By Hung Nguyen, Huffington Post
Nguyen Ngoc, a strong looking 82-year-old man, is famous in Vietnam for his novels depicting the country’s brave people in the wars against the French and the American in Central Highlands.
Dong Son village in Đắk Lắk Province, surrounded by mountains. (Wikipedia)
He is now leading the fight in a new front, a tireless campaign to stop a project in which Chinese companies are heavily involved in Central Highland, known as Tay Nguyen in Vietnam.
He thought the reason China was so keen about the bauxite projects was their strategic location in Tay Nguyen.
“It is said that whoever controls Tay Nguyen controls the south of Indochina…,” he told the BBC during a recent trip to Toulouse in southern France.
“Why did they insist on participating in bauxite mining? In reality it’s because bauxite locates in Tay Nguyen.
“Had it been elsewhere, it was unlikely that they would have participated.”
The writer said the two plants, one is already in operation while the other will soon follow, are not profitable and they pose considerable risks to people and the environment.
Red mud already lead to people being killed while huge transporting trucks traveling on roads built for civilian use bring dangers of fatal collision.
“A strange thing is [bauxite mining] plants in Tay Nguyen were all mentioned in documents signed between [Vietnam’s Party Secretary General] Nong Duc Manh and China’s [leaders]… it shows that China was so determined to involve in bauxite plants in Tay Nguyen,” Ngoc said.
“All the while, their demand for bauxite in Tay Nguyen is not big and it shows they have other purposes.”
The famous writer said China’s placing of the oil rig in the South China Sea in what Vietnam said was its exclusive economic zone in May showed China’s real ‘ill intention’.
China, on the other hand, argued that the oil rig, which it withdrew in mid-July, was in its territorial water.
‘Unhealthy’ ties
The moving oil rig created a huge rift between Vietnam and China, among Hanoi’s top leaders and between Vietnam’s politicians and many vocal anti-China activists and ordinary citizens.
Protests and riots that followed the placing of the rig three months ago lead to several deaths and destruction of plants own by Chinese, Taiwanese and many other investors.
Vietnam has since stopped further demonstrations but discussion about the need to pivot away from China has intensified at least in the virtual sphere.
Many Vietnamese, journalists included, did not hide their dislike of China.
In fact, a recent survey showed that Vietnam ranks second, only after Japan, in the list of countries whose population does not have favourable attitude towards China.
A Vietnamese watcher also said Chinese companies won a lot of projects in Vietnam because they were ‘masters of giving bribes while the Vietnamese officials were masters of receiving them.”
Many are calling on Vietnamese leaders to stop being kowtowed to China in economy, politics and other areas.
Dr Nguyen Quang A, a respected analyst with a dissident view in Hanoi, told the BBC:
“I think the gist of the discussion about pivoting away from China is we should strive to stop being subservient, subservient not dependent, to China in every aspect including ideology, economy and most importantly political, diplomatic and national defence ralated activities.”
Read the full article by Hung Nguyen from Huffington Post.
