Tag: Vietnam

Vietnam in Secret Talks to Buy Arms From Russia

Media Library

When President Biden is greeted by Vietnamese officials in Hanoi on Sunday, he will be celebrating the prospect of adding another friend in Asia to a coalition that his administration hopes will side with American interests rather than China’s and Russia’s. During Mr. Biden’s visit, the two nations will underscore their commitment to “increase peace, prosperity, and stability in the region,” a White House press statement said. Nguyen Phu Trong, the top Vietnamese leader, is expected to confer upon the United States an upgrade of strategic ties. The Biden administration…

Competition over the South China Sea explained in 30 seconds

Media Library

The South China Sea is one of the most strategically and economically important waterways in the world. In 2016 more than 21% of global trade was estimated by UN bodies to have transited through it, and it contains extensive oil and gas reserves. But it is highly contested. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all have claims over areas within the 3.5m sq km area, many of which overlap. Brunei is the only party that does not lay claim over any disputed islands, but it does say part…

China building airstrip on disputed island, satellite images suggest

Media Library

China may be constructing an airstrip on a disputed island in the South China Sea that is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, satellite images suggest. Pictures of Triton Island, one of the major islands in the Paracel group, appear to show the construction of a runway of more than 600 metres (2,000ft) long, according to analysis by Associated Press. This would be long enough to accommodate drones, but not fighter jets or bombers. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite an international tribunal finding its arguments…

Studio defends Barbie movie after controversial map prompts Vietnam ban

Media Library

Warners Bros has described a map that appears in its coming Barbie movie as a “child-like crayon drawing” with no intended meaning, after Vietnam said it would ban the film after claiming the map depicted the disputed South China Sea. The Barbie movie provoked controversy in both Vietnam and the Philippines over its inclusion of the map that apparently features China’s “nine-dash line”. The line marks China’s claim to much of the South China Sea – a demarcation opposed by Vietnam and other south-east Asian countries and which was repudiated…

Vietnam bans Barbie film over disputed map of China’s South China Sea claims

Media Library

Vietnam has banned Warner Bros’s Barbie film from domestic distribution over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media have reported. The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions. Barbie is the latest movie to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated in an international arbitration…

‘Endless record heat’ in Asia as highest April temperatures recorded

Chin@Strategy

Asia is experiencing weeks of “endless record heat”, with sweltering temperatures causing school closures and surges in energy use. Record April temperatures have been recorded at monitoring stations across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, as well as in China and South Asia. On Tuesday, four weather stations in Myanmar hit or matched record monthly temperatures, with Theinzayet, in eastern Mon state, reaching the highest, at 43C (109.4F). On Wednesday, Bago, north-east of Yangon, reached 42.2C, matching an all-time record previously recorded in May 2020 and April 2019, according to Maximiliano…

US looks to boost ties in Vietnam as China reportedly stalls Blinken visit

Chin@Strategy

China has reportedly refused to reschedule a visit from the US secretary of state, as Antony Blinken kicked off a trip to Vietnam, a crucial South-east Asian trade partner that Washington is looking to bolster ties with as it works to balance Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region and beyond. In his first visit to the country as the top US diplomat, Blinken will meet with top Vietnamese officials, including Vietnam’s general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, and formally break ground on Saturday on a new US embassy compound in Hanoi.…

Food, firecrackers and family reunions: how lunar new year is celebrated differently across Asia

Chin@Strategy

For billions of people across Asia and in Asian diaspora communities around the world, this weekend marks the beginning of the lunar new year celebrations, a two-week holiday marking the end of the Zodiac year of the Tiger, and ushering in the Year of the Rabbit – or Cat, if you are in Vietnam. For the first few days commercial activity slows or stops, as people gather with their families. For many migrant workers in China, it is often the only time of the year they can return to home…

Vietnam carries out ‘substantial’ expansion in South China Sea, US thinktank finds

Chin@Strategy

Vietnam has conducted a major expansion of dredging and landfill work at several of its South China Sea outposts in the second half of this year, signalling an intent to significantly fortify its claims in the disputed waterway. Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has said on Wednesday the work in the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by China and others, had created roughly 170 hectares (420 acres) of new land and brought the total area Vietnam had reclaimed in the past decade to 220 hectares. Basing…

Businesses Brace for Currency Chaos in Asia

Chin@Strategy

Tigun Wibisana and Sandra Kok, who own the SiTigun cafe on Penang Island in Malaysia, are facing an excruciating decision that could make or break their business of 14 years: Can they increase prices to cover rising expenses without driving customers into the arms of their bigger rivals? The cost of the coffee beans that the couple, who are married, buy is spiraling because they are traded globally in U.S. dollars, and the Malaysian ringgit has fallen to a 24-year low. Compound that with an inflationary spike in prices for…