Chinese think differently about 1979 Border WAR

The Chinese think differently about the 1979 border war

VietNamNet Bridge - The escalating tension in the East Sea and the recent debate of educators about adding the 1979 border war between Vietnam and China in textbooks makes the relationship between Vietnam and China a hot topic. VietNamNet talks with Prof. Dr. Tran Ngoc Vuong, from the University for Social Sciences and Humanity.
 

Prof. Dr. Tran Ngoc Vuong.

Should or should not the 1979 border war be in textbooks--is what’s attracting public attention. You have met with many Chinese. How do Chinese people think about this event?

30 years ago, right after the 1979 event, I wrote the article “Idealism of a conception of territory”, trying to explain the war. In 1980, the article was published in the Philosophy Journal. Recently, when the issues between Vietnam and China are more interested, I posted this article on the Internet, because of its topicality.

I used to be a guest lecturer at a Chinese university, so I had the opportunity to meet with many Chinese scholars and people.

I would say that Chinese intellectuals are divided into two groups, who have different cognition and behavior. The first group is the ruling people who stay informed and are responsible for making decision. They have relatively comprehensive information and understand the nature of the issue. The second group is influenced by public information, including the people and officials of various levels, even many scholars.

Part of Chinese intellectuals have a more comprehensive perspective; they have information and more accurate understanding about the nature of the problem. But I think the rate of people who do not have access to accurate information is higher. Chinese people who I met, including many scholars still have negative and inaccurate attitudes about the relations with Vietnam.

In China, the gap of thinking between different social classes is huge, especially between ordinary people and people of the upper class.

What do you think about the 2012 Literature Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan and his book “Comrade-in-arms Reunion”?

I’m sure that Mo Yan did not lack information. He was not confused or mistaken about the border war because at that time he was a propaganda officer for the General Political Department of the Chinese Army. He wrote “Comrade-in-arms Reunion” based on the political direction. Besides, through his works like “Sandalwood Death,” “Big Breasts & Wide Hips” etc., we also can feel the nationalism quite clear.

What should Vietnam do to have independence and its own values?

China is always near to Vietnam, with available knowledge, an organized social system and the long-existed ideology... How can Vietnam escape from that large shadow? Historically, Vietnam has always tried to find its own way.

Vietnam’s innovations often arise when it is under pressure or collides with counterparts that have the equivalence of power.

China has a vast territory, with massive history and culture and China always treat others with the posture of a big country.

Vietnam has to develop its own model, which is invented based on Vietnam’s experience and internal elements. It cannot borrow the development model of other countries. This is true for many countries and territories, not only China and Vietnam.

Among the countries in the region that are influenced by China, Japan is the most successful in maintaining its independence and its own values. Japanese people have exerted efforts to create and maintain the core value - Shinto.

The Japanese believe that Japan was created by a God. All Japanese are descendants of a God – the Sun Goddess. This belief appeared since the founding of Japan and it has been maintained as core national spiritual value. Thanks to that original value, Japanese can retain their independence of thought.

Thanks to that core value the Japanese can keep their independent values. How can we create our own values?

We have the creativity that brought about great efficiency, but we do not review our own history. The dual administration model of the Le – Trinh dynasty is an example.

The dual ruling regime is the model that contains both the Emperor and the Lord, which is different from China.

Throughout its long history, China has never had the coexistence of two dynasties. But in Vietnam, Lord Trinh survived for eight dynasties, totaling 200 years. In some aspects, Vietnam used to have bipolar model of power, unlike China, Japan.

What do you think about the change in Myanmar? What can Vietnam learn from this country?

Just a few years ago, in some standards, Myanmar was considered as one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. The positive change in this country recently has turned it into a hot spot, a focus of attention of the international public opinion. I certainly do not see negative reviews, disbelief or blame for the tremendous progress in this country.

There are several questions: Why can Myanmar get those changes? What pressure forces them to change? Is there any mistake and deviation in their ruling authorities? What does the government benefit and lose from these reforms? Where do these reforms lead them to? How about the hostile and the supportive forces? etc.

If seriously looking for answers to those questions, we will have great lessons for Vietnam. And who is the subject of the greatest responsibility to seek answers to these questions? Of course the people who are holding the national destiny!

In my opinion, there are too many lessons for Vietnam which can be drawn from Myanmar. And it is important that I see the change in Myanmar does not harm any group of that country. It is the manifestation of the "win - win" theory.

Hoang Huong

Best Vietnamese chess players to compete at Chess Olympiad

Best Vietnamese chess players to compete at Chess Olympiad

VietNamNet Bridge – The top chess players of Vietnam will be sent to the Istanbul 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Turkey from August 27 to September 10.

Vietnamese chess team at the Asian Chess Championships 2012.

According to the Turkish Chess Federation, this will be the largest ever Olympiad, with competitors coming from 162 countries and territories.

Vietnam will compete in men’s and women’s team events.

The men’s team consists of Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Dao Thien Hai, Nguyen Duc Hoa and Nguyen Van Huy. As Vietnam’s leading male chess player, International Grand Master Le Quang Liem will seat at Table 1 in all rounds.

The women’s team includes: Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Le Kieu Thien Kim, Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, Pham Bich Ngoc and Hoang Thi Nhu Y. Except for Le Kieu Thien Kim, all female chess players are very young.

The coaching board hopes that the women’s team will be successful at the tournament. The men’s team used to rank tenth at the Chess Olympiad 2010.

Earlier, the Vietnamese chess team performed very well at the Asian Chess Championships in May, winning six gold, three silver and four bronze medals, ranking third after China and India.

The men’s team won the championship while the women’s team ranked second for blitz chess event.

Vietnam also won three individual medals for Tables 1, 2 and 5 for men (Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Dao Thien Hai) and a gold and a bronze medal for Pham Le Thao Nguyen and Hoang Thi Bao Tram, Tables 4 and 3.

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organized by FIDE, which selects the host nation.

Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad. Each team is made of up to five players, four regular players and one reserve.

The trophy for the winning team in the open section is the Hamilton-Russell Cup, which was offered by the English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as a prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927). The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it will be consigned to the next winner. The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup in honor of the first Women's World Chess Champion.

The 2010 Olympiad was held in Russia. The 2012 Olympiad is going to be held in Turkey and the 2014 Olympiad in Norway.

Compiled by S. Tung

Vietnamese travel firms scrambling for Chinese tourist

VietNamNet

Scrambling for Chinese travelers, Vietnamese travel firms killing themselves

VietNamNet Bridge – Every year, Quang Ninh province receives 90,000 Chinese travelers who go to Vietnam by land. However, Vietnamese travel firms do not earn much money from the Chinese market due to their uncooperative attitude.

50 billion dong in revenue lost in half a year

Since travel firms try to slash tour fees to scramble for Chinese travelers, the tour fees have decreased dramatically to the levels, which cannot bring profits to anyone.

No one could imagine that an international tour lasting four days and three nights at Ha Long Bay and nearby destination points designed for Chinese travelers only costs 250 yuan, or 815,000 dong. The modest sum of money is not even high enough for Vietnamese people to travel within their localities.

The low tour fee is the result of a long lasting cutthroat competition among Vietnamese travelers, which have been trying to attract Chinese clients from Chinese partners.

According to the Mong Cai Travel Firms’ Club, which represents 28 travel firms specializing in serving Chinese travelers, most travel firms charge the fees which are 50 percent lower than the floor fee.

As such, the club has estimated that in the first six months of the year, with 60,000 Chinese travelers arriving in Vietnam by land through the Mong Cai border gate, Vietnam has lost at least 50 billion dong in tour fees.

Meanwhile, domestic travel firms have said that Chinese partners have been trying to force the tour fees down, threatening to transfer clients to other firms if the Vietnamese partners do not accept the tour fees they set.

Especially, not only the members of the club compete with other travel firms, but the members of the club have also been competing with each other. Some member firms have broken their commitments about the floor tour fee when joining the club.

Admiring Ha Long bay and drinking… clean water

Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, Director of Mekong travel firm, related that one day, she heard the complaint from a Chinese traveler about the services at Ha Long Bay.

“The Ha Long Bay is wonderful. Why did you only give us clean water to drink?” the traveler asked.

The traveler, like many other Chinese travelers, could not imagine that Chinese travel firms have misappropriated the money paid by Chinese clients and only have paid Vietnamese travel firms the money enough to provide… clean water.

Travel firms all have affirmed that with the tour fee of 815,000 dong for the tour lasting four days and three nights, they would certainly incur heavy loss. Therefore, in order to ease loss, a lot of Vietnamese travel firms have to cut some services, or force domestic travel firms to reduce the service fee.

A lot of travelers on the same buses, or frugal meals are the images which can be seen regularly in Ha Long City.

“You should not be surprised if you are told that travelers have to stay at low quality hotels instead of star-hotels as promised,” Director of a travel firm said.

The director also said that Chinese partners have been trying every possible way earn more money from Chinese travelers in Vietnam.

“Some Chinese tour guides even sell souvenirs right on the buses. Some others force travelers to drop into souvenir shops run by Chinese people in Mong Cai City, where they have to buy products at the prices 10 times higher than the actual value,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese travelers were explained that the products were expensive because they are bought from Vietnamese duty free shops.

Source: Lao dong

Old western maps:Hoang Sa, Truong Sa beling to Vietnam

Old western maps: Hoang Sa, Truong Sa belong to Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – Many old western maps show that Vietnam has established its sovereignty over the Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagos for over five centuries, said a local researcher.

Truong Sa, Hoang Sa not belong to China: 1904 Chinese map

A map made by Jodocus Hondius in 1613.

Tran Duc Anh Son, Deputy Director of the Danang Institute for Socio-economic Development, said he has collected 56 western maps including one made by Livro da Marinjaria FM Pinnto in 1560, one by Gerard Mercetor in the late 16th century, and another made by Stielers Handatla in 1891.

All the maps, drawn in pictographs or scripts, show that both the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa are part of Vietnam, named Cauchi, Cochi, Cochinchina, or Cochinnhine by Western countries.

In the map made by Jodocus Hondius in 1613, the Frael (Hoang Sa) archipelago includes all the islands from the Tonkin Gulf to Vietnam’s southern sea, except for Condor (Con Dao) and Pulo Cici (Phu Quoc), which were drawn separately.

A map made by Bishop Jean-Louis Taberd.

In another map drawn by W. Blaeu in 1645, the Frael (Hoang Sa) archipelago is connected with Pulo Secca de Mare (Phu Quy island), Pulo Cambir (Cu Lao Xanh), and Cullo Canton (Ly Son island), creating a group of islands belonging to Dang Trong (Vietnam’s Southern region).

Especially, the caption Paracel seu Cat Vang (Paracel or Cat Vang) in a map made by Bishop Jean-Louis Taberd, which was written in Han (Chinese), Quoc Ngu (standard Vietnamese) and Latin languages, means that Hoang Sa islands belong to Vietnam.

This means, Son said, many Western cartographers, experts and discoverers have recognized the Hoang Sa archipelago as part of Vietnam, which they called Cochinchine, Cochinchina, or Annam.

These maps are precious documents which confirm Vietnam has long exercised its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

VietNamNet/VOV 

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | Vietnam calls Chinese fishing in Truong Sa ‘illegal’

Vietnam calls Chinese fishing in Truong Sa ‘illegal’ 

Last Updated: Saturday, July 14, 2012 11:50:00

The deployment of 30 Chinese fishing boats to waters around Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago is “illegal” and a “violation” of regional sovereignty, the foreign ministry’s National Border Committee said Friday.

A committee representative made the statement at a press conference when asked about reports in the Chinese media Thursday that a fishing fleet had left Hainan Province for the archipelago’s Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) Reel, Vietnam News Agency reported.
“Vietnam demands that China be responsible for educating and instructing its fishermen about respecting Vietnam’s sovereignty and territory, and conforming to international laws,” the representative was quoted as saying.
In an interview published by Tuoi Tre Saturday, Tran Cong Truc, former chief of the National Border Committee, warned that China, which has recently harassed and violated the sovereignty of both Vietnam and the Philippines, will likely be more aggressive in the future and will try to flaunt its power and dominate negotiations regarding the East Sea.
He called on the government to demonstrate Vietnam’s power, too, by detaining any foreign boats that cross into its national waters illegally. He said those responsible for such violations should be taken to court and prosecuted with solid evidence, especially given that Vietnam’s National Assembly has recently passed the Law on the Sea of Vietnam.
Nguyen Viet Thang, chairman of the Vietnam Fisheries Society, also said that related Vietnamese agencies needed more effective  measures to protect the lives and properties of Vietnamese fishermen.

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PetroVietnam asks foreign firms not to bid on offshore blocks illegally offered by China Chinese ships did not hassle Vietnamese coast guard: report

Early this month, the Vietnamese government’s official news agency published an article denying Chinese media reports that four Chinese marine surveillance ships had blocked and chased Vietnamese Marine Police ships in Vietnamese waters around Truong Sa .
According to the Vietnamese report, Vietnamese maritime authorities asked the Chinese ships to leave because the waters belonged to Vietnam.

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | 10 arrested for human trafficking in southern Vietnam

10 arrested for human trafficking in southern Vietnam 

Last Updated: Friday, July 20, 2012 03:30:00

Lin Liang Hui, a 43-year-old Chinese, is accused of being involved in a ring traffiking Vietnamese women to China

Police in the southern province of Tay Ninh Thursday said that they had arrested ten people, including one Chinese, for allegedly trafficking women to China, where they were sold to Chinese men as wives.

According to police, they busted the ring on July 6 when they caught Vong Kam Sang, 62, Pham Thi Nhung, 46, and Lin Liang Hui – a 43-year-old Chinese man – completing check-in procedures for three Vietnamese women and three Chinese men to fly to Hanoi.
The group planned to go to China by road from Hanoi.
Later police seized seven other suspected members in the ring.
Initial police reports said that the Vietnamese suspects were in charge of “recruiting” women for Lin, who would bring Chinese men here to meet them.

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After that Lin would send the women to China, police said, adding that for every woman Lin received VND80-100 million (US$3,800-4,700) from Chinese men.
So far 40 Vietnamese women have been sold to China by the ring, police said.
The case is being investigated further. 

2.03 m Vietnamese to have gland tumor removed to cure gigantism | Look At Vietnam

2.03 m Vietnamese to have gland tumor removed to cure gigantism 

June 24, 2012

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A doctor at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City measures the height of D.T.D., who has been diagnosed with gigantism due to a pituitary gland tumor.

A 21-year-old man in southern Vietnam suffering from gigantism is awaiting surgery next week as doctors said his condition can cause severe medical complications.
D.T.D. of Dong Nai Province is 2.03 meters tall, and was the first to be diagnosed with gigantism at the Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Dr Tran Quang Khanh, head of the hospital’s endocrinology department, was quoted as saying by Tuoi Tre newspaper.
D. was admitted on June 15, and, besides his abnormal height, doctors also noticed his prominent jaw, a classic symptom of gigantism.
Khanh said the disease is mostly caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of the brain that produces hormones influencing the growth of the bone structure.
If not discovered and treated early, the condition can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis, he warned.
“Symptoms of gigantism are rather vague, so it is hard to diagnose until there are complications with the growth of bones and increasing height.”
D. said he only used to be a little taller than his friends, but opened up a gap on them from grade seven.
By 18 he had shot up to 1.9 meters, and was dubbed by his friends as “Peter Crouch,” an English football player who was 2.01 meters tall. But he continued to grow.
“Peter Crouch is [now] shorter than me,” he told Tuoi Tre.
But the young man is not exactly proud of it.
“I’m embarrassed whenever someone looks at me.
“I have never gone far from my house,since I am afraid that more people would see me.”
D. said he is afraid of big gatherings since he is the first to be noticed.
He faces a lot of inconveniences in daily life: He has to sleep along the diagonal of the bed instead of its length and few clothes available in the local markets suit him, with those that do usually being unaffordable for his farmer parents.
D., who is in university, was resigned to his fate until his brother read about a Chinese with a similar condition who was cured.
Neurologists at the hospital will operate on him to remove his brain tumor.
The growth is less than 10 millimeters in diameter, Khanh said, so the chance of success is around 97 percent.
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Chinese men arrested while choosing wives at Vietnam hotel | Look At Vietnam

Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested two local men and their Chinese clients in a hotel on June 19 for taking part in an illegal marriage brokerage, as the foreigners awaited to select brides.
Thong A Loc, 59, from HCMC, confessed to being the organizer while Su Chuc Man, 43, acted as a translator for the Chinese clients, Cen Yi Bin, 41, and Huang Hui Huang, 27, news website VnExpress reported Friday.
Loc said the two women were 18 and 23 years of age, hailing from the Mekong Delta’s Bac Lieu and Hau Giang Provinces and came to HCMC hoping to land jobs abroad.
They were brought to the hotel immediately after arriving at HCMC’s Mien Tay Bus Station.
One of the women strenuously refused to show her body to the Chinese men. Police broke in during the struggle.
Loc said he had organized many successful bride auctions, in which he received at least US$1,000 from each foreigner who selected a wife.
Investigations showed that Loc started the illegal marriage brokerage in late 2011, after serving three years in jail for sending women to work abroad as prostitutes.
Many Vietnamese women from poor families in the Mekong Delta have made national headlines for becoming the victims of beatings, some of which have been fatal, at the hands of their Taiwanese or South Korean husbands, who were either too old or poor to marry local women in those countries.

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The Vietnamese women married these men hoping for fairy tale lives. However, most of these arrangements do not go smoothly, plagued by language and cultural barriers.
In March this year, the South Korean consulate in Vietnam said that a Vietnamese woman was killed by her husband in South Korea.
Last year another Vietnamese woman was stabbed to death by her Korean husband. Similar tragedies were also reported in 2010 and 2007.

TRAVEL IN BRIEF 15/6 | Look At Vietnam

TRAVEL IN BRIEF 15/6

June 16, 2012

Resort earns second Agoda award
The five-star Furama Resort Da Nang was awarded the Agoda Gold Circle Award on Monday. It’s the second time in a row that the resort has won the award, which was introduced in 2009 by the worldwide travel bookings company Agoda.
The Da Nang-based luxury resort was among 381 hotels worldwide to receive the award.
Da Nang holds tour promotion

Photo: Internet

The tourism promotion centre of the central city of Da Nang is holding a nine-day tourism promotion programme during June 22-30 at East Sea Park and My Khe Beach, featuring street music, folk music performances, bar tender contest, triathlon race, swimming competitions and beach football.
My Khe will also host parasailing and painting contests for children. During the programme, the city’s travel agencies will also promote their tours around the city as well as the nearby cities of Hoi An and Hue.
Phu Quoc named eco-tourism centre
Kien Giang Province’s tourism development strategy for 2011-20 seeks to develop Phu Quoc Island into an eco-tourism centre.
The 574sq.km island is set to welcome 1-1.2 million visitors per year by 2015, with foreign tourists accounting for 35 per cent, and earn US$209 million from it.
The island, which offers exploration, ecological, and cultural tourism, is hoping to attract travellers from markets like Northeast Asia, North America, Western Europe, and ASEAN.
Chinese tour firms spur price war
Many Chinese travel agencies bringing tourists to Viet Nam via the Huu Nghi Border Gate in Lang Son Province are forcing local
partners to lower tour prices.
The price of a four-day trip to Viet Nam has been forced down from 500 yuan to 300 yuan (VND1 million), forcing a drop in the quality of services. Local tour operators are complaining about this, saying it affects the image of Viet Nam as a tourism destination.
From the Huu Nghi Border Gate, Chinese tourists are usually taken to Ha Noi, Hai Phong, and Quang Ninh. These tours have recently been expanded to take in the central region.
China is the biggest source of tourist arrivals for Viet Nam with more than 1.4 million coming last year. Chinese tourists can enter Viet Nam using passports or laissez-passers via the inland border gates in Lang Son and Lao Cai or by sea.
Agencies promote travel services
Travel agencies from Da Nang, Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue provinces launched a tourism promotion programme last week at the International Tourism Forum in Yaroslavl, Russia, where representatives from the central region provinces provided travel and tour information to 900 Russian travel agencies.
The Vietnamese travel agencies will continue the promotion programme at the Leisure Tourism Fair in Russia in September.
New resort to open in Da Nang City
The international standard InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is set to open its doors to the public this weekend.
Featuring 200 rooms, the resort is situated on an area of 250ha at 500m above sea level on Son Tra peninsula in Da Nang City.
The resort’s managing board is also offering cuisine parties every night to serve tourists during the summer holidays.
VNN/VNS

Vietnamese-Chinese navies do joint anti-pirate maneuvers | Look At Vietnam

Vietnamese-Chinese navies do joint anti-pirate maneuvers

June 6, 2012

LookAtVietnam – During a five-day joint patrol, the Vietnamese and Chinese navies will together go the rounds in the joint fishing area and practice an anti-pirate maneuver.

The 13th joint patrol between the navies of Vietnam and China started on the afternoon of June 4.
Vietnamese representatives including flagships HQ 861 and HQ 862 from flotilla 314, Brigade 161 of the High Command of Navy – Region C. Chinese representatives are two missile ships– 752 and 753.
The two sides will jointly patrol and inspect the implementation of the law and fishing activities in the joint fishing area. For the first time, they will also implement an anti-pirate maneuver.
Last June, two Vietnamese naval vessels participated in the joint patrol with Chinese navy and paid a visit to China.
QDND

HCM City woman suddenly dies, leaves $50 million | Look At Vietnam

I think I knew this woman.

HCM City woman suddenly dies, leaves $50 million

June 1, 2012

LookAtVietnam – A 65-year-old woman in HCM City died suddenly, leaving VND1 trillion (around $50 million) without a testament, resulted in a dispute between her adopted daughter and her relatives.

Ms. P’s brother at Sacombank on May 30.

This huge amount of money is now at the Saigon Commercial JS Bank (Sacombank).
The woman, named P, dropped dead in early 2011 without a will. She did not have children, only a 22-year-old adopted daughter, who was studying in Germany when she died. Ms. P adopted this girl when she was just born at HCM City’s Hung Vuong Hospital, and the daughter is recognized by the law.
In March 2011, Binh Thanh District Distrainers’ Office conducted inventory of Ms. P’s assets at the witness of the woman’s brothers and sisters, her adopted daughter and local police officers.
Distrainers had to work for nearly a week to check her assets, which include 100 taels of gold, $1 million, diamonds, 17 saving books worth hundreds of million USD. She also owned a lot of land, factories in HCM City and some southern provinces.
The woman not only kept gold, diamonds and money in strongboxes but also hid gold under her desk in her office. She also kept a lot of banknotes with face values of only VND200, VND500, VND1,000 and VND2,000.
The woman’s parents were Chinese, who produced rice vermicelli. They transmitted this trade to their children, including this woman.
At first, the woman produced vermicelli manually. She gradually expanded this trade and built factories. She bought a lot of land in HCM City and neighboring provinces. Her assets kept growing to millions of USD.
According to this woman’s workers, she lived very simply and often did charity in secret.
Ms. P has six brothers and sisters who also produce vermicelli and are rich. One of them currently owns a famous vermicelli brand. Two of them are living in Germany.
Most of Ms. P’s relatives want to keep her assets at bank, not giving to her adopted daughter. They and the Ms. P’s adopted daughter agreed to keep the assets at Sacombank by the end of March 2012. After this day, the adopted daughter wanted to withdraw it but the woman’s relatives did not agree because the conflict was not solved yet. They said that the huge assets were created by the efforts of the entire family, including those in Germany, who contributed money to Ms. P’s business.
The adopted daughter refused to answer any question about the assets. However, according to distrainers’ office, if she inherits the assets, she will donate it to UNICEF Vietnam.
Nam Nguyen

Expensive cars dislodged from Vietnam, low-cost cars flood the market | Look At Vietnam

Expensive cars dislodged from Vietnam, low-cost cars flood the market

May 9, 2012

LookAtVietnam – The Vietnamese automobile market, which once cooled down
after the news about the tax and fee increases, has warmed up again with the
appearance of small size cars, brand new and very cheap.

Since early May 2012, the images of Zotye Z100, the Chinese latest small car
model, which is forecast to be the redoubtable rival of the current cheapest car
model Tata Nano, have been spread from each other among the Internet users’
community.
With the eye catching appearance, Zotye Z100 has 1.0L engine. The medium version
has the starting price at 23,800 yuan, or 3700 dollars or 80 million dong.
Meanwhile, higher grade version is priced at 25,800 yuan, or 4000 dollars or 85
million dong.
Regarding the interior equipments, though being listed as low cost product,
Zotye Z100 also has air conditioner and felt chairs. The vehicle has been
launched in Hangzhou, where the headquarters of Zotye is located.
In the past, Zotye specialized in providing car parts of different kinds.
However, since 2005, when it bought Auto Jiang Nan, it began joining the group
of Chinese automobile manufacturers.
Another model of the low-cost market segment – Bajaj RE60, the small size one
introduced at the Indian Automobile Exhibition on January 3 – has surpassed the
fellow-countryman Tata Nano to become the cheapest model in the world with the
sale price of 3300 dollars.
Bajaj RE60 has also entered its name on the history of the modern automobile
manufacturing industry as the vehicle with the smallest engine after the World
War 2. With the cylinder capacity of 200 cubic meters, Bajaj RE60 only has the
capacity of 20 horsepower and can reach the maximum speed of 70 kilometers per
hour.
The weight of Bajaj RE60 is 400 kilos, while the fuel consumption is
attractively low 2.83 liters per 100 kilometers. With four seats, RE60 has the
length of 2752 mm.
Indian Tata once caught the special attention in the world when launching the
low cost Nano car model in 2008. In the domestic market, Nano is sold at 100,000
rupee, or 2172 dollars. However, Nano is sold at 7000-8000 dollars to the US
clients. Meanwhile, President of Tata Group still believes that this is a very
competitive price which would be accepted by the buyers there.
In October 2011, Vietnamese newspapers repeatedly reported the Indian group’s
plans to build a factory in Vietnam, capitalized at 5 billion dollars, for
making the world’s cheapest cars.
However, experts have warned that Nano may not be a low cost model when it
enters the Vietnamese market, because of the current tax and fee policies being
applied in the country. They said that Nano may turn out to be expensive in
Vietnam with the price triple the original price. At present, Vietnam is
considered the market with the highest car prices in the world due to the
investment and tax policies.
The prices of the cars made in Vietnam are 2.5 times higher than in the US. A
Camry 2.4 made by Toyota Vietnam, for example, is priced at 1 billion dong, or
50,000 dollars. Meanwhile, a Camry 2.5 in the US made by Toyota USA is sold at
20,000 dollars only.
A Civic Si 2.4, which has the sale price at 22,000 dollars in the US, would be
priced no less than 40,000 dollars in Vietnam.
Car experts have said it’s too early to say that the low cost cars would trigger
a new tendency in car consumption in Vietnam, but they would create a “low-cost
car revolution” in the country, where people have to pay too high to possess
cars.
Source: Dat Viet

Less common foreign languages now attract more learners | Look At Vietnam

Less common foreign languages now attract more learners

April 28, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Following the movement of learning English, French and
Chinese, Vietnam now witnesses the movement of learning less common foreign
languages, because the language skills could be an advantage for Vietnamese to
look for jobs.

The 10 scholarships for the summer training courses in Thailand offered every
year are the main reason that prompted Nguyen Kim Phuong, a student of the
German language faculty of the Hanoi University, to start learning Thai
language.
Phuong complained that she meets so many difficulties with the learning. The
textbooks used for teaching and learning are just photocopied versions, while
reference books and dictionaries could not be found at libraries and bookstores.
As very few people are learning Thai, Phuong cannot find anyone to consult with
every time when she has problems with the learning.
She said she sometimes feels disappointed with the learning and intends to give
up the hard work.
Vu Hoang Quan, a Spanish Language Faculty’s student of the Hanoi University, is
learning Italian language, because he loves Italian football, Italian culture.
Quan believes that he has aptitude for foreign languages, but he admits that he
usually mistakes Spanish for Italian words.
When learning Italian, Quan also meets a lot of big challenges. Lacking
materials and the environment to practice skills are the two biggest problems.
Having the Latin letter system, but the complexity of Portuguese grammar has
made many young learners puzzled.
Though facing so many difficulties, young people believe that they would have
more opportunities to find good jobs, if they have fluent foreign language
skills. Therefore, a lot of students now rush to enroll in less common foreign
language faculties. Especially, no high requirements have been set up for the
students to the faculties, while the learning of the foreign language has been
encouraged.
The Hanoi University, the biggest foreign language school in Vietnam, enrolls
students for 10 foreign language faculties. Students need to have 21 marks from
the university entrance exams at least to be able to obtain a seat at the
faculties. Meanwhile, the University of Foreign Languages, an arm of the Hanoi
National University, requires 22 marks.
Foreign language schools in Vietnam all have opened their doors widely to the
learners of less common foreign languages. However, local newspapers still have
quoted head hunting companies as saying that the workers who can speak the
foreign languages fluently are seriously lacking in all business fields.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT, by May 2011,
Vietnam had had 5272 international tour guides having practice cards. Of this
amount, only 171 tour guides speaking less common languages, including Spanish,
Thai, Italian, Lao, Bulgarian, Indonesian, Romanian and Hungarian.
Tran Hai Yen, the lecturer of the Portuguese Language Faculty of the Hanoi
University, has affirmed that those, who can speak Portuguese, now have the
chances to find good jobs. The military telecom company Viettel, for example, is
expanding its business to Mozambique, therefore, it needs the staff who can
speak Portuguese.
Viettel regularly asks the school to introduce the Portuguese speakers to the
company. Therefore, the school is considering increasing the number of students
to the faculty by 20 students this year.
Pham Van Kim, MA, from the Hanoi National University, has affirmed that in the
context of the global integration, students would have more opportunities to get
jobs if they have foreign language skills. Kim said that Arab language skills
would be a big advantage for the students who want to work for state agencies
such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security or
Ministry of National Defense.
Source: Tien phong

Two Chinese among seven nabbed in illegal marriage brokering case | Look At Vietnam

Two Chinese among seven nabbed in illegal marriage brokering case 

April 17, 2012

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested seven people, including two Chinese men, in busting an illegal marriage brokerage ring, the Vietnamnet news website reported Friday.
According to the report, the people were meeting a group of Vietnamese women at a hotel in District 11, when police raided it on Thursday.

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Initial information is that the Chinese men were seeking wives via brokers and the hotel’s manager.
After the bust, the women were released, while the suspects were kept in custody for further investigation, Vietnamnet said.

Thanh Nien News  

Kidney trading gang jailed for 5 to 6 years | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Kidney trading gang jailed for 5 to 6 years

November 24, 2011 about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - The People’s Court in Can Tho City on Tuesday sentenced four members of a kidney-trading ring to prison for five to six years each on charges of “organising people to flee the country”.

The four kidney sale brokers in court. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Organ trading is a crime in Viet Nam, but in this case, the criminal activity took place across the border in China. Thus, the court tried the case on a different charge.

The court handed down a six-year prison sentence each to Vo Dinh Van, a 25-year-old resident of HCM City’s Go Vap District and La Thi Thinh, 40, a resident of Bac Giang Province’s Son Dong District.

Le Son Truyen, 27, from southwestern Tay Ninh Province’s Duong Minh Chau District, and Quang Dai Vang, 24, from central Ninh Thuan Province’s Ninh Phuoc District were sentenced to five years each on the same charge.

The court also demanded the confiscation of illegal profits of VND98 million from Van, VND30 million from Truyen, VND21 million from Vang, and VND5.7 million from Thinh.

According to the court’s verdict, in early 2008, Van and Truyen were taken to China to sell their kidneys.

Van and Truyen became the first members of the ring to sell their kidneys to two Chinese traders whose details have not been released.

Van and Truyen were introduced to Thinh, who took people willing to sell their kidneys to Guangzhou Province in China.

For each person taken to the Chinese province, Thinh received 100 yuan (VND300,000 or US$15) from Van and Truyen.

Vang became a member of the ring after selling his kidney in China in 2009. Vang received VND3 million ($150) for each person he successfully took to China.

In February this year, Vang was arrested in Can Tho when he was on his way to take a Can Tho resident to China to sell his kidney.

The other members of the ring were discovered after Vang’s arrest.

According to the court’s verdict, from 2008 to February this year, the four members of the ring who have been sentenced to prison took 19 poor Vietnamese nationals from HCM City and southern provinces to China to sell their kidneys.

They earned profits of over VND150 million ($US7,300). Each kidney was sold for VND40 million to VND50 million ($2,410) with all travel and accommodation expenses paid by Chinese traders.

For each person taken to China, the brokers got VND10 million ($483).

According to medical exams conducted on three victims of the ring, the organ sale had damaged 41 per cent of their health, according to police’s investigation.

In 2008, a 22-year-old Vietnamese student died at his home in Ninh Thuan Province after selling his kidneys in China several months earlier.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News



Kidney trading gang jailed for 5 to 6 years | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Wages for Vietnamese lower than Chinese Workers

Vietnamese workers have to struggle with Chinese for jobs, on home market

September 14, 2011  about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - On the construction sites in Vietnam, where Chinese
enterprises act as the general contractors, Vietnamese workers have to struggle
with Chinese for jobs.

Wages for Vietnamese lower for Chinese workers

c

Chinese and Japanese enterprises won the bids to become the EPC (engineering,
construction, procurement) contractors of the Hai Phong thermopower plant.
The construction of the thermopower plants 1 and 2 was kicked off in November
2005, while Chinese contractors are the overwhelming majority on the
construction site.
A senior executive of the Hai Phong 1 thermopower plant which has been put into
operation, with four power generation units with the capacity of 300 MW per
each, contractors need to have at least 4000 workers working at the same time on
the construction site.
Therefore, the Hai Phong thermopower plant was hoped to help create thousands of
jobs to local workers. However, this has not come true in reality.
“In the peak period, in 2008-2009, the Chinese contractors brought 2000 Chinese
workers to the construction site, including the ones who took simple jobs which
can be absolutely undertaken by Vietnamese laborers,” said Nguyen The Khang,
Head of the Personnel Department of the Hai Phong Thermopower plant.
Sources said that the actual number of Chinese workers was higher than the above
figure, believing that the number of Chinese workers on the site once reached
3000.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese workers have to struggle to find jobs at the big project.
Nguyen Van N, a local laborer, who is working for the Hai Phong 2 power plant,
said that it is very difficult to obtain a job on the site. N said that when he
worked for the Hai Phong 1 power plant, he just earned less than 100,000 dong
per day for his work as mason or porter.
N said that local workers can earn much less than Chinese ones. A Vietnamese
welder, for example, can earn 150,000-180,000 dong per day, while the pay for a
Chinese welder is double or triple.
“Contractors and laborers negotiate about the wages directly, not through the
project’s investor. Therefore, I do not know to whom I have to claim about the
low wages,” N said.
“There always exists the discriminatory treatment to Chinese and Vietnamese
workers,” N continued.
Also according to N, if Vietnamese workers directly negotiate with Chinese
contractors, they will get 100 percent of their daily wages. Meanwhile, if the
workers get jobs via Vietnamese interpreters, they would not get the full pay.
For example, workers would get 130,000 dong a day instead of 150,000 dong.
However, no one dares complain about that, because they want jobs.
“If you complain, you will be sacked. If you don’t want this job, there will be
others who replace you,” N said.
Similarly, a Vietnamese worker who is in charge of kitchen duty can earn 2
million dong a month, while a security guard can earn 1.5 million dong, and no
allowance. Meanwhile, a Chinese security guard at the My Son residential quarter
is paid 10 million dong per month, or 10 times higher than the pay to a
Vietnamese worker.

Project’s investor has no right to intervene
Khang has confirmed that there exist the gaps in the pay for Vietnamese and the
pay for Chinese workers.
Ha Van Gian, Deputy General Director of the Hai Phong Thermopower Plant, said
that Chinese enterprises act as the contractors, who implement the BT contract
(build – transfer), which means that they build the plant and then transfer to
the Vietnamese side. Therefore, the Vietnamese side only has the right to
supervise and speed and the quality of the project, and it does not have the
right to intervene the contractors’ use of laborers.
Khang said that the Vietnamese investor once asked the Chinese contractors to
use Vietnamese workers, but the contractors reasoned many factors, including the
language barrier, to continue using Chinese workers.
Source: SGTT

6 Chinese warhships cross seas

6 Chinese warships cross seas between Okinawa and Miyako islands

June 26, 2011 about Uncategorized

Six Chinese warships passed through the high seas between Okinawa and Miyako
islands Wednesday afternoon into the East China Sea.

For illustration purposes only

A Kyodo News helicopter spotted the warships, including two missile destroyers
and three frigates, which are part of the 11 Chinese warships that crossed into
the Pacific Ocean from the East China Sea through the same waters in stages on
June 8 and 9.
The six appeared headed for China in a convoy after completing military
exercises in the West Pacific.
It appeared that the remaining five warships are to sail through the same waters
sometime later, although the Kyodo chopper could not spot them.
When the helicopter approached the warships, a few crewmen showed up on the deck
of all six vessels, and some took photos of it with their cameras.
Four of the six warships belched out black smoke as they increased their speed
when the chopper approached them.
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers Kurama and Chokai were also
spotted tracking the Chinese vessels, while an MSDF P-3C reconnaissance aircraft
was also monitoring the activities of the Chinese vessels.

Source: Tuoi tre/Kyodo News

Chinese continue to intimidate Vietnam

Chinese newspapers distort truth, intimidate Vietnam

June 23, 2011 about News, Politics

The editorial published in Global Times on June 11 used threatening words such
as: “Vietnam seems completely ignorant of the reactions that China can offer”;
“If using war to resolve territorial disputes Vietnam will lose

LookAtVietnam - The Chinese newspaper Global Times published an editorial
titled “Tougher action towards China cannot benefit Vietnam” to which the
Vietnamese Dai Doan Ket Newspaper has replied appropriately “China’s newspaper
distorting the truth and intimidating the Vietnamese People”.

Position of Vietnamese vessel Binh Minh 02 during the incident on May 26 when Chinese ships cut its survey cable

Two of three Chinese ocean surveillance vessels violate Vietnam’s water
teritorry and cut off a survey cable of vessel Binh Minh 02 on May 26.
After experiencing 20 very turbulent years, Vietnam and China had normalized
their relations with a basic pledge, “Close the past and go forward into the
future”. They aimed to build a relationship under the slogan: “friendly
neighbors, comprehensive cooperation, long-term stability, future-oriented”.
In addition, the two nations recently agreed to set up comprehensive strategic
partner cooperation.
This was a valued and treasured achievement that was created with much effort
and a concerted will by both sides and remains firmly respected and endorsed by
Vietnam.
Unfortunately, many newspapers in China have continuously issued hostile
articles, distorting Vietnam’s image and Vietnam-China relations. The articles
have increased in number after Chinese vessels cut off cables of a Vietnamese
oil exploration vessel in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone two weeks ago. An
exploration cable of the PetroVietnam vessel, Binh Minh 2 (Sunrise 2) was cut by
Chinese ocean surveillance ships on May 26. Two weeks later, a Chinese fishing
boat rammed the survey cables of the PetroVietnam vessel, Viking II that was
operating in Vietnam’s EEZ.
Amongst all the Chinese newspapers, the Global Times has raised the biggest
voice over China’s actions in Vietnam’s EEZ.
The paper issued an editorial titled “Tougher action towards China cannot
benefit Vietnam”, which clearly distorts the actual truth and Vietnam’s reaction
to the violations.
The editorial ridiculously blames Vietnam for threatening China. It was not a
Vietnamese vessel that attacked a Chinese vessel but contrarily it was the other
way round. A Vietnamese vessel was clearly threatened by a Chinese ship. Chinese
vessels not only threaten but also provoke, which is unacceptable to any country
as defined under international law and procedure. This certainly does not call
for a large number of print and online newspaper articles that have repeatedly
used grudging and accusative wordings to deeply offend the dignity of the
Vietnamese people.
Such rhetoric does not make a nation proud nor does it portray the decorum of a
civilized country, in particular of two socialist countries that are close
neighbors.
The editorial published in Global Times on June 11 used threatening words such
as: “Vietnam seems completely ignorant of the reactions that China can offer”;
“If using war to resolve territorial disputes Vietnam will lose”… (Although I do
not want to, I am compelled to remind about events in the 1970s when China
attacked the Hoang Sa archipelagoes (Paracel Islands) and launched a war on the
Northern borders of Vietnam and the 1988 event when China attacked some islands
in Truong Sa archipelagoes (Spartly islands). This reminder is aimed at exposing
those who not only threaten but also wage war against the Vietnam-China
relationship.
The provocative actions of the Chinese ocean surveillance ships and articles
like the Global Times editorial, disturb and hurt Vietnamese people’s sentiments
towards China, though not towards all the Chinese people in general. What the
Global Times says is far from the truth: “Chinese people’s feelings towards
Vietnam that were accumulated day by day have reduced to ashes while reading
Vietnam’s reactions through the media”.
The emphasis on big country and small country was very marked by the author.
Realistically the world has powerful and not so powerful countries based on
geographic, economic and population strata. However all countries are equal when
it come to international relations. This notion has been continuously repeated
by Chinese leaders.
China’s present attitude contradicts the policy of respecting smaller countries
as the article states.
In addition, this conduct displays an encroaching attitude by a big country and
raises concerns in the public besides affecting China’s image of a peacefully
growing economy.
The editorial also incorrectly assumed that legal reaction from Vietnam was the
result of domestic pressure, stimulating internal sentiments, attracting
attention from the international community…, reflecting nationalism and causing
contradictions between the two countries.
The problem between the two countries began when Chinese vessels in the East Sea
broke international law. All Vietnamese felt betrayed as all with a conscience
in the world would as well.
International law in today’s modern world does not permit any country to behave
in an encroaching manner with another country and expect it to remain silent.
How would Global Times react if foreign vessels attacked Chinese ships and cut
their cables in the Chinese EEZ recognized by international law? Certainly not
in the area of so-called nine-stage line recognized by China itself and
thousands of miles away from the Chinese coast!
History knows that China was also invaded and the Chinese people know dishonor
at the hands of foreigners. Surely then they must understand the discontentment
of the Vietnamese people.
The editorial said that Hanoi took a back step after successfully determining
the boundaries in the Tonkin gulf. These allegations are only worth dismissing.
Does Beijing want now to change the word Ha Noi?
It is most regrettable that what took 20 long years for the two countries to
overcome and build by way of renewed cooperative relations is now being pushed
aside by regrettable action by China.
At the end of the article, the author writes “Please reconsider the history”.
Exactly! Please review the thousand-year history of your neighbors and follow
decorum and a moral code of conduct towards neighbors who value peace and good
friendly relations with all countries.
Every Vietnamese citizen has a deeply embedded desire to behave in accordance
with moral standards towards good friendly countries. Surely this too must be
the wish of the Chinese people as well!
Source: SGGP/Dai Doan Ket

Economists give alerts about increasing invasion of Chinese imports

May 21, 2011 about Business, News

LookAtVietnam - While some state
officials say they cannot see any problems in the trade deficit with China,
economists have expressed their worries about the increase in the presence of
Chinese goods in Vietnam.

By late
2010, China had become the
biggest trader of Vietnam.
However, the sharp excess of the imports from China
over exports to the country in the two-way trade has become a headache to Vietnam.

By the end
of April 2011, the trade deficit with China had reached 4.1 billion
dollars so far this year. The noteworthy thing is that the trade deficit with China amounted
to 84 percent of the total trade deficit of the country.

The Vietnam Center
for Economic and Policy Research VEPR under the Hanoi National
University, in its latest
report, gave warning about the increasingly high penetration of Chinese goods,
from machines and equipment to consumer goods.

The source
said that the Chinese goods which have been most penetrating into Vietnam, are
the ones in the fields of power, oil and gas, mechanical engineering,
metallurgy, mining and chemicals – the “upstream industries”, where there are
many EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) projects are under execution.
The investors of the huge projects are Vietnamese key conglomerates, while the
contractors of the projects are Chinese enterprises.

Some
officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), when talking about Vietnam’s trade deficit, said that the trade
deficit would not be a big problem at all, since Vietnam, like many other developing
economies, needs to import technologies and equipment to run domestic
production. In this case, the imports today will bring high values in the
future.

VEPR, on one hand, agreeing that trade deficit is the problem of most of the
developing economies in the world, on the other hand, still said that it would
still be a problem to Vietnam
since the trade deficit with the neighboring country has been accounting for an
increasingly high proportion in the total trade deficit of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the pervasive values and impacts on the technologies and the society
of the imports are not as high as expected.

VEPR’s
Director, Nguyen Duc Thanh thinks that Chinese equipment and goods have
advantages in Vietnam
because they fit Vietnam’s
starting point when joining the global production chain, and because they are
suitable to the income of Vietnamese people.

“Contractors
have been trying to bring big amounts of goods and materials to Vietnam and turn Vietnam
into a trade partner who imports goods in big quantities from China,” Dr
Thanh said.

The
research conducted by VEPR also showed that Vietnam’s
trade deficit with China
has no close relation with the investment flow from the country.

“Chinese
investment flow into Vietnam
is really low if compared with the imports flow,” Thanh said.

Agreeing
with VEPR that it is necessary to give alert about the increasing trade deficit
with China, Dr Le Xuan Nghia, Deputy Chair of the National Finance Supervision
Council, said that the negotiations between Vietnam and China, which aim to
allow the two sides to use Chinese yuan in the trade payments may lead to bigger
difficulties for Vietnam in the near future.

Dr Vo Tri
Thanh, Deputy Head of the Central Institute for Economic Management CIEM,
pointed out that it is necessary to pay attention to machinery, equipment and
intermediate goods imported from China.

“25 dollars
out of every 100 dollars worth of products imported from China are
machines and equipment which relate to the story about investment and long term
production capability, or the strategy story,” Thanh said.

“70 percent
of the total import turnover is intermediate goods, which is also relating to a
long term development story,” he added.

As for
intermediate goods, more than a half of them have been put into the domestic
production and consumption, while the other half have been used to make
consumer goods for export.

“As such,
the most important part relating to the trade deficit with China, is the
import of machines and intermediate imports. If we can reduce the imports, we
will be able to reduce the trade gap,” Thanh concluded.

Source: TBKTVN

Stem cell research promising | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Stem cell research promising | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update: "After seeing the fastest development worldwide in stem cell research during the past 10 years, China is “on the verge of achieving a breakthrough”, says a top scientist in the field.

Zhou Qi, chief scientist with the stem cell research project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), spoke after the academy chose his area of expertise for significant attention.

He said Chinese scientists are expecting a major scientific breakthrough to be made within the next decade.

“We are now close to the day when we will be able to hail a breakthrough in this important technology,” Zhou told China Daily during an exclusive interview.

He said China has already succeeded in creating a “stem cell line up to clinical standards”, which signifies a major stride toward clinical treatment.

“China needs five to 10 years to shift from basic research to clinical application and another 10 years to realize large-scale clinical application,” he said.

“If there are any science projects that could win China a Nobel Prize during the next 10 years, the most likely candidate is its stem cell research.”

Going forward, the priority will be to focus on stem cell regulation, core mechanisms for stem-cell therapies and standardized applications of stem cells, Zhou said.

Scientists believe various kinds of stem cells - so-called because they are the foundation of all human cells - will eventually be used to treat deadly and debilitating ailments such as heart attacks, strokes, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, liver failure and even blindness.

Zhou described China’s progress after the CAS designated stem cell and regenerative medicine research as one of the country’s eight “strategic trailblazing research projects”. Others among the eight include research projects into nuclear fission, space science and clean energy.

At the annual national meeting of the CAS, which ended on Thursday, the academy’s vice-president, Bai Chunli, said the priority now will be to remove bottlenecks holding back China’s stem cell research.

Bai said the CAS will establish a world-class research platform and base for stem cell and regenerative medicine research.

The platform will incorporate the four core research centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Kunming and the resources of 17 research institutions around the country.

The research center in Beijing is responsible for project materials and organ construction; the Shanghai-based center focuses on establishing stem-cell regulation; the Guangzhou-based center focuses on biology and medicine and the center in Kunming is devoted to clinical animal experiments.

Zhou said China has achieved the fastest development in stem cell research of any country during the past 10 years. The number of research papers published by Chinese scientists about stem cell research is the fifth largest worldwide.

“But our international influence has not ranked among the first level and we are facing international concern about our lack of stem cell research regulations,” he said.

Despite the fact that scientists such as Zhou are at the pre-clinical stage of their research, that has not stopped some institutions from offering untried treatments to desperate patients, despite the fact that such treatments are supposed to be unavailable.

Patients with incurable conditions have been visiting the country to receive experimental stem cell treatments not available in countries such as the United States.

Stem cell treatments are currently available in China for the treatment of such ailments as spinal cord injuries, leukemia and Parkinson’s disease.

Many of the treatments are being offered thanks to a legal loophole and are available even though experts have warned they have not been proven to be either effective or safe.

Deng Haihua, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the influx of foreigners traveling to China for such treatments will be slowed with new regulations.

Currently, “it’s kind of a gray area and not well regulated,” he conceded.

Luc Noel, an expert with the World Health Organization in Switzerland, said the WHO is discouraging such medical tourism.

“Given the high potential risks, the World Health Organization does not recommend medical tourists travel abroad to receive stem cell therapy,” he said.

Internationally, regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies are deemed to be at the pre-clinical stage and, in limited cases, are the subject of clinical research, Noel said.

Zhou said research into stem cell treatments is important in China because “classical medical treatments based on medicine and surgery cannot meet soaring clinical needs”.

The number of Chinese people suffering from organ defects caused by trauma, inherited problems, disease and aging is the largest in the world, he said.

Zhou said China would like to cooperate with international qualified repositories of stem cell material in the near future.

“The United States is once again pioneering basic research and the clinical application of stem cells,” he said.

The US had, under the George W. Bush administration, banned the use of federal funding for new lines of embryonic stem cell research but President Barack Obama reversed that decision.

The US Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved the commercial use of any treatments using embryonic or fetal stem cells.

Source: Xinhuanet

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