Vietnam
South China Sea disputes heighten danger of conflict
By Joseph Santolan, June 15, 2011
Tensions have intensified as Vietnam and the Philippines, tacitly backed by the US, assert their claims in the contested waters of the South China Sea.
Gates outlines aggressive agenda for US imperialism in Asia
By Joseph Santolan, June 7, 2011
The US Defense Secretary’s speech came amid rapidly mounting tensions between China and other claimants to the South China Sea.
Chinese patrol boats confront Vietnamese oil exploration ship in South China Sea
By Joseph Santolan, May 31, 2011
Tensions are being fuelled by the US backing of Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries to contest China’s activities in a strategically sensitive region that has vast oil and gas reserves.
Workers buried alive in Vietnamese quarry disaster
By Wasantha Rupasingha, April 12, 2011
Despite official displays of concern, hundreds of quarries are permitted to operate in Vietnam without proper safety measures.
Inflation fuels social unrest in Vietnam
By Wasantha Rupasingha, March 21, 2011
In the first two months of this year, more than 20 strikes have been reported, triggered by surging prices.
Vietnamese Communist Party opens its arms to the capitalist elite
By Wasantha Rupasingha, February 10, 2011
Little more than 35 years after the military victory over US imperialism in 1975, the Vietnamese Communist Party declared at its 11th congress that it will open up party membership to the country’s emerging business elite.
Rising work-related deaths and diseases in Vietnam
By Wasantha Rupasingha, January 21, 2011
The basic reason for the death and injury toll is the regime’s embrace of the freewheeling capitalist exploitation of workers and the rural poor by foreign and local investors.
US forges closer military ties with Vietnam
By Peter Symonds, August 26, 2010
The Obama administration has taken several steps to boost its military relationship with Vietnam as part of a broader strategy aimed undermining Chinese influence in East Asia.
US-Vietnam nuclear talks heighten frictions with China
By Peter Symonds, August 9, 2010
Nuclear negotiations between the US and Vietnam are another sign that the Obama administration is engaged in an aggressive strategy of countering Chinese influence in Asia.
Vietnamese economy hit by global crisis
By John Braddock, October 12, 2009
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam’s year-on-year economic growth slowed to 3.9 percent in the first half of 2009, down from 6.2 percent in 2008 and 8.5 percent in 2007, as the global recession slowed exports and investment.
ASEAN summit: amid talk of cooperation, economic rivalry on the rise
By John Chan, March 5, 2009
The annual summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok last weekend followed what is becoming a familiar pattern at top-level international gatherings. Amid a sharp downturn in all 10 member states, ASEAN leaders pledged themselves to economic cooperation and free trade, even as
Row over Internet
By John Chan, September 22, 2008
Relations between Vietnam and China deteriorated over the past fortnight after Hanoi formally protested at online discussions in China about a war with Vietnam. While only a small layer of Chinese nationalist fanatics made the web postings, the incident underscores the ongoing tensions between the two count


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