Ðằng Vân

Point of View

While leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) worship at the altar of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in the same way dutiful sons and daughters worship at their ancestral temple, the navy of the People’s Republic of China pitilessly opened fire on innocent Vietnamese fishermen, destroyed their means of livelihood and fatally wounded one on 9 July 07.

Barely 3 months ago, another despicable Chinese running dog National Congress Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong had visited China in order to learn from “his revered teachers”, while the CCP expressed its displeasure at the treaty between British Consortium BP and Vietnam with a view to exploring for and exploiting gas in the sea area close to the Spratly Archipelago.

In the traditions of the great dictators of history, leaders of the CPV take pride in listening to no-one.

Thanks to article 4 of the constitution they do not have to hold free, fair, multi-party elections forever. Thus they can afford to treat their people with contempt.

They understand that although democracy and human rights are the flavors of the millennium, and the march of multi-party democracy is inevitable, they are confident that through control of the army and police, they could repress their people, slow the pace of change so that, by the time the people are able to throw away their shackles, they would all be millionaires many times over, their overseas bank accounts would be stashed with cash, and no authorities in the world would be able to trace the sources of their ill-gotten wealth.

But being realists, they are acutely aware that there is one authority on earth they must obey if they want to continue to be in power and reign over the unfortunate people of Vietnam: that authority is the CCP.

Thus they made secret concessions after secret concessions to China in land and in sea. Now, that the livelihood of the Vietnamese fishermen are at stake, the CPV remained conspicuously silent. Chances are that they would made further secret concessions to China again on such livelihood.

Vietnamese livelihood has never been a priority for them. But the will of CCP leaders or their true masters and protectors is.

This is the very reason why, as late as 26 July, the farcical CPV spokesman Le Dung merely announced that talks are taking place between a number of nations relative to the firing by Chinese and Indonesian navies on Vietnamese fishermen, and on how to protect their legal rights. Le Dung failed to mention the fact that China killed a Vietnamese fisherman in the incident. This failure was meant to spare the feelings of their Chinese masters.

On 14 June 07 the British consortium BP announced simultaneously in London and Beijing that they had decided to discontinue gas exploration in the area of the Spratly Archipelago. Evidently the CCP has applied pressure on the British hard. As a result, Vietnam’s national interests are sacrificed without the CPV putting up the mere appearance of a fight.

The CPV has steadfastly ignored the fact that for a small nation existing on the fringe of the Chinese empire, the only means of survival is to surpass the Chinese in all spheres of endeavors, such as creative thinking, military, technological, social, political and economic excellence. Mongolia, Manchuria and Tibet failed and they had to loose their nations either partly or wholly to the Chinese empire. The Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese succeeded brilliantly.

CPV leaders failed miserably in all fields of endeavors. Vietnam is hopelessly behind these later nations because the CPV not only owe the CCP a debt of gratitude that they are trying to repay with the legacy of their forefathers. They unashamedly conceded significant land areas, land-marks and vast sea areas to the Chinese. They have ignored the fate and livelihood of their own people to appease the Chinese because they want to secure crucial Chinese support in times of need. Such times of need would include, say, a wide-spread popular uprising by the Vietnamese peasants for instance, to overthrow their regime. In such situation, their secret police may be too alienated to protect them. The Vietnamese army, whose leaders including Generalissimo Vo Nguyen Giap had been brutally ignored and mistreated by the CPV, may not support them. In such critical times, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army might be their only savior. Worst come to worst, China could still afford them guarantied sanctuary. With their overseas bank accounts stashed with cash from the national treasury, they and their children could spend many lifetimes of leisure in paradise.

With so much at stake, it is not surprising that during bilateral talks between the Vietnamese deputy foreign minister Vu Dung and his Chinese counterpart Vu Dai Sy from 21 July to 23 July on national border issues, the following contradictions were apparent:

The Vietnamese official press reported:

“We shall be at one in implementing the accord achieved by leaders of both nations to resolve the sea issues to preserve peace in the Eastern Sea…Both Vietnam and China guaranty not to increase conflict or complicate the problem, not to resort to force, not to allow the sea issues to affect relations between the two nations.”

But the New China Press restricted its report to the fact the two governments met to discuss land borders inspections, delimit land borders and maritime trades. It did not mention disputes on sea issues.

The government-controlled Vietnamese media did not report on the fact that the Chinese killed at least one Vietnamese fisherman (BBC news 25/7/07)

There is no doubt that current CPV leaders have sold their souls to the CCP. Their treacheries have resulted in tragic consequences for the Vietnamese people. The greatest heroes of our history such as Ngo Quyen, Le Loi, Tran Hung Dao and Quan Trung Nguyen Hue, who spent their lives defending our sovereignty and national independence from Chinese invaders, must have stirred uneasily in their graves at such perfidies by CPV leaders and their clique.

Let CPV leaders worship at the altar of the CCP. But the let Vietnamese people continue to worship at the altar of their ancestors including the above illustrious heroes and defenders of our nation.

Ðằng Vân

28 July 2007