Love, Anger, Action, and a News Analysis thrown in for free

LOVE, ANGER, ACTION AND A NEWS ANALYSIS THROWN IN FOR FREE
Chaque homme a son destin
The same for a nation

Love and Anger are two of the most powerful emotions a human can have. Together they drive most of his actions.

I originally wrote this piece using the pronoun we, but upon rereading it, I decided to switch to first person singular since I didn’t wish to come across as presumptuous. I only could speak for myself and not for my two colleagues. I saw the way the Chinese Navy personnel mistreated our Vietnamese fishermen who were working in the same areas they had done for generations. And I experienced both love for my fellow countrymen and anger at the Chinese. So, being a simple human with emotions not yet overridden by other concerns such as apathy, selfishness, and fear, I acted. Maybe I was impetuous and amateurish, but I felt that I had to do something instead of rationalizing away the intolerable situation in the East Sea. I did some more thinking and realized that the East Seas incidents were part of the grand scheme of Chinese planned take-over of Vietnam. I raised the alarm, drafted a declaration to bring to the attention of the world and especially the Vietnamese back home about the invasion. I got a support of a precious few who did not regard my actions as “infertile” and quixotic. I did what I did because our heart told me so. To me, silence was not an option. I wanted to be able to sleep at night. I wanted to look at myself in the mirror every morning and not to feel ashamed of myself for doing nothing or mouthing off negative comments in order to dissuade others from doing something for Vietnam. I wanted to do something for our people back home and our country because I felt I had to respond to the call of duty as an educated and caring son of Vietnam. I just simply did what the responsible forefathers of ours had done over four thousand years of our long history. I didn’t feel self-righteous although I certainly felt that I did the right thing. I did the only way that was within my power: using words to raise the consciousness of those who still care about Vietnam. All fights begin in the minds.

I didn’t feel I was an alarmist, raising hue and cry over nothing. I have seen with increasing clarity the danger China is posing for the survival of Vietnam as a sovereign state and possibly for other states in Southeast Asia as well. Let me back up my assertion with some news and news analysis against the backdrop of some formal education in Political Science and some knowledge in world history and understanding of the nature of Man as an aggressive, expansionist-minded animal.

China recently conducted a military exercise involving sea, air, and ground forces. The exercise involved amphibious landing. I don’t think the exercise which cost a lot of money was done for showing off. Nor do I think the exercise was carried out as a preparation for an invasion of Taiwan. So, which country was the target? Which country did China conduct a limited border invasion in early 1979 and received a humiliating clobbering? The clobbering occurred for two main reasons: One, the failure to engage the Chinese air force due to its rather primitive aircraft fleet. China didn’t want to risk having its fighter planes shot down by the Vietnamese vaunting sophisticated anti-aircraft missile systems maintained and supplied by the Soviet Union. Two, Vietnamese artillery was deadly effective against Chinese troops (source: Wikipedia. The Sino-Vietnamese border war of 1979). The war taught China a valuable lesson and ever since it has modernized its forces and vows when the next full-scale invasion comes (and it is coming sooner than you think), it will not lose face again.

Alarmed by the increasingly bellicose posture of China in the East Sea and the Indian Ocean, countries such as Indonesia and Australia have increased their defense expenditures.

Vietnam has ordered a purchase from Russia six submarines. These submarines, once delivered, will be trained by India.

Vietnam has mobilized its forces. It has called men from eighteen to fifty years of age for military service; it also ordered its veterans back to duty. It has conducted training exercises. Relatives of high-position cadres of the Vietnamese Communist Party have taken part in an exodus as tourists to overseas.

The Vietnamese state-controlled newspapers have begun vociferously condemning China for its actions in the East Sea.

In a few weeks, India and the United States will have a joint military exercises. The United States a few months ago has entered a formal agreement to transfer nuclear technology to India.

South Korea successfully launched a satellite into space from its own soil. A few months ago, Vietnam had a satellite launched into space. Both countries declared that the satellites were for weather and communication purposes, but we knew better. Satellites are very useful to observe troop buildup and movements.

The Obama administration, unlike its myopic predecessor, has certainly recognized China as the rival and the threat to the United States. While coping with the massive economic problems at home and fighting two wars, it is vigorously conducting a full-court press of foreign policy within merely the first eight months of its existence. Obama went to a Muslim country and made the case that his administration would be vastly different than the Bush administration. He extended his hand to Iran. He dispatched Hillary Clinton to Southeast Asia confirming and affirming that “America is back” and then to Africa where China has made tremendous inroads due to the neglect of the Western powers, the U.S. included. He sent Bill Clinton to talk with North Korea, ostensibly to win the release of two Asian-American journalists. He sent Jim Webb, a freshman senator with a Vietnamese wife and a former marine in Vietnam as well as a former Secretary of Navy, to a tour of five Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam where in a period of twenty fours he met various highest members of the Vietnamese Communist Party and government. It is also important to note that Senator Webb chairs a Senate subcommittee dealing with East Asia and Pacific Affairs. I have sent him a letter and an accompanied declaration but have not received a reply nor do I expect to receive any, since I am not his constituent. I wrote to him just to stress the point, as if he didn’t know already, that the East Sea disputes over the Paracel and Spratly Islands could be the ignition that started war in the region

Ladies and gentlemen, do we need more facts to realize that we are living in an “exciting”, history-making time in Southeast Asia? Today, China is behaving like the Nazi Germany did in the late 1930’s. With Russia being busy building up its shattered economy and the United States bogged down in two (could be three, if you consider Pakistan) wars and mired in economic troubles, China with its rising economic prosperity, is flexing its muscles and carrying out its Greater Han expansion. It is supporting Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan in order to encircle India. It is trying to displace Vietnam as a decision maker in Laos and Cambodia. It is encouraging cooperation in military matters between Myanmar and North Korea. Simply put, China is expanding its zone of influence under the belief that the 21st century belongs to it and it is behaving in a manner befitting its rising stature.

It is human nature for the strong to attack the weak, for a strong and bigger country to swallow up a smaller, weaker country. To China, Vietnam has been a tempting meal for thousands of years. At one time, China had Vietnam inside its mouth for a thousand years. It thought it could chew and swallow up Vietnam as it did to other lands south of the Yangtze River, but somehow the Vietnamese forced it to throw up Vietnam. Ever since 939 AD, China has tried many times through naked invasions to defeat and assimilate Vietnam once and for all. Today, thanks to Vietnam being weakened after a long, brutal civil war instigated and encouraged by the Chinese, China has its best chance for two centuries. The take-over of the Paracel and the Spatly Islands, the grabbing of land at the border, the construction of dams in the upper reaches of the Mekong River, the presence of estimated 100,000 “laborers” in Vietnam, Vietnam huge trade deficit vis-à-vis China, and the flooding of Chinese goods in Vietnam are all part of the plan to conquer and assimilate us. Wake up and stop diddling around with nonsensical diatribes. Be serious for a change. Our country is becoming like Austria in 1938. Once Vietnam falls, Cambodia and Laos will follow. Thailand and Myanmar will be next. It is in the genes of humans to wage wars of conquest, as witnessed by historical events since the emergence of Man on this planet. A lack of knowledge of history will ensure a repeat of past mistakes. If we (with the world’s help, but we must bear the main burden) don’t stop the Chinese now, soon India, the United States, Australia, and Indonesia will have to fight to stop China from taking over the whole Southeast Asia. In peace, we have to prepare for war. During war, we have to plan for peace.

Sooner or later, we, the Vietnamese people have to fight the Chinese, unless we are willing to roll over and become slaves and get assimilated in the process; unless we are willing to let the Chinese take all our women, grab all our natural resources, destroy our books and all evidence that we are different from them, and rewrite history and tell our future generations that the Vietnamese are really Chinese. By that time, the assimilation in Vietnam is complete as it was in South China.

Ladies and gentlemen, Vietnam is in dire traits. It has no friends nor does it have allies. It has no defense treaty with any country that I know of, except with China! Its leaders are busy lining up their pockets with ill-gotten monies. The Vietnamese are sick and tired of the corrupt ruling clique and hungry and thirsty for a regime change. China is planning to do that and is aiming to supplant the Vietnamese Communist Party as the new ruler of Vietnam. When I think of the situation in Vietnam, I wonder how one can be chortlingly habituated to cheap jokes and sex-laden materials. I cannot derive any exquisite caloricity or pleasure from reading those jokes or viewing those materials.

Wissai
August 26, 2009