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General Vo Nguyen Giap, who died Friday aged 102, was considered one of history's greatest military strategists and was the architect of Vietnam's stunning battlefield victories against France and the United States.

Second only to late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh as modern Vietnam's most revered figure, the former history teacher's first military lesson came from an old encyclopedia entry about the mechanism of a hand grenade.

The son of a poor scholar, he went on to defeat Vietnam's colonial masters in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, the battle that ended French rule in Indochina and started direct US involvement leading to the Vietnam War.

Over the next two decades the founding father of the Vietnam People's Army, whose guerrilla tactics inspired anti-colonial fighters worldwide, again led his forces to victory with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

"When I was young, I had a dream that one day I would see my country free and united," General Giap later recounted in a PBS interview. "That day, my dream came true."

General Giap's brilliance as a strategist places him "in the pantheon of great military leaders" with the Duke of Wellington, Ulysses S. Grant and General Douglas MacArthur, wrote American journalist and author Stanley Karnow.

"Unlike them, however, he owed his achievements to innate genius rather than to formal training."

Classroom to battlefield
Born on August 25, 1911 in the village of An Xa in central Quang Binh province, General Giap was an admirer of Napoleon and Sun Tzu but did not always appear destined to become a soldier.

Fluent in French, he studied political economy in Hanoi before teaching history and literature at a college and working as an underground journalist.

A member of the Indochina Communist Party, he fled to China in 1939, where he joined Ho Chi Minh, the enigmatic leader who had planned the revolution during decades in exile.

Giap's wife, who stayed behind with their newborn child, died in a French prison, a personal tragedy that would fuel his anti-colonial fervor.



He returned with Ho Chi Minh to Vietnam's northern jungles in 1941 to train an army of revolutionary peasant soldiers and co-founded the Viet Minh (abbreviated from Việt Nam Ðộc Lập Ðồng Minh Hội, English "League for the Independence of Vietnam").

General Giap's guerrilla tactics -- which stressed the need for popular support, the value of hit-and-run attacks and the will to fight a drawn-out war -- would defeat both the French and the American armies.

"Guerrilla war is the war of the broad masses of an economically backward country standing up against a powerfully equipped and well-trained army of aggression," he wrote in one of several memoirs.

"Every inhabitant is a soldier, every village a fortress."

President Ho proclaimed his first government on September 2, 1945 and named Giap as his interior minister, army chief and later defense minister.



The revolutionaries were forced back into the jungle when French troops reimposed colonial rule after World War II, triggering a nine-year conflict that ended at Dien Bien Phu.

"It was the first great defeat for the West," General Giap later said. "It shook the foundations of colonialism and called on people to fight for their freedom -- it was the beginning of international civilization."

General Giap remained the army's commander in chief throughout the ensuing conflict with the Americans and the US-backed South Vietnam regime, which turned into full-scale war from 1965 and claimed the lives of 58,000 Americans and at least three million Vietnamese.

The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, followed by the country's reunification, fuelled his near-mythical status overseas as a master strategist and inspired liberation movements everywhere.

"As we grew up in our own struggle, General Giap was one of our national heroes," South African President Thabo Mbeki said in 2007.

After the war, General Giap retained his position as defense minister and was appointed deputy prime minister in 1976.

General Giap, who had been living in Hanoi's 108 military hospital for the last three years, is survived by Dang Bich Ha, his wife since 1949, and four children.

The Government has urged ministries and local authorities to set up a database for child adoptions and make a list of children living in social care centres to shore up protection of adopted children, particularly in cases with foreign adoptive parents.

The request includes action by the Ministry of Justice to work with authorities to monitor and protect Vietnamese adopted children abroad.

The ministry will be required to advise on finding families for children with disabilities and serious diseases in an effort to lift adoption rates in cities with high numbers of orphans. Cases of child abuse such as sexual exploitation and child labour will be punished according to current law.

The Government has asked the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to profile children with disadvantaged circumstances in social care centres to relocate them to new homes. The Ministry of Public Security will be responsible for verifying the origin of abandoned children for adoption.

Under the request, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be responsible for guiding procedures on children adopted through foreign-based offices and protecting adopted children abroad.

The Law on Child Adoption was issued in 2010. Viet Nam is also a member of the Lahay Convention of Child Protection and International Co-operation in Child Protection.

Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung argued that as a result, science and technology would play a vital role in improving the situation. He said that scientists should take responsibility for doing research repairing and improving the quality of agricultural production, building rural areas and improving farmers' living conditions.— VNA/VNS Photo
HA NOI (VNS)— Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung has stressed that agriculture is Viet Nam's key economic sector and, therefore, boosting production in this field will help the country achieve international economic integration.


Chairman Hung made the statement in Ha Noi on Saturday at a national conference which was held to review the use of science-technology in agricultural development based on a resolution by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam.

The NA Chairman, who is Head of the Steering Committee reviewing the resolution's five-year implementation, said that the meeting offered a good chance for participants, including researchers, to share their experiences and contribute to science-technology development, serving the nation's task of building agricultural and rural areas more effectively.

The conference also featured important recommendations on raising the income of farmers through the utilisation of newly-developed technology.

The country's agricultural economic sector had not yet proved its required effectiveness, Hung said, citing the low competitive edge of agricultural products as an example.

He argued that as a result, science and technology would play a vital role in improving the situation. He said that scientists should take responsibility for doing research repairing and improving the quality of agricultural production, building rural areas and improving farmers' living conditions.

Since 2008, the State has spent more than VND2.1 trillion (US$98.7) implementing projects to build laboratories. Technological improvement has already helped to increase productivity and quality while lowering prices, making Vietnamese products become more competitive on the world market. — VNS

Maritime cooperation is expected to be discussed when Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera meets his Vietnamese counterpart Phung Quang Thanh in Hanoi Monday, Kyodo News reported.

The meeting comes amid China’s growing activities in the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, and territorial disputes with Vietnam and its dispute with Japan in the East China Sea.

Onodera is also expected to express Tokyo’s support for Vietnam’s possible participation in UN peacekeeping operations and visit Vietnamese naval facilities, the Japanese news agency said quoting the country's Defense Ministry.

Onodera’s Vietnam visit is part of a five-day trip starting Sunday that will also take him to Thailand, where he will meet with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who also serves as defense minister.

He will explain Tokyo's defense policy and strengthen cooperation in antipiracy operations with Thailand.

On August 9 Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh led a high-ranking military delegation to attend the second Vietnam – Japan dialogue on defense policy.

The two sides agreed to support each other in researching and managing their seas and take part in international forums on establishing rules and codes of conduct at sea in accordance with international laws, Vietnam News Agency reported.

They emphasized the need to resolve disputes and differences over maritime sovereignty issues through peaceful measures to avoid armed conflict.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Vietnam – Japan diplomatic relations.

Foreign direct investment in Vietnam has exceeded the country's full-year target of US$13-14 billion, data compiled by news website Saigon Times showed.

The Foreign Investment Agency had tallied $12.63 billion as of late last month.

In the last week alone, investment has risen with at least an additional of $1.7 billion, to exceed $14.3 billion in total.

The latest funds included $170 million for three Japanese projects in the Ho Chi Minh City, a $100 million infusion in tire manufacturing by South Korea’s Kumho Asiana in the southern province of Binh Duong, and a $1.5 billion investment in a high-tech complex by South Korea’s LG Electronics in the northern city of Hai Phong.

The total investment marks the second straight year that Vietnam has achieved its FDI target after missing it the two previous years.

Despite growing FDI, analysts said the country’s business environment was less competitive compared to other Southeast Asia countries.

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In a recent interview broadcast on Vietnam Television, Minister of Investment and Planning Bui Quang Vinh said the country was losing to its neighbors like Indonesia and Thailand in attracting foreign investment.

He said Vietnam would face problems in the coming years if it continues to try to attract high-tech projects without upgrading its poor infrastructure and streamlining its complicated formalities.

A South African protester holds a sign and a fake rhino horn during a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Pretoria in 2011, calling on the government to stop poachers from killing rhinos for their horns. An international research has confirmed that rhino horn consumers are wealthy and use the horn mostly to confirm their social status within Vietnamese society.


PHOTO: AFP

New international research appears to confirm the widely-held belief that regardless of what people say about “health benefits,” the desire of wealthy urban Vietnamese to show off is the strongest driver of the rhino poaching crisis that has bedeviled both South Africa and Vietnam.
The research, funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF-SA), surveyed 720 people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City this year and showed that rhino horn consumers are wealthy and use the horn mostly to confirm their social status within Vietnamese society.

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While their reasons for purchasing and consuming rhino horn are linked to an underlying belief in its medicinal properties, the dominant current trend is to use the dead animal to enhance social standing, according to the survey.

“Research reveals that typical users of rhino horn are successful, well-educated men, over the age of 40 who live in Vietnam’s main urban centers,” Jo Shaw, WWF-SA’s rhino co-ordinator, said in a statement accompanying the release of the research findings on September 17.

“They value their luxury lifestyle, which is often based around meeting peer group pressures and tend to view animals as commodities to serve functional and income-generating purposes rather than feeling an emotional connection,” Shaw said.

Independent conservationists have endorsed the research, saying it is the first comprehensive survey into the use of rhino horn in Vietnam.

“There is nothing new in the report that we do not know already,” said Douglas Hendrie, an American technical advisor for Education for Nature-Vietnam, one of Vietnam's few locally based conservation groups.

“But this is important to have it independently verified through a scientific survey. A very good thing for everybody,” he told Vietweek.

In Vietnam, several lawmakers have even been more forthright, publicly accusing rich businessmen of using rhino horns to cement good ties with government authorities.

“Nowadays, bribes for officials are disguised in the form of not only gifts, luxury vacations and cars, but also rhino horns, bear bile, or tiger bone paste,” said Le Nhu Tien, an outspoken lawmaker who has been vocal on the issue since last year.

It’s glorious to be rich... except for rhinos

Perhaps one of the most significant findings of the research is that the number of potential buyers and consumers of rhino horn could triple that of those who are currently buying and using it.

Of 720 people surveyed, five percent admitted to buying or consuming rhino horn. But among those not currently using rhino horn, 16 percent are “intenders”, individuals who said they wanted to buy or consume rhino horn in the future.

With the increase of wealth in Vietnam’s upper-middle class, this group will soon become rhino horn consumers, WWF-SA said in the statement.

“This is definitely one of the most depressing results from the survey,” Naomi Doak, coordinator of the Southeast Asia-Greater Mekong Program at the international wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC, told Vietweek.

International debacle

On the day the research was released, a 29-year-old Vietnamese national was arrested trying to smuggle five rhino horns out of Kenya, according to news site AllAfrica. The man was in transit from Maputo, Mozambique en-route to Hong Kong via Doha, Qatar, it said.

Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Muya told Capital FM News that Le Manh Cuong was found in possession of the five pieces of rhino horns weighing 20.1kgs packed in a hand-drawn suitcase stuffed with mattress cuttings to disguise the contraband.

South Africa, home to more than 20,000 rhinos, or about 90 percent of all rhinos in Africa, lost 668 of them to poachers last year. At least 635 have been poached so far this year.

International conservation groups have identified Vietnam and China as the world’s two major consumers of rhino horns, charges the two countries have bristled at.

South Africa and Vietnam have signed a pact on biodiversity management to curb the rampant illegal trade in rhino horns.

Conservationists are looking to make the most of the findings of the WWF-SA research to beef up the combination of enhanced law enforcement and demand-reduction campaigns to shift attitudes and behaviors against the trend in rhino horn use within the growing middle-class in Vietnam.

South Africa and Swaziland are the only two countries in the world to legalize rhino hunting. "Personal" hunting trophies can also be legally exported, but only the hunters in whose name the hunting and export permits are issued can legally possess them.

However, according to figures released by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), 657 rhino horns were legally imported from South Africa into Vietnam as hunting trophies between 2003 and 2010.

But the figure recorded by Vietnamese authorities is only 170, meaning that the remaining horns, whose value for the purpose of import taxes has been estimated at US$2 million, were not declared.

Vietnamese were second only to US hunters in terms of the number of rhino hunts undertaken in South Africa in 2007-09.

Conservation groups have urged South Africa to stop the trophy hunts to curb the supply side, but opponents of the ban say hunting played a key conservation role.

It is only through the profits from regulated trophy hunting that farmers started stocking, breeding and conserving rhinos, they say.

But Allan Thornton, president of the Environmental Investigation Agency, an environmental group based in Washington and London, said the “powerful” commercial hunting industry in South Africa has failed to ensure “even modest” self regulation which “led to the eruption of illegal export of rhino horn from South Africa to Vietnam.

“[That] has directly led to the poaching crisis the country and other rhino range states are currently experiencing.”

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has acknowledged Vietnam’s efforts in introducing trade policies, in line with WTO rules and regulations, since it joined the organisation in January 2007.

 All 27 members of the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) on September 17 spoke highly of the achievements Vietnam has made since its accession, considering Vietnam a success story.
In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, who is leading a Vietnamese delegation to the Trade Policy Review in Geneva, said the TPRB delegates were impressed by Vietnam’s trade policy developments.
They proposed Vietnam continue finalising its legal system, accelerating administrative reform, especially investment and export procedures, strengthening the enforcement of intellectual property rights, and speeding up the restructuring of State-owned enterprises.
Some asked Vietnam to further open up its market for a number of services and timely inform the WTO of changes in its trade policies.
The review is initiated by the WTO to assess trade policies of its members, helping them perfect their policies in conformity with WTO rules and regulations.
This is the first time Vietnam has presented its report to the WTO  after it joined the world’s largest trade body six years ago.
If its trade value in proportion to global trade remains stable, the second review will take place in another six years time. If the proportion increases, the timing for review will be shortened to four or even two years.
Vietnam worked closely with the WTO Secretariat to complete a 183-page report on the country’s trade policies. It also answered more than 500 questions after the report was transferred to WTO members.
According to Khanh, Vietnam hopes to learn from experts’ recommendations to finalise its legal system and improve its business environment.
“This is also a chance for Vietnam to promote its image globally, showing how we are serious about fulfilling WTO commitments,” said Khanh.

Vietnam has recently reported several criminal cases related to counterfeit credit cards and the situation may well get worse in the future.

Criminals are now using more sophisticated methods, thanks to advances in technology, making them much harder to catch.
Not only Vietnamese criminals but also foreigners, now use electronic devices to steal personal information about credit card holders and make counterfeit cards to steal money from ATMs.
Recently, police detected three Bulgarians who used fake ATM cards to withdraw over VND100 million (USD4,727).
Between 2011 and 2012, the Department of High-tech Crime Prevention (C50), under the Ministry of Public Security, detected more than 10 cases of such crimes. Many of the culprits were Malaysian and Chinese people who came to Vietnam to make counterfeit credit cards and passports to use for purchases of expensive goods like smartphones, laptops and even diamonds in HCM City, Hanoi and Danang City.

Three Malaysian criminals  the bar
All of the detected offenders have been tried and jailed for asset appropriation.
Banking experts said that credit card-related crimes tend to move from Europe to Asian countries like Vietnam after European countries succeeded in applying high-tech measures.
In order to deal with the situation, the State Bank of Vietnam has requested that card-payment agencies intensify their security systems and that they should be trained in skills that help them recognise false cards.

Many households in the Old Quarter of Hanoi are finding it hard to sell their houses after a preservation plan was approved.

Previously many people who lived in the outskirts had great demand to own a French-designed old and small tenement house in streets like Hang Bo, Hang Bac, Lan Ong and Hang Thiec. However, at the time many homeowners didn't really want to sell their houses.
Now, while many want to sell their houses, buyers have changed their minds as the preservation plan suggested that around 70% of population in the Old Quarter would have to move to other living places in the next eight years.
Recently, prices of houses in the Old Quarter have decreased by as much as 60% while demand drops.
Phung Van Hung, an official from a real estate floor in Hanoi’s Nguyen Khoai Street said, “Over the past two years, dozens of households in the Old Quarter have offered to sell their houses, only one transaction was conducted with selling price reduced by 30% from initial offer.”
Meanwhile, owners of large private houses in the areas still offer exaggerated prices of up to tens of billions VND. They, however, find it hard to sell even though they are willing to pay large commissions to realtors. The situation is contrary to the trend of several years ago when a lot of companies and people with major sources of capital wanted to buy large houses in the Old Quarter for the construction of offices or hotels.
An official from Han Kiem District’s land management office said, “People should not try to sell their houses in the Old Quarter, but be ready to move and hand over their old houses to relevant authorities in good time.”

Petrolimex’s pre-tax profit of VND388 billion (USD18.47 billion) in its fuel trading in the first half of this year has drawn some scepticism but, a firm official stood by the figure.
 
Petrolimex’s pre-tax profit of VND388 billion in its fuel trading in the first half of this year has drawn some scepticism

According to Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex)’s financial report, total profits in the first six months of this year were VND898.32 billion (USD42.76 million) including VND388 billion from fuel trading.
Deputy Director of Petrolimex, Tran Ngoc Nam, said Petrolimex clearly explained the reasons for the high profits on its website, adding that it earned only an average VND94 per litre of fuel, as it is currently stipulated that fuel wholesalers enjoy a maximal profit of VND300 per litre, according to a circular by the Ministry of Finance.
“The profits show that Petrolimex earned the maximal profit in a certain time during the first half and also suffered from losses at other times. However, it does not mean that the whole business period should be considered a loss. I think that there is no contradiction in Petrolimex’s fuel trading profit,” Nam said.
“I am very disappointed at the way some newspapers have commented on our financial reports. Anyone who does business wants to have profits. If not, the government could turn the petroleum businesses into a public-service," he added.
He also noted that, “We are so tired of this issue. The Ministry of Industry and Trade initially brought it up as an issue, but it was thereafter turned into a public relations issue as the media picked up on it."
He went on to say that petroleum companies have never been allowed to decide retail fuel prices. In the first quarter of 2010, they were permitted to do so in line with Decree 84, but after that due to the global market’s price changes, they were not.
The Petrolimex official also said that, with a large market share, his firm has to continuously import petroleum to ensure the 30-day storage and they do not have a right to select the import time.
Meanwhile, for many other companies are allowed to change their import time, for example, they do not import the fuel when the global price is too high and, import more when the price is lower. This will help to generate profits for them and they can give higher commissions to agents. However, it is not the case for Petrolimex.

A tropical depression on September 17 strengthened into a storm which is moving towards the central coast of Vietnam, according to national weather experts.

At 7.00am, the storm was sweeping across the Hoang Sa archipelago, carrying maximum sustained winds of 70kmh.

The storm is forecast to travel west at a speed of 5-10kmh and affect the central coastal region in the next 24-48 hours.

It will cause rough seas in the waters off the coasts from Quang Binh to Binh Dinh and bring heavy rains to provinces stretching from Nghe An to Khanh Hoa on September 18.

Provincial border guard forces have informed fishing vessels of the storm’s track and instructed them to travel to nearby storm shelters.

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has said the New Zealand government will continue providing official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam at a steady level.

 During talks with Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh in Hanoi on September 17, Bill English, who is also Finance Minister, affirmed that New Zealand considers Vietnam one of its important partners within ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region.
He said he is satisfied with the progress of New Zealand-funded ODA projects in Vietnam.
For his part, Ninh reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of attaching importance to cooperation with countries in South Pacific, including New Zealand.
He thanked New Zealand for providing ODA to Vietnam and voiced Vietnam’s support for New Zealand’s new ASEAN strategy announced by Prime Minister John Kerry in July 2013.
Vietnam will work closely with New Zealand and other relevant countries to end current negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement as soon as possible.
Ninh and English shared the view that the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and New Zealand has developed vigorously in all areas, spanning politics, security, national defence, economics, trade, investment, and education.
They agreed to effectively implement the 2013-2016 Plan of Action and the double tax avoidance agreement signed during Governor General Jerry Mateparae’s Vietnam visit in August 2013, aiming to raise two-way trade to US$1 billion by 2015.
They also agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, and strengthen cooperation in security, national defence, and other potential areas such as agriculture, the processing industry, energy, wood and mineral exploitation, milk and beverage production, legislation, education-training, tourism, labour, and people-to-people exchanges.
Both sides will carry out joint activities to successfully celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2015.
The two Deputy PMs exchanged regional and international issues of mutual concern, and agreed to cooperate closely at regional and international forums, including the East Asia Summit (EAS), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), as well as within the framework of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
Bill English met with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and is scheduled to work with Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung and central bank governor Nguyen Van Binh on September 17.

The government has asked the Ministries of Finance and Health to explain why they have allowed infant formulas to be sold at many times their import prices.

It has demanded a report by September 15 following a Vietnam Television feature which quoted customs data to say imported formulas retail for VND400,000-900,000 (US$19-42.7) a can, or up to 10 times their import prices.

Its website said that in January 2011 the health ministry had defined formula products as those with a protein content of at least 34 percent, turning many imported formulas for children under six into food supplements, whose prices are not regulated.


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Economist Ngo Tri Long had criticized this, saying that in many countries formulas only contain 13-17 percent protein.

Le Van Giang, deputy chief of the Vietnam Food Administration, told Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper last week that since 2011 prices of so-called nutritional supplement for babies have been increasing at least a couple times a year.