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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2015)
U.S.A. Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER July 20, 2015 Bill Clinton visits Vietnam to mark 20th anniversary of ties By Grant Peck The Associated Press ANOI, Vietnam — For Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama’s announcement of plans to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba must have stirred memories. It was 20 years ago this month that Clinton pulled off a similar diplomatic and political success, normalizing relations with Vietnam. Not that Clinton needed a reminder — he was in Vietnam recently to commemorate his largely forgotten breakthrough. He spoke as guest of honor at a reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy to celebrate American Independence Day. The former president, in a speech reviewing U.S.-Vietnam cooperation, described normalization of relations as “one of the most important achievements of my presidency,” and said it helped lift the burden that had been weighing down the American spirit since the Vietnam War. He said it helped “heal the wounds of war, build bonds of genuine friendship, and to provide proof in an increasingly divided world that cooperation was far better than conflict.” Clinton has good reason to be fond of Vietnam. A November 2000 visit to the country was the swan song of his tumultuous presidency, and he received a rock star’s welcome in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as he worked the crowds. This visit was his fifth to the country, with his efforts largely in support of his Clinton Foundation’s work in fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Clinton was the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since Richard Nixon in 1969 visited South Vietnam, then H at war with Communist North Vietnam. American troops withdrew from the South in 1973, and two years later North Vietnam defeated southern forces and unified the country. Between 2 million and 3 million Vietnamese civilians and soldiers died in the conflict, along with 58,000 U.S. soldiers. America’s pride was another victim of the war. Washington imposed a trade embargo on Vietnam after the Communist victory, even blocking aid from multilateral agencies such as the World Bank. It was the politically volatile issue of resolving the cases of more than 2,000 Americans missing in action in the war that provided the opening for a new diplomatic approach. CELEBRATING DIPLOMACY. Former U.S. President Bill Clin- ton gestures during an event celebrating the 239th anniversary of U.S. independence and the 20th anniversary of normalization of relations be- tween the U.S. and Vietnam in Hanoi, Vietnam. Clinton lifted the trade embargo against Vietnam in 1994 and normalized relations with the communist country a year later. (AP Photo/Tran Van Minh) Vietnam, for its part, saw U.S. trade and investment as a way to help restore its battered and limping economy — an opportunity that the U.S. business community also warmed to. Step by step, Clinton went down the path to restoring relations, first lifting Washington’s veto on multilateral aid, then ending the U.S. trade embargo, and finally on July 11, 1995, announcing normalization of relations. Clinton was philosophical about the move to reconcile former enemies. He called the day he announced normalization “a different form of independence day.” “Vietnam had captured our imagination and taken up so much space in our spirit,” he told a crowd of Vietnamese VIPs and members of the foreign community in Vietnam. “There were people who were wounded ... no American my age didn’t know someone who was killed there. There were raging debates at home, people on both sides thought the others were crazy. And somehow, when our Vietnamese friends finally said they would accept us, and we said we would accept them, we were set free.” Clinton singled out for thanks four distinguished Vietnam War veterans who as U.S. senators helped shepherd normalization. Charles Robb, Max Cleland, John Kerry, and John McCain “were the wind beneath the wings of this movement,” he said. “They made what I was able to do as president possible.” Chinese light exhibit coming to Norfolk Botanical Garden exhibit of its kind on the eastern seaboard. The exhibit will feature a walking tour that will extend at least a mile, with works of art made from silk, steel, glass, and other materials illuminated from within by LED lights. The garden hopes to draw 100,000 visitors during its two-month run, tentatively set for March and April. NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A massive Chinese light exhibit is coming to the Norfolk Botanical Garden early next year. The Virginian-Pilot reports that the attraction, dubbed LanternAsia, will feature 25 structures — some two or three stories tall — that will be installed by a 30-person assembly team from China’s Sichuan province. Organizers say the $250,000 show will be the first art Education Matters $2000 Schol ar ship Awar d, f unded by t he Or eg on Lot t er y ® . Chr ist ina is at t he t op of her cl ass at Fr ankl in Hig h School in Por t l and and is invol ved in so many cl ubs and act ivit ies, It 'l l Make your head spin. Chr ist ina pl ans t o at t end t he Univer sit y of Or eg on t o st udy business and economics. 2015 Asian r epor t er Foundat ion Schol ar ship Awar d Recipient Congratulations Christina! B A S E D O N C H A N C E A N D S H O U L D J Fruit fly prompts quarantine in part of Northern California Chr ist ina Kuang A R E UNEAU, Alaska — A massive cleanup effort is underway in Alaska, with tons of marine debris set to be airlifted from beaches and taken by barge for recycling and disposal in the Pacific Northwest. Some of the debris was likely sent to sea by the 2011 tsunami in Japan. It can be hard to definitively distin- guish tsunami debris from the run-of-the-mill rubbish. Hundreds of heavy-duty bags of debris, stockpiled at a site in Kodiak, also will be shipped out. The barge is scheduled to take a roughly one-month venture from Kodiak to the Pacific Northwest. Chris Pallister, with the group Gulf of Alaska Keeper, says the complex project was spurred, in part, by the mass of material that’s washed ashore and the high cost of shuttling small boatloads of debris from remote sites. DURHAM, N.H. (AP) — The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is working on a long-term program for growing hardy kiwis — the ones without the fuzz. Iago Hale, plant breeder and assistant professor of specialty crop improvement at UNH’s Agricultural Experiment Station, says the goal is to support New England farmers and consumers through the crop’s development. The grape-like sweet fruit is smaller than its better known, fuzzier relatives. A single, mature hardy kiwi plant can yield up to 100 pounds of fruit. It is native to China, Japan, Korea, and Siberia. At UNH, Hale is growing nearly the entire USDA collection of hardy kiwis in order to characterize the collection and identify parent plants for his breeding program. He will see a first harvest this fall. of t he Asian Repor t er Foundat ion’s G A M E S By Becky Bohrer The Associated Press UNH looking forward for first harvest of hardy kiwi collection Just ask Chr ist ina. She’s t he 2015 r ecipient L O T T E R Y Massive debris-removal project underway in Alaska B E P L AY E D F O R E N T E R TA I N M E N T O N LY CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Officials have quarantined an area of Northern California after finding six fruit flies. The California Department of Food and Agriculture said the fruit flies were trapped around Cupertino, a Sili- con Valley city south of San Francisco. Residents in the 90-square-mile area can eat fruits and vegetables grown at home, but they are asked to not take them off their property. The Oriental Fruit Fly is a pest found throughout much of southern Asia. The fly feeds on more than 230 kinds of fruits and vegetables. Fly eggs lead to maggots that make produce unfit for consumption. This is the third time in eight years that there has been an Oriental Fruit Fly infestation in Cupertino. The fly typically makes its way into the country from contraband fruit.
