"That's life," Vietnam's prime minister said after security officers hustled a balding, shouting protester believed to be a Vietnam veteran away from the head table at a gala dinner celebrating friendship between Vietnam and its one-time enemy, the US.
The incident, which lasted only a few seconds, was testimony of how bitterly divisive that war remains. It followed -- and stood in stark contrast to -- an introduction Tuesday night of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai by another Vietnam veteran, Senator John McCain, who spent almost six years as prisoner of war in Vietnam.
McCain had said: "Thirty years after the war's end, I believe we should look to the future and its potential and not to the past and its pain."
PHOTO: EPA
The speech by the prime minister, the first head of Vietnam's communist government to visit the US, was much in the same vein.
"The purpose of my visit to the US this time is to relay to the American people a clear and strong message," Khai said. "That is the government and people of Vietnam wish to develop friendly relations, constructive partnership and comprehensive, stable and long-term cooperation with the US on the basis of equality, mutual respect and benefits."
Referring to the keynote event of his trip a few hours earlier -- his visit to the Oval Office of the White House -- Khai said, "I am pleased to note that President [George W.] Bush also shares with me that message."
In the meeting, Khai and Bush also talked of human rights and religious freedom, Bush said. Forty-five members of Congress have sent Bush a letter urging continued pressure on Vietnam to improve its human-rights record, which Human Rights Watch says includes the jailing of hundreds of dissidents on criminal charges for advocating democratic change.
Across from the hotel where Khai spoke, a handful of demonstrators waved the flag of the former South Vietnam to protest the communist government's rights record.
In his introduction, McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, had referred to continued pressure on rights but added, "We will not do so as enemies; we will do so as friends."
The protester inside the Mayflower Hotel ballroom was being interrogated by Secret Service agents late Tuesday night, Secret Service spokeswoman Lorie Lewis said. The man, whose identify was not disclosed, had shouted "You're a traitor" toward the stage, but it was unclear whether he meant McCain or Khai.
After the prime minister spoke, John Wheeler of New Castle, Delaware, another veteran of the Vietnam War, handed a reporter his card as chairman of an organization called "Vets for Friendship With Vietnam." He said many of his old comrades in arms feel as he does, not as the man who interrupted Tuesday night's festivities.
Three weeks from Tuesday will be the 10th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and its one-time enemy. In those 10 years, Khai said, two-way trade has increased 20 times over, and the US has become Vietnam's top trading partner. New agreements signed in Washington will make that increase even stronger, he said.
"The scope of our bilateral cooperation, however, remains modest," he said, "particularly given the fact that America is the world's leading power in economic, cultural, science and technology development, with tremendous interests in Asia and the Pacific, of which Vietnam is an important part."
After Tuesday night's gala, the Vietnamese party was going to New York, the next leg of his US visit. McCain wryly spoke of a main event in that city.
"Later this week," McCain said, "the prime minister will ring the bell at that infamous den of capitalism, the New York Stock Exchange."
Khai's scheduled turn with the gavel is Thursday morning.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS