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
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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
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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.