of
cooperation." Christopher was the first US secretary of state to visit
Vietnam since the war and the first ever to go to Hanoi.
(AP, 8/5/00)
1995 Vietnam joined the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
(WSJ, 3/5/97, p.A16)(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.D3)
1996 Mar, In Vietnam the first new
bowling alley opened in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in District
10.
(WSJ, 8/29/96, p.A8)
1996 Jun 11, Vietnam’s Deputy
Foreign Minister Le Mai (1940-1996) died. He was a junior member of the
team that negotiated US withdrawal in 1973 and chief architect of the
recent campaign for diplomatic relations with the US.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.A25)
1996 Jun 28, Vietnam’s PM Vo Van
Kiet, Party General Secretary Do Muoi and President Le Duc Anh were
expected to stay put amidst rumors of leadership changes.
(WSJ, 6/28/96, p.A6)
1996 Jun, The Vietnamese trade
deficit for the first half of the year was projected to total $1.77
bil.
(WSJ, 6/4/96, p.A18)
1996 Aug 21, In Vietnam the Red
River flooded to its worst level since 1971 and hundreds were forced to
evacuate.
(SFC, 8/22/96, p.E3)
1996 Oct, The Vietnamese
government introduced the death penalty for corruption cases that
involved serious losses to the state.
(SFC, 2/1/97, p.A13)
1996 Nov 11, Phan Thi Kim Phuc
laid a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. John
Plummer, Vietnam era helicopter pilot, met with Phan Thi Kim at the
Vietnam Memorial in Washington in reconciliation. Phan Thi Kim had
suffered severe napalm burns after a napalm bombing of her village in
Jun 1972.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A3)(SFEC, 4/13/97, p.A1,12)(AP,
11/11/01)
1996 It was reported that deaths
in Vietnam from land mines, unexploded bombs and artillery shells
totaled 38,248 in the 1st 23 years following the end of the war.
(SFEC, 9/5/99, p.A12)
1997 Jan 6, It was reported that
Vietnam’s national Post and Telecommunications "108" information
service responded to citizens questions. Operators handled about 250
calls per day and the service costs about 2.7 US cents.
(WSJ, 1/6/97, p.B1)
1997 Jan 31, In Vietnam a
Communist Party member and three associates were sentenced to death
after being convicted of bribery, embezzlement and gambling. They were
responsible for losses of $27 million at the state-run Tamexco
import-export company.
(SFC, 2/1/97, p.A13)
1997 Mar 10, Vietnam agreed to
repay the US millions of dollars in debts incurred by the former South
Vietnam. The debts were currently worth $140 mil.
(SFC, 3/11/97, p.A11)
1997 Apr 9, A War-era bomb
exploded on the grounds of a school in central Vietnam and killed 7
children. A teacher and 33 other children were wounded.
(WSJ, 4/10/97, p.A12)
1997 May 14, In Vietnam the
Supreme People’s Court sentenced 8 state police officials to death
after convicting them of drug smuggling.
(SFC, 5/15/97, p.A13)
1997 Jun 23, From Vietnam it was
reported that worker strikes were increasing in factories controlled by
foreign investors. The minimum wage in shoe factories that produce
Adidas, Fila, Nike and All-Star shoes was about .20 cents an hour.
(SFC, 6/23/97, p.A10)
1997 Jun 27, The US announced
agreements with Vietnam to expand ties.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 31, Bao Dai (85), former
emperor of Annam [now Vietnam] and chief of state of French Indochina,
died in France.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)(MC, 7/31/02)
1997 Sep 3, In Cambodia a
Vietnam Airlines, Tupelov 134, Soviet jet crashed on approach to
Phnom Penh airport and killed 65 people. One child, 1-year-old
Chanayuth Nim-Anong, survived. A 2nd child about 4 also survived.
(WSJ, 9/3/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A12)(SFC, 9/5/97,
p.A12)
1997 Sep 17, In Vietnam Tran Duc
Luong (60) was nominated to be the country’s president. Vice Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai (64) was nominated to be the new prime minister.
A week later Luong was elected by the National Assembly and Khai was
confirmed as premier.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.A11)(WSJ, 9/25/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 13, In Vietnam journalist
Nguyen Hoang Linh of the business newspaper Enterprise, was arrested on
charges of revealing state secrets. He had been investigating
government corruption.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 3, In Vietnam typhoon
Linda swept across the south and left almost 100 people dead. As many
as a thousand were missing in fishing boats. The death toll reached at
least 3,406.
(SFC,11/4/97, p.A8)(SFC,11/5/97, p.A14)(WSJ,
11/14/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 25, President Clinton and
Pacific Rim leaders meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, approved a
rescue strategy for Asian economies shaken by plunging currencies, bank
failures and bankruptcies. The 2-day APEC summit in Vancouver closed
and leaders agreed to an IMF bailout plan. Forum leaders also agreed to
admit Russia, Vietnam and Peru into the organization as of 1998.
(SFC,11/26/97, p.C2)(HN, 11/25/98)
1997 Dec 11, From Vietnam it was
reported that 56 people have died of dengue fever in southern Kien
Giang province following Typhoon Linda.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.C7)
1997 Dec 30, Hardline Gen'l. Le
Kha Phieu (66) replaced Do Muoi as the general secretary of the
communist party, the country's top leader.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)
1997 The book "Requiem: By the
Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina" was compiled by
photojournalists Tim Page and Horst Faas.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A1)
1997 In Vietnam about 55 million
rats were killed this year.
(SFC, 3/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 24, From Vietnam it was
reported that 14 attacks had recently occurred on children aged 3-14
riding on the backs of motor scooters, caused by a slasher riding a
Vina Suzuki scooter.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr, Injuries in Vietnam from
land mines, unexploded bombs and artillery shells totaled 60,064 since
the end of the war.
(SFEC, 9/5/99, p.A12)
1998 Aug 7, Vietnam devalued its
currency 7%.
(WSJ, 8/10/98, p.A10)
1998 Sep 1, Vietnam freed 5,000
inmates.
(SFC, 9/2/98, p.A9)
1998 Oct, A 5-year study by a
Canadian government research group found high levels of dioxin in the
soil, fish and animal tissue, and the blood of people born after the
war in the Aluoi Valley in central Quang Tri province of Vietnam.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A20)
1998 Nov 11, It was reported that
Pfizer and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation initiated a $66 million
effort to attack trachoma, a disease of the eye caused by chlamydia. A
one-gram dose of zithromax given once a year would treat the disease.
Focus was to be on Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Tanzania and Vietnam.
(SFC, 11/11/98, p.D6)
1998 Dec 15, The 2-day ASEAN
summit opened in Hanoi. Cambodia was admitted informally.
(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.A19)
1998 Dec 16, In Hanoi the
ASEAN nations approved the "Hanoi Action Plan," a 34-point declaration
that emphasized economic recovery based on free-market policies.
(SFC, 12/17/98, p.C6)
1998 Dec 26, In Vietnam it was
reported that foreign investment had dropped 46% this year due to
difficult business conditions that included a "nightmarish
bureaucracy," inefficient dual-pricing, and partnerships that placed
total risk on foreign investors.
(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A9)
1998 Edward A. Gargan made a trip
downriver on the Mekong and in 2002 authored "The River's Tale: A Year
on the Mekong.
(SSFC, 5/12/02, p.C7)
1998 Karin Muller published
"Hitchhiking Vietnam: A Woman's Solo Journey in an Elusive Land."
(SFEC, 9/6/98, BR p.7)
1998 Jeffrey Record published his
book: "The Wrong War," based on the premise that the Vietnam war was
unwinable.
(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A24)
1998 The documentary film "Regret
to Inform" by Barbara Sonneborn was about the effects of the Vietnam
War on American and Vietnamese war widows.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, DB p.48)
1998-2001 UNICEF reported that at least 60,000
Vietnamese women were trafficked into China’s Guangxi Zhuong autonomous
region during this period.
(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.B6)
1999 Feb 26, The $64 million,
colonial-style, Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel opened.
(WSJ, 2/25/99, p.B1)
1999 May 10, In Vietnam a huge
corruption trial began against 77 defendants, who included powerful
bankers and business executives. The charges involved a shell game
where the Minh Phung and Epco companies colluded with bankers to obtain
huge loans with phony collateral. The scheme was said to have cost the
government up to $280 million.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A7)
1999 Jul 16, A photograph of a
Javan rhinoceros of Vietnam, thought to have been extinct, was made
public. Only 6-8 were believed to be alive.
(SFC, 7/17/99, p.A6)
1999 Jul 25, The US and Vietnam
agreed to normalize relations after 3 years of negotiations. Commercial
ties were expected to follow.
(SFC, 7/26/99, p.A8)
1999 Sep 7, In Vietnam Madeleine
Albright commissioned the new US consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.
(WSJ, 9/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 3, In Vietnam storms
caused massive flooding in Quang Nam province and 150,000 homes were
under water. The Citadel at Hue was under 10 feet of water.
(SFC, 11/4/99, p.A18)
1999 Nov 4, The death toll from
flooding in Vietnam rose to 225.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.A17)
1999 Nov 7, Continued heavy rain
in central Vietnam caused more flooding and the death toll rose to over
450.
(SFC, 11/8/99, p.A12)
1999 Nov 19, It was reported that
the work week was being cut from 48 to 40 hours per week in Vietnam.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.A19)
1999 Nov, The worst flooding in a
century in central Vietnam killed 592 people with damages estimated at
$235 million.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C2)
1999 Dec 5, In Vietnam 4 days of
rain caused flooding that left 109 people dead.
(SFC, 12/6/99, p.A14)(SFC, 12/7/99, p.B3)
1999 Michael Lind published
"Vietnam: The Necessary War."
(WSJ, 10/21/99, p.A20)
1999 Andres X. Pham authored
"Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and
Memory of Vietnam."
(SFEC, 11/28/99, BR p.3)
1999 Richard H. Shultz Jr.
authored "The Secret War Against Hanoi."
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.D4)
1999 Lewis Sorley published his
book: "A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of
America's Last Years in Vietnam" in which he argues that the US won the
war but failed to support South Vietnam after the Paris Peace Accords.
(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A24)
2000 Feb 18, Vietnam’s government
announced plans for a 1,000 mile, $375 million road from Ha Tay to Ho
Chi Minh City along the old Ho Chi Minh Trail.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.C1)
2000 Apr 24, Nguyen Thi Hiep,
arrested in 1996 for drug smuggling, was executed in Vietnam. The
execution prompted Canada to suspend contacts and meetings for
development aid.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr 29, In Vietnam Pham Van
Dong (94), former revolutionary and prime minister, died.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A24)
2000 Jul 13, It was reported that
the US and Vietnam had completed a trade agreement for generally
unfettered commerce between the two countries.
(SFC, 7/13/00, p.A12)
2000 Jul 20, The Stock Trading
Center of Vietnam (STC), located in Ho Chi Minh City, was officially
inaugurated. Trading commenced on July 28, 2000.
(http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/abacus-stocks-Vietnam-stock-exchange.html)
2000 Jul, The Vietnamese
government inaugurated the $1.8 million Saigon Software Park building
with 25 high-tech companies.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A18)
2000 Aug 18, It was reported in
Vietnam that the former Ho Chi Minh Trail, known as Highway 14 from
Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, was being expanded in a 4-year project at a
cost of $400 million to become the Ho Chi Minh Highway.
(SFC, 8/18/00, p.D2)
2000 Aug, Tropical Storm Kaemi was
responsible for 14 deaths in central Vietnam.
(SFC, 8/26/00, p.A20)
2000 Sep 1, The mandatory use of
helmets became effective in Vietnam. An estimated 20 people per day
were being killed on the nation's highway system. 80% of the victims
rode 125-cc motorcycles.
(SFEC, 9/17/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 14, In Cambodia and
Vietnam the Mekong River flooded. At least 89 people had died in
Cambodia and 8 in Vietnam since the floods began in July.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.A18)
2000 Oct, Flooding in the Mekong
Delta, the worst in 40 years, killed close to 500 people.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C2)
2000 Nov 16, Pres. Clinton arrived
in Hanoi, Vietnam, to develop economic and political ties.
(SFC, 11/16/00, p.A14)(SFC, 11/17/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 17, The Clinton family
was warmly received in Hanoi, Vietnam.
(SFC, 11/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Vietnam introduced a liberal
companies law. Over the next 3 years 54,000 private businesses sprang
up.
(Econ, 4/17/04, p.63)
2000 Vietnam served as the chair
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
(SFC, 11/17/00, p.A14)
2001 Jan, The state announced the
'Ho Chi Minh Road of the 21st Century" program. It aimed to have 1.6
million Internet users online by 2005. Current users numbered about
113,000.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A18)
2001 Feb 19, In Vietnam a rare
earthquake, magnitude 5.3, hit Dien Bien Phu.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb, In Vietnam some 20,000
Montagnards, members of mostly Christian hill tribes, participated in
protests against state land confiscations in the highland cities Buon
Ma Thuot, Pleiku and Kontum. Many were then forced to seek refuge in
Cambodia. Dozens were later imprisoned for organizing illegal migration.
(SFC, 6/26/01, p.A8)(SFC, 12/28/02, p.A12)
2001 Apr 7, A Russian-made M-17
helicopter carrying a team searching for American MIAs crashed and all
aboard were reported killed. Rescuers recovered the bodies of 9
Vietnamese and 7 Americans the next day.
(SSFC, 4/8/01, p.C2)(SFC, 4/9/01, p.A7)
2001 Apr 17, In Vietnam Sec. Gen.
Le Kha Phieu was removed from office by the 150-member Central
Committee due to disenchantment with his conservative style. Nong Duc
Manh of the ethnic Tay minority was expected to succeed.
(SFC, 4/18/01, p.A12)
2001 Apr 22, Nong Duc Manh (60),
rumored to be the illegitimate son of Ho Chi Minh, was elected
Vietnamese general secretary.
(WSJ, 4/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 5, Flooding from Typhoon
Durian killed 25 people in Vietnam.
(WSJ, 7/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 22, Nguyen Ton Hoan,
former deputy premier of South Vietnam, died in Mountain View, Ca., at
age 84.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.C2)
2001 Sep 29, Nguyen Van Thieu
(b.1923), former President of South Vietnam, died in Boston.
(AP, 9/29/02)(NW, 12/31/01, p.107)
2001 Oct 24, Deaths from flooding
in Central Vietnam reached 341 and included at least 250 children.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C2)
2001 Nov 12, Typhoon Lingling hit
Vietnam. 18 people were reported killed and 12,000 were left homeless.
(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A14)(SFC, 11/17/01, p.A24)
2001 Vietnam and the US signed a
bilateral trade agreement.
(Econ, 6/25/05, p.34)
2001 Vietnam banned abortions on
the basis of fetal sex.
(Econ, 12/3/05, p.42)
2001 Gen. Duong Van Minh, the
President of South Vietnam in April 1975, died at age 86 in Pasadena,
Ca.
(SFC, 8/8/01, p.A20)
2002 Jan 1, It was reported that
the number of Vietnamese AIDS cases, people living with HIV, had
reached 40,000. 12-18k new cases were predicted for the coming years.
(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A15)
2002 Jan 6, It was reported that
94% of Vietnam's population is literate.
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.C8)
2002 Jan 20, It was reported that
4 of the world's most endangered primates were endemic to Vietnam: the
Tonkin snub-nosed langur (~200), Delacour's langur (~200), the
Gray-shanked couc langur (~6) and the Golden-headed langur (~55).
(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A16)
2002 Mar 3, In Hanoi a 3-day
US-Vietnamese conference on Agent Orange began. High dioxin levels were
found in people 30 years after spraying ended.
(SSFC, 3/3/02, p.A11)
2002 Mar 17, Gen. Van Tien Dung
(84), commander of the North Vietnamese forces that captured Saigon in
1975, died.
(SFC, 3/20/02, p.A25)
2002 Apr 20, In Vietnam a fire,
raging for weeks, was reported to have destroyed half of U Minh
National Park in Kien Giang province. Extended drought was blamed.
(SFC, 4/20/02, p.A24)
2002 Apr 22, Vietnamese groups
planned demonstrations in over 20 cities to protest the recent ceding
of some 800 miles of land and water on the northern border of Vietnam
to China without public input.
(SSFC, 4/21/02, p.A24)
2002 May 19, Vietnam claimed
almost 100% turnout in the mandatory single party national elections.
All 759 candidates were approved by the Fatherland Front.
(SFC, 5/20/02, p.A7)
2002 Jul 25, In Vietnam the
National Assembly approved a 2nd term for PM Phan Van Khai (68).
(SFC, 7/26/02, p.A17)
2002 Aug 30, Floodwaters along the
lower stretches of the Mekong have wreaked havoc in Laos, Cambodia
(18), Thailand (12) and Vietnam (25), claiming at least 55 lives and
leaving thousands homeless across the region.
(AP, 8/30/02)
2002 Sep 18, The World Bank
reported that the Vietnamese natural environment, which supports one of
the world's most biologically diverse ecosystems, has deteriorated
rapidly over the past 10 years.
(AP, 9/18/02)
2002 Oct 29, In Vietnam at least
60 people were killed, including 22 linked to American International
Assurance (AIA), when fire engulfed a commercial building in Ho Chi
Minh City, state media and officials.
(Reuters, 10/30/02)
2002 Nov 4, China signed a
landmark agreement with Southeast Asian countries (Brunei, Malaysia,
Philippines, Vietnam) on avoiding open conflict in the disputed South
China Sea Spratly Islands. Indonesia objected and Taiwan was barred
from signing.
(Reuters, 11/4/02)(Econ, 5/22/04, p.40)
2002 Nov 24, The government of
Vietnam estimated AIDS at 107,000 cases and pointed to the estimated
40,000 prostitutes as the chief source. AIDS workers said 70% of the
infected were drug users and claimed 200,000 cases.
(SSFC, 11/24/02, p.A3)
2003 Apr 2, Vietnam's PM Phan Van
Khai spoke with Thich Huyen Quang, the leader of a banned Buddhist
church, about religious freedoms. Quang has been under house arrest in
1982.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 19, Hong Kong reported 12
SARS patients died in a single day. Malaysia banned workers from
Vietnam, which considered sealing its border with China due to the
disease.
(AP, 4/19/03)
2003 May 2, In Vietnam an aging
Russian-made bus, carrying more than 40 passengers, burst into
flames. 6 people died and 70 were badly burned. Flammable cargo was
suspected.
(AP, 5/3/03)
2003 Jun 4, In Vietnam Truong Van
Cam, reputed underworld boss, was found guilty of 7 crimes. 154 alleged
associates included high-ranking government officials. He was sentenced
to death the next day.
(SFC, 6/5/03, p.A3)
2003 Aug 15, The World Bank said
it is lending Vietnam $100 million over the next 3 years to support
reforms, reduce poverty, develop a market economy and help devise a
modern legal system.
(AP, 8/15/03)
2003 Aug, Vietnam took possession
of the 1st of 4 new Boeing 777-200 ER jetliners purchased in part with
a loan from the Export-Import Bank of the US.
(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.I6)
2003 Sep 29, Vietnam refused to
recognize Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man, Pope John Paul
II's new appointment, as the new cardinal for Ho Chi Minh City.
(AP, 9/29/03)
2003 Oct 8, Vietnam and the United
States tentatively agreed to allow the first commercial flights between
the two countries since the end of the Vietnam War.
(AP, 10/8/03)
2003 Nov 13, In central Vietnam
Tropical Storm Nepartak triggered floods and landslides that killed at
least 49 people.
(AP, 11/15/03)
2003 Nov 19, An American guided
missile frigate sailed into Ho Chi Minh City flying the US and
Vietnamese flags, becoming the first US warship to dock in the
communist country since the Vietnam War.
(AP, 11/19/03)
2003 Dec 31, Vietnam sentenced
Nguyen Vu Binh (35) to 7 years in jai and 3 years house arrest for
writing an article in 2002 that circulated on the Internet criticizing
a border agreement between Vietnam and China.
(SFC, 12/31/03, p.A3)
2004 Jan 30, It was reported that
Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange had filed their 1st suit against the
US companies that produced the toxic defoliant used by American forces
during the Vietnam War.
(AP, 2/4/04)
2004 Apr 10, In Vietnam's troubled
Central Highlands province of Daklak ethnic minority villagers
protested over religion and land issues.
(AP, 4/10/04)
2004 Apr 30, In southern Vietnam a
tourist boat carrying about 130 passengers sank off the coast.
Authorities recovered 22 bodies, including one 8-year-old boy.
(AP, 5/1/04)
2004 Jun 3, Nam Cam (Truong Van
Cam, 57), an alleged Vietnamese crime "godfather," and four of his
gangster colleagues were executed by firing squad after being convicted
in a major crackdown on crime that is said to have reached into the
ruling Communist Party.
(AP, 6/3/04)
2004 Jun 14, Typhoon Chanthu
killed 7 people and left seven more missing when it swept through
central Vietnam over the weekend.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Jun 21, Vietnam's central
bank said it has given approval to the US-based Far East National Bank
to open a branch in Ho Chi Minh City, the 3rd US bank branched in
Vietnam.
(AP, 6/21/04)
2004 Jul 28, The second wave in
the biggest mass defection of North Koreans to South Korea arrived on a
flight from Vietnam, bringing the total in the two-day airlift to
nearly 460.
(WSJ, 7/27/04, p.A1)(AP, 7/28/04)
2004 Aug 26, In northern Vietnam a
boat capsized in heavy winds on a river, killing 16 people.
(AP, 8/28/04)
2004 Oct 4, It was reported that
Vietnam had embarked on a major overhaul of its debt-laden companies as
it opens up its economy.
(WSJ, 10/4/04, p.A15)
2004 Dec 9, United Airlines was
scheduled to begin service to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
(SFC, 7/23/04, p.C1)
2004 Dec 10, A US passenger jet,
United Flight 869, landed in Vietnam, the first since the Vietnam War
ended nearly 30 years ago.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Vietnam’s exports reached $30
billion, up from $1 billion in 1988.
(SFC, 5/30/06, p.C1)
2005 Jan 1, Vietnam was forecast
for 6.8% annual GDP growth with a population at 83.7 million and GDP
per head at $560.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.92)
2005 Feb 16, Vietnam banned all
poultry raising in the southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City
this year to limit the risk of bird flu transmitting to humans.
(AP, 2/16/05)
2005 Feb, Vietnam signed an
agreement with the World Society for the Protection of Animals to phase
out its bear bile farms, where an estimated 3,000 bears were held for
their bile. In China an estimated 7,000 caged bears were milked for
their bile.
(SFC, 4/25/05, p.A8)
2005 Mar 12, In central Vietnam an
express passenger train derailed, killing at least 11 people and
injuring some 200.
(Reuters, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 25, Cambodia and Vietnam
each confirmed an additional death from bird flu, raising Southeast
Asia's death toll to 48.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Apr 20, Oxfam reported that
Vietnam’s Red River was at its lowest point for 100 years, and if the
drought persisted beyond May then significant numbers of people will
need food aid.
(www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/emergencies/country/eastasia/)
2005 Apr 21, In Vietnam 31 war
veterans including 14 women and a driver were killed in a bus crash
while en route to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the end of the
Vietnam War.
(AP, 4/21/05)(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.A1)
2005 May 17, In Vietnam an
international consortium led by French group Technip signed a
1.5-billion-dollar deal to build Vietnam's first oil refinery.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May 25, Steve Mason (65),
considered the poet laureate of the Vietnam War, died in Ashland, Ore.
His books included “Johnny’s Song: Poetry of a Vietnam Veteran” (1986).
(SFC, 5/31/05, p.B4)
2005 Jun 15, Vietnam reported 6
new cases of bird flu in the past week.
(WSJ, 6/15/05, p.A15)
2005 Jun 19, Vietnam’s PM Phan Van
Khai (71) arrived in Seattle. The first visit to America by a prime
minister from Vietnam in 30 years was greeted by demonstrators shouting
"Down with communists!" and calling for an end to political and
religious persecution in Vietnam. Khai hoped to strengthen ties with
Washington during his weeklong US tour.
(AP, 6/20/05)
2005 Jun 20, In Vietnam officials
said 2 more people from northern Vietnam have been sickened with bird
flu, and thousands of chickens have dropped dead in the south.
(AP, 6/20/05)
2005 Jun 21, President Bush told
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai that he supports Vietnam's bid
to join the WTO, in the first visit by the Vietnamese leader since the
war.
(AP, 6/21/05)
2005 Jun 29, Vietnam said it would
begin in August vaccinating poultry nationwide against bird flu.
(SFC, 6/30/05, p.A10)
2005 Jul 20, Cambodia handed over
some 107 Montagnards, a largely Christian hilltribe people, to
Vietnamese authorities. More than 1,000 Montagnards fled to Cambodia
after security forces put down demonstrations in Vietnam's Central
Highlands in 2001 against land confiscation and religious persecution
of ethnic minorities. In January, Vietnam, Cambodia and the UNHCR
signed a memorandum of understanding to resettle or repatriate about
700 ethnic minority Vietnamese who were estimated at the time to be in
Cambodia.
(AFP, 7/20/05)
2005 Aug 24, In Vietnam a man died
of bird flu in Hanoi raising the regional toll to 62.
(WSJ, 9/1/05, p.A13)
2005 Sep 27, After killing at
least 31 people in China and the Philippines, Typhoon Damrey slammed
ashore in Vietnam, forcing the evacuation of nearly 300,000 people.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 29, Northern Vietnam
reported at least 57 people dead and widespread destruction from the
aftermath of Typhoon Damrey.
(AFP, 9/29/05)
2005 Oct 12, Vietnam presented
donor nations an emergency six-month plan to battle bird flu, amid
fears of a new outbreak of the deadly disease and delays in a poultry
vaccination scheme.
(AFP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 14, A researcher said
bird flu virus found in a Vietnamese girl was resistant to the main
drug that's being stockpiled in case of a pandemic, a sign that it's
important to keep a second drug on hand as well.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 24, Vietnam lifted its
30% cap on foreign ownership of listed companies to 49%.
(WSJ, 10/21/05, p.C16)
2005 Oct 27, Vietnam issued its
1st overseas government bond. Demand pushed the size from $500 million
to $750 million with a yield of 7.125%.
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.82)
2005 Oct 29, Vietnam demanded that
the US remove it from a State Department blacklist of religious rights
violators.
(AFP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 31, China's Pres. Hu
Jintao arrived in Vietnam on a mission to expand booming trade ties
between the communist nations.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Nov 4, Vietnam confirmed bird
flu outbreaks in three communes north of Hanoi.
(AFP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 8, Vietnam, the country
hit hardest by bird flu, reported its 42nd death, which occurred Oct
29, raising the toll in Asia to at least 63. The Swiss maker of Tamiflu
said it had stopped selling the antiviral drug in China and was turning
over supplies to the government.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The US State
Department issued its 7th annual report to Congress on religious
freedom. It cited Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as restricting religious freedom.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 18, US officials said
that US and Canadian police have arrested 291 people in a major drug
bust that was given unprecedented cooperation by Vietnamese agents. The
2-year operation covered ecstasy, which was shipped into Canada in
powder form, turned into pills and then smuggled across the border
along with massive amounts of marijuana.
(AFP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 22, Vietnamese health
officials said a teenager has been confirmed with the H5N1 bird flu
virus.
(Reuters, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 22, Pope Benedict XVI
created the diocese of Ba Ria, in the Vietnam province of the same
name, by dividing up the existing diocese of Xuan Loc. He named
Monsignor Thomas Nguen Van Tram bishop of Ba Ria. Vietnam had an
estimated 6 million Catholics.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 25, Indonesia said it
would begin producing the bird flu drug Tamiflu, while Vietnam and
China reported new outbreaks of the virus among poultry.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Vietnam former
British glam rocker Gary Glitter was charged with committing "obscene
acts with children" and could face more serious charges that carry the
death penalty.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 29, Thousands of people
lined the streets as the Roman Catholic Church ordained 57 new priests
in an unprecedented ceremony that added the single largest number of
priests in Vietnam at one time.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Dec 15, Taiwan said it was
building a landing strip on one of the Spratly Islands, whose ownership
was contested by Vietnam.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.42)
2005 Dec 17, In Vietnam disaster
officials said floods and landslides have claimed at least 47 lives in
central Vietnam in the past two weeks.
(AP, 12/17/05)
2005 Dec 19, In Vietnam Trinh Huu
(53), an Australian of Vietnamese origin, was convicted and sentenced
to death by firing squad for trafficking heroin.
(Reuters, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec, In Vietnam wildcat
strikes swept through the industrial zones surrounding Ho chi Minh
City. Tens of thousands of workers joined protests over wages and
conditions.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.42)
2005 Some 74% of Vietnam’s 84
million population still lived in the countryside.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.49)
2006 Jan 4, Intel asked the
Vietnamese government for a license to build a chip plant worth 605
million dollars in southern Ho Chi Minh City. Regulators approved the
plans in February.
(AFP, 1/5/06)(WSJ, 2/24/06, p.A6)
2006 Jan 6, Vietnam said it was
prepared to join some UN peacekeeping operations for the first time in
a move seen as a major shift in its attitude towards the world body.
(AP, 1/6/06)
2006 Feb 1, In Vietnam a
government mandated minimum wage increase in foreign-owned factories
went into effect. Starting pay was raised 40% to $45 per month.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.42)
2006 Feb 11, It was reported that
drought in northern Vietnam threatened 740,000 acres of rice as the
level of the Red River continued to fall to its lowest level in over
100 years.
(SFC, 6/4/04, A1)
2006 Feb 20, A senior US official
said Vietnam and the US have resumed their human rights dialogue after
a three-year suspension, renewing links with "productive" talks.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Mar 2, Vietnam announced it
has commuted the death sentence of Nguyen Van Chinh (45), a convicted
Australian drug trafficker, to life imprisonment after heavy lobbying
by the Australian government.
(AP, 3/2/06)
2006 Mar 29, In Vietnam activists
and Vietnam War veterans wrapped up a global conference on Agent Orange
with a plea to the US government and chemical companies to take
responsibility for health problems linked to the wartime defoliant.
(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Apr 3, Dao Dinh Binh (61)
Vietnam's transport minister resigned and his deputy was arrested in a
major corruption scandal in which public officials embezzled millions
of dollars in government funds. The reformist newspapers Thanh Nien
(Young people) and Tuoi Tre (Youth Daily) had published a joint expose
of the transport ministry’s road building unit. In 2009 the government
refused to renew the contracts for the papers.
(AFP, 4/4/06)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.43)
2006 Apr 18, Vietnam's communist
party opened its 10th five-yearly congress. The 8-day session,
likely to reshuffle the national leadership, opened with a stern
warning from party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh that corruption
threatens the regime's survival. During the session Bloc 8406, a new
dissident group, emerged with a “manisfesto on freedom and democracy.”
(AFP, 4/18/06)(Econ, 4/26/08, SR p.16)
2006 Apr 22, Vietnam welcomed
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who then spoke in Hanoi on Vietnam’s
potential in IT development.
(SSFC, 4/23/06, p.A14)
2006 Apr 24, Vietnam's ruling
Communist Party re-elected its leader, General Secretary Nong Duc Manh
(65), for a second five-year term. The Congress approved a new
five-year plan with targets for improving infrastructure and making
Vietnam a modern industrial nation by 2020.
(AFP, 4/24/06)(Econ, 8/5/06, p.38)
2006 Apr 28, An official said
Vietnam needs more than $400 million to fight bird flu and prepare for
a potential pandemic over the next five years, and expects about half
to come from international donors.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI
named a new bishop for Vietnam, a country that lacks ties with the
Vatican but has the second highest number of Catholics in Southeast
Asia.
(AP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 14, Vietnam’s state media
said the US had clinched a bilateral market access deal with Vietnam
that will help clear the path to its former wartime enemy joining the
World Trade Organization.
(AFP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 16, Vietnam's PM Phan Van
Khai (70) said he has nominated Deputy PM Nguyen Tan Dung (56) as his
successor.
(AP, 5/16/06)
2006 May 19, In Vietnam 5 people
convicted of heroin dealing were executed by firing squad. About 100
people were executed in Vietnam each year for drug-related offenses.
(AP, 5/20/06)
2006 May 19, An official said at
least 150 Vietnamese fishermen were missing at sea and another 28 were
found dead after getting caught in Typhoon Chanchu.
(AP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 20, Chanchu, the most
powerful storm to strike the South China Sea this early in the typhoon
season, killed nearly 90 people in Asia over the past week. It was now
weakened to a tropical storm and hovering off southern Japan. 198
Vietnamese fishermen remained missing.
(AP, 5/20/06)
2006 May 31, The US and Vietnam
signed a trade pact that removes one of the last major hurdles in
Hanoi's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
(AP, 5/31/06)
2006 Jun 4, US Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Vietnam for a visit aimed at
boosting security ties with a former foe that now shares American
wariness about China's rising military might.
(AP, 6/4/06)
2006 Jun 24, Vietnam's president,
prime minister and chief of parliament all submitted their
resignations, bowing out in a long-awaited internal shuffle to make way
for a new generation of leaders.
(AP, 6/24/06)
2006 Jun 27, Vietnamese
legislators elected Nguyen Minh Triet (63), the Communist Party chief
for Ho Chi Minh City, as the country's new president in a leadership
shuffle. Triet, in turn, nominated Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung, 56, to become the next PM.
(AP, 6/27/06)
2006 Jul 31, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez praised Vietnam for its battle against "imperialism" and
pledged to help the communist country develop its nascent oil and gas
industry during a two-day state visit.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Sep 7, A Thai court decided
to extradite a Vietnamese dissident to face charges of violating
airspace for a stunt that involved hijacking a plane and dropping
50,000 anti-communist leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City. Ly Tong, a South
Vietnamese air force veteran who later became a US citizen, hijacked
the twin-engine plane from Thailand in November 2000.
(AP, 9/7/06)
2006 Sep 20, In Vietnam Pham Xuan
An (79), journalist and spy, died. He led a remarkable and perilous
double life as a communist spy and a respected reporter for Western
news organizations during the Vietnam War.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 21, Vietnam deported an
American pro-democracy activist, state-run television reported. Cong
Thanh Do (47) of San Jose, Ca., was accused of plotting to overthrow
the government.
(AP, 9/21/06)
2006 Oct 1, Typhoon Xangsane was
downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved inland from the central
Vietnam coast. At least 59 people were killed and thousands of homes
damaged. Damage was later estimated at $625 million.
(Reuters, 10/1/06)(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 7, In central Vietnam a
boat carrying about 30 schoolchildren capsized on a river, leaving one
boy dead and 18 others missing and feared dead.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 10, Vietnam's communist
party chief Nong Duc Manh arrived in Laos at the start of a four-day
visit in a country where Vietnam still exerts considerable influence.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 12, In Vietnam the Lao
Dong (Labour) newspaper quoted a police doctor as saying tests in
September confirmed that Nguyen Thi Oanh (39), a convicted heroin
trafficker, was then 11 weeks pregnant. The death row inmate had been
held in solitary confinement for almost a year.
(Reuters, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 23, A WTO draft report
said Vietnam has succeeded in introducing the reforms necessary for it
to join the World Trade Organization and become the world body's 150th
member.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 24, in northern Vietnam a
boat carrying traders with their chickens and pigs capsized in a river
with at least 20 passengers feared drowned.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 26, Thailand's
military-installed PM Surayud Chulanont visited Vietnam for the last of
a series of trips aimed at reassuring Bangkok's neighbors after last
month's coup.
(AFP, 10/26/06)
2006 Nov 7, The World Trade
Organization (WTO) has formally approved communist Vietnam's membership
of the global free trade system. The US government congratulated
Vietnam for winning entry to the WTO, and urged Congress to enact
regular trading ties with the communist nation.
(AFP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 10, In Vietnam 3
Vietnamese-Americans were convicted on terrorism charges after being
accused of trying to take over radio airwaves and call for an uprising
against Vietnam's communist government. A judge sentenced the Americans
and four Vietnamese to 15 months in prison, with credit for time served.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 13, Vietnam deported
Nguyen Thuong "Cuc" Foshee (58), an American woman who was convicted
last week on terrorism charges for plotting to seize radio airwaves to
call for an uprising against the communist government. The US removed
Vietnam from a blacklist of countries that suppress religion.
(AP, 11/12/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.44)
2006 Nov 15, In Vietnam envoys
meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic summit, tried to
cobble together a united strategy for upcoming talks aimed at
convincing North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 17, Pres. Bush arrived in
Vietnam ahead of a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders and individual
meetings with a handful of leaders.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 18, President Bush
lobbied world leaders in Vietnam and lined up support for pressuring
North Korea to prove it is serious about dismantling its nuclear
weapons program. Asia-Pacific leaders put their political muscle behind
the drive to free up global trade, but they struggled to find common
ground on how best to tackle the North Korea nuclear crisis.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 19, President Bush in
Vietnam sought Chinese President Hu Jintao's help on dual fronts,
aiming to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions and encourage the
Chinese people to buy more US goods. Pacific Rim leaders urged North
Korea to take concrete steps to live up to its commitments to stop
developing nuclear weapons.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Dec 5, Typhoon Durian slammed
into Vietnam's southern coast as a tropical storm. A Dec 7 government
report said nearly 100 people were killed or are missing after the
typhoon hit the southern coast.
(AP, 12/6/06)(Reuters, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec, Vietnam’s PM Nguyen Tan
Dung signed a directive to issue shares in its national airline in 2008
and planned to partially privatize more than 50 other major state-owned
enterprises by 2010.
(AFP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 11, Vietnam became the
150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a milestone
expected to launch an era of radical change as the communist nation
enters the global economic mainstream.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 25, Pope Benedict XVI met
with Vietnam's PM Nguyen Tan Dung. Their talks marked an important step
toward establishing diplomatic relations following decades of tension.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 31, Officials said
Vietnam's ruling Communist Party and the military will relinquish
control of dozens of companies, ranging from hotels to telecoms, as
part of an ongoing government overhaul. An oil spill from an
unidentified source hit Vietnam's central coast, blackening popular
resort beaches as thousands of local people help with the cleanup.
(AP, 1/31/07)(AP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 3, In northern Vietnam 5
miners were killed when a large rock fell on them as they worked to
extract zinc ore.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 5, In Hanoi, Vietnam,
international aid experts from the World Bank, UN and other development
agencies and 40 nations met for the Third International Roundtable on
Managing For Development Results, a four-day conference aimed at making
global development efforts more effective.
(AFP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 9, In Vietnam the US
ambassador said the US government will give Vietnam $400,000 toward
cleaning up a former US military base contaminated by Agent Orange, its
biggest step yet toward resolving one of the most contentious legacies
of the Vietnam War.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 25, Vietnamese officials
and state media said police have accused Nguyen Van Ly, a prominent
dissident Catholic priest, of disseminating propaganda intended to
undermine the communist government. Van Ly founded Bloc 8406, which
called for democracy, in 2006.
(AP, 2/25/07)(Econ, 3/31/07, p.49)
2007 Feb 28, It was reported that
international developers planned a $4 billion resort and casino complex
in Vietnam. The project, dubbed Ho Tram, would be on the South China
Sea, a 2-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City.
(WSJ, 2/28/07, p.B1)
2007 Mar 13, Vietnam's former
deputy trade minister and his son went on trial for accepting bribes
for quotas to export textiles to the US, in a major graft case with 14
defendants.
(AP, 3/13/07)
2007 Mar 30, A Vietnamese court
sentenced a dissident Catholic priest to eight years in prison for
anti-government activities after a dramatic trial in which the
defendant shouted denunciations of the ruling Communist Party. A judge
at Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Court in central Vietnam
sentenced Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly on charges of disseminating
anti-government documents and communicating with pro-democracy
activists overseas.
(AP, 3/30/07)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y9Mzp-61fU)
2007 May 10, A Vietnamese court
sentenced three pro-democracy activists to prison after convicting them
of spreading subversive propaganda, as the communist country continued
its latest crackdown against dissent.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 15, In Vietnam Tran Quoc
Hien, a trade union organizer and member of Bloc 8406, became the 6th
democracy campaigner to be imprisoned within a week.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)
2007 May 20, Vietnam elected a new
National Assembly. Vietnam's communist party won more than 91% of seats
in elections for the new national assembly, which will consist of 493
members.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 Jun 1, Vietnam became Cuba's
latest partner in oil exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
under one of several agreements signed during a visit by Vietnamese
Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 16, Official media said
Vietnam has confirmed its first human death from bird flu since 2005,
as the latest flare-up of the virus ravaged poultry stocks. Tests
confirmed that a 20-year-old from northern Ha Tay province died from
the H5N1 virus on June 10.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 21, Vietnam's President
Nguyen Minh Triet heard a barrage of criticism during his historic
visit to Washington, with angry US lawmakers saying ties between the
former enemies will stagnate until Vietnam's dismal human rights record
improves.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jul 25, Vietnam’s lawmakers
overwhelmingly re-elected PM Nguyen Tan Dung, in hopes that strong
growth and economic reforms would continue under his leadership.
(AP, 7/25/07)
2007 Aug 6, Vietnam’s disaster
officials said the worst tropical storm to hit the country so far this
year has killed nine people, while 14 others remain missing.
(AP, 8/6/07)
2007 Aug 8, In Vietnam officials
said at least 34 people have died and 17 more were missing and feared
dead after Tropical Storm Pabuk lashed the country.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 13, In central Vietnam
the death toll from a tropical storm that caused widespread flooding
hit 70 after five more bodies were recovered, while six people were
still missing and feared dead.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Sep 1, The World Health
Organization (WHO) confirmed five human bird flu cases in Vietnam, four
of them fatal. The four, including two women, died between June 21 and
August 3 while a fifth person, a 29-year-old man, had recovered.
(Reuters, 9/1/07)
2007 Sep 26, In southern Vietnam a
section of a bridge under construction collapsed, killing at least 52
workers and injuring 97 others. The bridge was being built across the
Hau River, a branch of the Mekong River, in the southern city of Can
Tho.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2007 Oct 3, Disaster officials
began evacuating 400,000 people as a typhoon approached Vietnam's
central coast, packing winds up to 83 mph. Typhoon Lekima slammed into
Vietnam's central coast, killing two people, destroying hundreds of
houses and unleashing floods in one of the country's poorest regions.
(AP, 10/3/07)
2007 Oct 6, In Vietnam floods and
landslides followed Typhoon Lekima and killed at least 86 people with
many missing and some villages cut off and inundated by water.
(Reuters, 10/6/07)(AP, 10/7/07)(AP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 27, An official of the
Vietnamese embassy to South Africa was shot and seriously injured in a
robbery at his Pretoria residence.
(AFP, 10/28/07)
2007 Nov 5, In central Vietnam
residents braced for a tropical storm expected to make landfall later
this week after floods triggered by heavy rains killed at least 24
people. People in seven coastal areas fell victim to the latest floods,
which began Nov 2. The floods were the third to hit the region in three
weeks.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2007 Nov 17, Police in Ho Chi Minh
City arrested two US citizens of Vietnamese descent, two Vietnam
citizens, one French citizen of Vietnamese descent and one Thai citizen
after "they participated in discussions with other democracy activists
on promoting peaceful democratic change." Several were jailed in
one-day trials for up to 8 years on charges of defaming the Communist
Party and "spreading propaganda against the state."
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Dec 4, American officials
confirmed that Vietnam is holding four US citizens, hours after gaining
their first consular access to two of the detainees, both
Vietnamese-born pro-democracy activists.
(AFP, 12/4/07)
2008 Jan 22, A US official said
thousands of Vietnamese living illegally in the US now face deportation
after the two countries completed an agreement following a decade of
work on the pact.
(AP, 1/22/08)
2008 Jan 30, Vietnam’s central
bank raised official interest rates up 1.5% to fight inflation which
had reached 14.1%, the highest since 1995.
(Econ, 2/2/08, p.46)
2008 Mar 10, Vietnam’s central
bank widened the band in which it allows the Vietnamese dong to rise or
fall against the dollar from .75% to 1%. The bank said it plans to
expand the band to 2% in an effort to unshackle its economy from the
sliding dollar.
(WSJ, 3/19/08, p.A8)
2008 Mar 18, An appeals court in
Ho Chi Minh City sentenced an Australian woman to death for heroin
trafficking. Vietnam-born Jasmine Luong (34), of Sydney, was convicted
during a one-day trial of trafficking 3 pounds of heroin.
(AP, 3/19/08)
2008 Apr 1, A top US immigration
official said Washington has started deportation proceedings against
thousands of Vietnamese living illegally in the US under a pact between
the two countries.
(AP, 4/1/08)
2008 Apr 1, An Australian court
charged a Vietnam Airlines pilot with smuggling millions of dollars in
drug profits out of the country. Quoc Viet Lai (58,) faced 40 counts of
money laundering after allegedly taking 3.7 million dollars (3.4
million US) out of Australia between June 2005 and June 2006.
(AFP, 4/1/08)
2008 Apr 8, In Vietnam a small
military plane crashed near Hanoi, killing all five aboard.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 28, Officials said
Vietnam is ending a child adoption agreement with the United States
after being accused of allowing baby-selling and corruption.
(AP, 4/28/08)
2008 Apr 28, The Olympic torch
arrived in Vietnam from North Korea, where tens of thousands of
citizens were mobilized to celebrate the relay in Pyongyang in the
flame's first visit to the authoritarian nation.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 May 12, In Vietnam 2
reporters were arrested for their coverage of a bribery, gambling and
corruption scandal. Their arrests led to a highly unusual confrontation
between Vietnam's Communist government and the country's
state-controlled newspapers. The scandal, which erupted in 2005, led to
the conviction of 9 people, including several government officials.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 Apr, The population of
Vietnam was about 85 million.
(Econ, 4/26/08, SR p.3)
2008 May 31, In Vietnam some 1000
workers walked off the assembly line of a Panasonic plant as inflation
reached a 13-year high of 25.2%. Some 300 strikes took place in the
first quarter as compared to 103 in the first quarter of 2007.
(WSJ, 6/3/08, p.A12)
2008 Jun 2, In central Vietnam a
collision between a speeding bus and a truck killed 14 people and
injured 18 others. Traffic accidents killed more than 13,000 people
last year in Vietnam.
(AP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 9, Budweiser, US beer
brewer, announced that it would go on sale in Vietnam.
(Econ, 6/14/08, p.82)
2008 Jun 10, Vietnam devalued its
currency by almost 2% to bring the official exchange rate closer to
black market rates. The main interest rate was increased to 14% from
12% in an effort to tamp inflationary pressure. A week earlier PM
Nguyen Tan Dung had said there was no reason to decrease the value of
the dong.
(WSJ, 6/11/08, p.A15)
2008 Jun 11, Vietnam devalued its
currency by 2% as inflation pushed over 25%.
(Econ, 6/21/08,
p.86)(http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=4709)
2008 Jun 11, Vo Van Kiet (b.1922),
former Vietnamese Prime Minister (1991-1997), died in Singapore. The
economic reformer had led the Communist nation away from poverty and
isolation and backed the normalization of ties with the United States.
(AP, 6/11/08)(WSJ, 6/14/08, p.A7)
2008 Jun 16, A Vietnamese soldier
shot and killed four people and seriously injured five others before
shooting himself dead. Nguyen Manh Hung (23) reportedly became enraged
after being accused of stealing a mobile phone.
(AP, 6/18/08)
2008 Jul 14, In Vietnam Dayana
Mendoza, Miss Venezuela, was crowned Miss Universe 2008 in a contest
marked by the spectacle of Miss USA falling down during the evening
gown competition for the second year in a row.
(AP, 7/14/08)
2008 Jul 21, Vietnam raised its
fuel prices by 31%.
(WSJ, 7/22/08, p.A13)
2008 Aug 9, Disaster officials
said landslides and floods killed at least 101 people in northern
Vietnam, covering the homes of some victims as they slept in their beds.
(AP, 8/10/08)(WSJ, 8/12/08, p.A8)
2008 Aug 15, In Beijing 2 positive
dope tests by Asian athletes overshadowed Singapore's first medal in 48
years and a podium for Malaysia with a North Korean shooter and a
Vietnamese gymnast exposed as cheats.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 19, Vietnamese
authorities freed British glam rocker Paul Gadd, aka Gary Glitter,
after nearly three years in prison on child molestation charges, then
moved immediately to deport him.
(AP, 8/19/08)(Econ, 8/36/08, p.36)
2008 Aug, In Vietnam several
people were arrested after they knocked down a section of the wall
surrounding a parcel of land once owned by Thai Ha Church and set up an
altar and a statue of the Virgin Mary. 7 of the defendants received
suspended sentences ranging from 12 to 15 months, and another received
a warning. They all got two years of probation.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2008 Sep 1, A US-Vietnam adoption
agreement expired with the two sides unable to resolve disagreements
over fraud and corruption, disappointing hundreds of prospective
parents who will have to seek children elsewhere.
(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Sep 19, Ben Stocking (49), an
Associated Press reporter in Vietnam, was punched, choked and hit over
the head with a camera by police who detained him for a short while as
he covered a Catholic prayer vigil at the site of the former Vatican
Embassy in Hanoi. The city had started to clear the site after
announcing a day earlier that it planned to use the land for a public
library and park.
(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 25, Typhoon Hagupit hit
northern Vietnam. Floods triggered by the storm left at least 41 people
dead and at least $65 million in damages.
(AP, 9/27/08)(AP, 9/28/08)(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 30, Tropical Storm
Mekkhala slammed into Vietnam's central coast before moving to Laos
later the same day. At least 8 people were killed with 8 more missing.
(AP, 10/2/08)
2008 Oct 3, Officials said
Vietnam's health ministry has discovered the industrial chemical
melamine in 18 food products imported from China and three other
countries and has ordered them recalled and destroyed.
(AP, 10/3/08)
2008 Oct 8, The US embassy said in
a statement that the United States and Vietnam have agreed to lift
restrictions on air cargo routes between the two countries.
(AP, 10/8/08)
2008 Oct 15, A Vietnamese court
sentenced journalist Nguyen Viet Chien (56) to two years in prison,
accusing him of writing inaccurate stories about one of the country's
most high-profile corruption cases. Fellow reporter Nguyen Van Hai (33)
was sentenced on the charges to two years of "re-education without
detention." The reporters were arrested in May for writing about a 2005
scandal in which Transportation Ministry officials were accused of
gambling with allegedly embezzled funds. Police Maj. Gen. Pham Xuan
Quac (62) and investigator Dinh Van Huynh were charged with
"deliberately revealing state secrets," for giving information to the
journalists. Quac, who has retired, was given a warning, while Huynh
was sentenced to one year in prison.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 29, The US and Vietnam
launched three new programs to help provide job training and health
care to disabled people in Danang, where American troops stored and
mixed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Nov 2, A week of flooding
triggered by torrential rains in northern and central Vietnam killed
some 92 people, 22 of them in the capital Hanoi hit by the worst
flooding in 35 years.
(Reuters, 11/2/08)(AP, 11/3/08)(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 13, Vietnam's premier
pledged to probe a corruption case in which Japanese businessmen have
admitted bribing a Vietnamese official in the latest scandal involving
a foreign aid-funded road project.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2008 Nov 16, In Vietnam weekend
flooding killed at least 11 people in the southern and central regions,
submerged thousands of homes in Ho Chi Minh city and stranded air and
railway passengers.
(AP, 11/16/08)
2008 Nov 20, Vietnam's president
Nguyen Minh Triet was set to meet Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, during
the first visit by a head of state from the communist nation here,
mainly focused on oil and gas ties.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, In Vietnam family
planning chiefs said officials in Communist Vietnam, alarmed by a new
baby boom, are to crack down on couples having more than two children.
The government first launched a two-child policy in the early 1960s. A
2003 ordinance encouraged small families without making it illegal for
families to have a third child.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 25, Indochina Airlines,
Vietnam’s first privately owned airline, began operations.
(www.india-server.com/news/vietnam-launches-indochina-airlines-4811.html)
2008 Dec 8, In northern Vietnam a
blast at a coal mine killed at least seven workers and injured 15.
(AP, 12/8/08)
2008 Dec 18, Vietnam approved new
regulations banning bloggers from discussing subjects the government
deems sensitive or inappropriate and requiring them to limit their
writings to personal issues.
(AP, 12/24/08)
2008 Dec 25, Japan and Vietnam
signed an economic partnership pact with a promise to cut tariffs on
some 92% of goods and services traded between the two nations within a
decade.
(AFP, 12/25/08)
2008 Gordon Goldstein authored
“Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam.”
(AP, 10/11/09)
2008 Rufus Phillips authored “Why
Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned.”
(Econ, 10/3/09, p.55)
2009 Jan 25, A small ferry
overloaded with holiday shoppers sank in central Vietnam, killing at
least 40 people ahead of the traditional Lunar New Year. Most of the
dead were women and children.
(AP, 1/25/09)
2009 Jun 13, In Vietnam civil
rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh (41) was arrested at his home in Ho Chi Minh
City. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of
sabotaging the communist government. Three other pro-democracy
activists, Le Thang Long, Tran Thi Thu and Le Thi Thu Thu, were soon
arrested for colluding with Dinh.
(AP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jul 2, In Vietnam an official
said for every 100 girls born to Vietnamese families, there are 112
boys born, a disparity in the sex ratio that has been rapidly
increasing in recent years. The rising imbalance was blamed on a
cultural preference for boys who can continue the bloodline and the
belief that boys can better care for parents as they age.
(AP, 7/2/09)
2009 Jul 31, A new study by the
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and Vietnam's ministry of
defense said more than one-third of the land in six central Vietnamese
provinces remained contaminated with land mines and unexploded bombs
from the Vietnam War.
(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Aug 27, Vietnam police took
Bui Thanh Hieu, who writes a blog under the pen name Nguoi Buon Gio, or
Wind Trader, into custody for questioning. Pham Doan Trang, a writer
for the popular online newspaper VietnamNet, was detained the day
before. Both were released on Sep 6.
(AP, 9/6/09)
2009 Sep 2, Vietnamese authorities
arrested blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (30), who writes under the pen
name Me Nam, at her home in Nha Trang. Quynh's arrest was the latest in
a series of police moves against writers who criticized government
policies toward China. The government tightened its rules for bloggers
earlier this year, saying they must restrict their writings to personal
matters. Quynh was released on Sep 12.
(AP, 9/4/09)(AP, 9/12/09)
2009 Sep 10, Vietnamese and US
scientists wrapped up their annual meetings on Agent Orange, launching
a task force to examine health issues in areas where the defoliant was
used during the Vietnam War. Vietnam has said 1 million to 4 million of
its citizens may have suffered serious health consequences after being
exposed to dioxin, a highly toxic element in Agent Orange.
(AP, 9/10/09)
2009 Sep 11, In Vietnam the
Canadian environmental firm Hatfield Consultants said new environmental
tests confirm extremely high levels of dioxin, the toxic ingredient of
Agent Orange, in people, fish and soil near Danang airport, a former US
air base where American troops stored the herbicide during the Vietnam
War.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 14, Vietnamese scholars
disbanded the Institute of Development Studies, the country's first
independent think tank, to protest a government decree, effective Sep
15, restricting the right to conduct and publish research.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 24, In Vietnam 9 North
Koreans took refuge in Denmark's embassy in Hanoi seeking political
asylum and passage to Seoul. On Oct 20 they left the mission and were
on their way to South Korea.
(Reuters, 10/20/09)(SFC, 9/25/09, p.A2)
2009 Sep 25, An environmental
group said a gecko with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged
frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in
the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, which included Laos,
Thailand and Vietnam.
(AP, 9/25/09)
2009 Sep 29, Typhoon Ketsana
slammed into central Vietnam, killing 74 as officials recovered more
bodies from the muck and swollen rivers along the country's long
coastline. 179 were reported injured and a dozen missing. In
neighboring Cambodia, at least 11 people were killed and 29 injured.
(Reuters, 9/29/09)(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Sep, In Vietnam some 400
disciples of Thich Nhat Hanh, who has popularized Buddhism in the West
and sold millions of books worldwide, were forcibly evicted from the
Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province. Since then, nearly 200 monks
have taken refuge at the nearby Phuoc Hue pagoda, but they have been
ordered to leave by Dec. 31. On Dec 18 the disciples asked for
temporary asylum in France.
(AP, 12/17/09)(AFP, 12/18/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Vietnam a judge in
Haiphong sentenced 9 activists up to six years for hanging democracy
banners and other acts against the state, prompting tears and
condemnation from relatives. Some of the activists were linked to an
outlawed pro-democracy grouping called Bloc 8406. Nguyen Xuan Nghia
(60), the alleged leader of six activists, received the heaviest
penalty of six years in prison followed by three years of house arrest.
(AFP, 10/9/09)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.55)
2009 Oct 15, It was reported that
the Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now
connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global Ring
Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global
infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing US network links
with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.
(www.livescience.com/technology/091015-global-gloraid-taj-cyber-net.html)
2009 Nov 2, Tropical Storm Mirinae
slammed into Vietnam's central coast, unleashing heavy rains and winds
and forcing more than 80,000 people to evacuate before losing steam as
it moved inland. The storm killed at least 98 people. Mirinae also
killed two people in Cambodia and left 19 people dead and three missing
in the Philippines.
(AP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 6, Japan pledged $5.5
billion in aid over 3 years for Southeast Asia's 5 Mekong River nations
(Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), seeking to deepen ties
with the region amid growing influence from China.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Dec 11, At the Vatican
Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet met with Pope Benedict XVI for 40
minutes, twice as long as was scheduled and the first time that the
head of state of Vietnam has met with the pope since the communists
took power in 1954. Vietnam's 6 million Roman Catholics is one of the
largest Catholic communities in Asia.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 16, Vietnam said it has
ordered submarines and fighter jets from Russia, its former communist
ally, in a deal reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
(AP, 12/16/09)
2009 Dec 28, A Vietnamese court
convicted Tran Anh Kim (60), a former army officer who had pressed for
democratic reforms of subversion, and sentenced him to 5.5 years in
prison. Kim was accused of "working to overthrow the state" by joining
the Democratic Party of Vietnam, publishing pro-democracy articles on
the Internet, and joining Bloc 8406, an organization that promotes a
multiparty state.
(AP, 12/28/09)
2010 Jan 1, A free-trade agreement
between China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asia
Nations (ASEAN) came into effect. The 6 richest members scrapped
tariffs on 90% of goods. The 4 poorest (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar) will not need to cut tariffs to the same level until 2015.
(SSFC, 1/3/10, p.A4)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.44)
2010 Jan 20, Vietnam convicted 4
democracy activists of trying to overthrow the communist government and
sentenced them to up to 16 years in prison for promoting multiparty
democracy. Le cong Dinh (41), a lawyer, was sentenced for 5 years and
activist Nguyen Tien Trung (26) was sentenced to 7 years.
(AP, 1/20/10)(Econ, 1/30/10, p.52)
2010 Jan 22, In Vietnam 19 rare
Asiatic moon bears, found at an illegal Taiwanese-owned operation in
southern Vietnam, reached a new home at Tam Dao National Park, joining
29 bears already at the rescue center. Ultrasound tests had found
evidence of thickened gall bladders, a telltale sign of gall bladder
milking. Some may need to have the organ removed because of extensive
damage.
(AP, 1/22/10)
2010 Jan 29, A Vietnamese court
handed a four-year jail term to writer Pham Thanh Nghien (32) for
anti-state "propaganda," the latest in a string of jailings of
democracy activists by the communist state.
(AFP, 1/29/10)
2010 Feb 5, A Vietnamese court
convicted Tran Khai Thanh Thuy (49), a journalist and democracy
activist, of assault and sentenced her to three-and-a-half years in
prison in a one-day trial that rights groups said was meant to silence
government critics.
(AP, 2/5/10)
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Subject = Vietnam
End of file.