Month: May 2025

HO CHI MINH CITY (TIP): Chinese, Laotian and Cambodian troops marched behind Vietnamese army formations, including some wearing uniforms similar to what was worn by northern Vietnamese troops during the war.
Helicopters carrying the national flag and jets flew over the parade near Independence Palace, where a North Vietnamese tank smashed through the gates on the final day of the war.
Sitting next to Vietnam’s leader were Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen and Laotian Communist Party General Secretary Thongloun Sisoulith.
To Lam said beyond a victory over the U.S. and South Vietnam, the fall of Saigon was a “glorious landmark” that ended a 30-year fight for independence that began with the fight to oust French colonial troops.
He said Vietnam owes its position in the world today to support from the Soviet Union, China and solidarity from Laos and Cambodia, as well as “progressive” people all over the world including the U.S., he said.
Vietnam’s changing global approach
The emphasis on reconciliation and not, like previous years, on military victory reflected how Vietnam was approaching the changing tides of the global economy and geopolitics today, said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. He added that the Vietnam War remains central to how the Communist Party framed its legitimacy, not just as a military triumph but also as a symbol of national unity. But To Lam’s comments underlined that the reconciliation remains unfinished.
“The war still defines Vietnam’s unity, and its unresolved divides,” Giang said.
For Pham Ngoc Son, a veteran who fought for the communists, today there is “only space for peace and friendship” between the U.S. and Vietnam.
“The war is over a long time ago,” said the 69-year-old who, during the war, served as an army truck driver bringing troops and supplies from the north to the south along the Ho Chi Minh trail — the secret supply route used by North Vietnam.
Passage of time has led to improved relations with U.S.
This year also marks the 30-year anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the U.S.
In 2023, Vietnam upgraded its relations with the U.S. to that of a comprehensive strategic partner, the highest diplomatic status it gives to any country and the same level of relations as China and Russia.
There are new signs of strain in the relationship with Washington, however, with President Donald Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs and the cancellation of much foreign aid, which has affected war remediation efforts in Vietnam.
Vietnamese officials say the relationship with the U.S. is anchored in American efforts to address war legacies such as Agent Orange contamination and unexploded ordnance in the countryside that still threaten lives.
The future of those projects is now at risk because of the Trump administration’s broad cuts to USAID.
Moreover, the export-dependent country is vulnerable in a global economy made fragile amid Trump’s tariff plans.
Vietnam was slammed with reciprocal tariffs of 46%, one of the highest. This puts a “big question mark” on what the U.S. wants to achieve in Asia, said Huong Le-Thu of the International Crisis Group think tank.
Previously, close ties with Washington have helped Vietnam balance its relations with its much larger and more powerful neighbor China, she said.
Vietnam is one of the countries, along with the Philippines, that has been involved in direct confrontations with China over conflicting maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Focus on economic and not strategic competition may mean that Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia become less important for the U.S.
“It really will be shaping up (on) how the new administration sees the strategic picture in the Indo-Pacific and where countries like Vietnam would fit in,” she said. (AP)

BEIJING (TIP): China on Friday said it is assessing whether to start trade talks with the US on tariff reductions following recent approaches by Washington, a move that would possibly ease the tit-for-tit tariff war between the world’s two largest economies.
“China is making assessments as the United States has recently reached out to convey messages to China through relevant parties many times, expressing hope to engage in talks with Beijing over tariff issues,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement here. “The tariff and trade wars were unilaterally initiated by the United States. If the US wants to negotiate, it must demonstrate sincerity, and make preparations and take concrete actions on issues such as correcting its erroneous practices and lifting the unilateral tariffs,” the statement by its spokesperson said.
US President Donald Trump slapped 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese exports.
Later the White House said tariffs on Chinese goods amounted to 245 per cent.
Beijing retaliated by imposing 125 per cent levies on US exports.
China has been denying any talks with the US on tariffs while Trump said talks were on and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to him.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry denied any such talks between the two Presidents.
Both the US and China have been steadily increasing tariffs on each other’s goods since the US raised tariffs on dozens of countries.
China now faces 245 per cent taxes on exports to the US, while other countries were given a 90-day reprieve for most duties.
On April 16, China appointed a new top international negotiator after Trump said the ball is in Beijing’s court to work out a deal to end the tariff deadlock.
According to a fact sheet issued on April 16, the White House said, more than 75 countries have already reached out to discuss new trade deals.
As a result, the individualised higher tariffs are currently paused amid these discussions, except for China, which retaliated.
China is the only country to have retaliated with tit-for-tat levies.
For China, the US is the third largest export market.
Despite China putting a brave front, there is considerable concern here about the impact of Trump’s tariffs on China’s economy, which is struggling with slowdown due to falling exports, low domestic consumption and collapse of the housing market. (pti)

Darfur, Sudan (TIP): At least 542 civilians have been confirmed killed in Sudan’s North Darfur region in the past three weeks, the United Nations said Thursday, warning the actual death toll was likely “much higher”. “The horror unfolding in Sudan knows no bounds,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, referring to the country’s ongoing civil war.
Darfur in particular has become a key battleground in the war that erupted on April 15, 2023 between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The war has left tens of thousands dead and triggered what aid agencies describe as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises. The battle for El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur to elude RSF control, has intensified in recent weeks as the paramilitaries have sought to compensate for their loss of the capital Khartoum last month.
Turk pointed to an attack three days ago by the RSF on El-Fasher and the Abu Shouk camp that killed at least 40 civilians.
“This brings the confirmed number of civilians killed in North Darfur to at least 542 in just the last three weeks,” he said.
“The actual death toll is likely much higher.” He also cited “the ominous warning by the RSF of ‘bloodshed’ ahead of imminent battles with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their associated armed movements.”
“Everything must be done to protect civilians trapped amid dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.”
Turk also highlighted “reports of extrajudicial executions in Khartoum state”, which he described as “extremely disturbing”.
“Horrific videos circulating on social media show at least 30 men in civilian clothing being rounded up and executed by armed men in RSF uniforms in Al-Salha in southern Omdurman,” he said, adding that in a subsequent video, “an RSF field commander acknowledged the killings.”
Those videos came after “shocking reports in recent weeks of the extrajudicial execution of dozens of people accused of collaborating with the RSF in southern Khartoum, allegedly committed by the Al-Baraa Brigade”, a pro-SAF militia, Turk said.
“Deliberately taking the life of a civilian or anyone no longer directly taking part in hostilities is a war crime,” he insisted.
The UN rights chief said he had “personally alerted both leaders of the RSF and SAF to the catastrophic human rights consequences of this war”.
“These harrowing consequences are a daily, lived reality for millions of Sudanese. It is well past time for this conflict to stop.” (AFP)

DAMASCUS (TIP): Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace early Friday hours after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria. The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The clashes left dozens of people dead or wounded.
Friday’s strike was Israel’s second on Syria this week, and attacking an area close to the presidential palace appears to send a strong warning to Syria’s new leadership that is mostly made up of Islamist groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
On Thursday, Syria’s Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri harshly criticized Syria’s government for what he called an “unjustified genocidal attack” on the minority community.
The Israeli army said that fighter jets struck adjacent to the area of the Palace of President Hussein al-Sharaa in Damascus. Its statement gave no further details. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strike was a message to Syrian leaders. “This is a clear message to the Syrian regime. We will not allow a withdrawal of forces from south of Damascus and any danger to the Druze community,” their joint statement said.
Pro-government Syrian media outlets said the strike hit close to the People’s Palace on a hill overlooking the city.
The clashes broke out around midnight Monday after an audio clip circulated on social media of a man criticizing Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The audio was attributed to a Druze cleric. But cleric Marwan Kiwan said in a video posted on social media that he was not responsible for the audio, which angered many Sunni Muslims.
Syria’s Information Ministry said 11 members of the country’s security forces were killed in two separate attacks, while Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 56 people in Sahnaya and the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana were killed in clashes, among them local gunmen and security forces.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria, largely in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus.
Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. (AP)