What's Happening in San Jose Vietnamese Community & Interested News:

Sept. 5, 1999: Vietnamese Immigrants Want Their Money Back. Money Went To Anti-Communist Group. WESTMINSTER, Calif., Posted 2:30 p.m. September 4, 1999 -- Vietnamese immigrants angered by allegations that their donations to an anti-communist group have been misused want their money back. Saturday, a crowd of demonstrators gathered for a second straight day in this Orange County community to demand the return of their money from Tuan Anh Ho and his group the Committee of Just Cause for Free Vietnam. In recent weeks, Ho has been accused by activists of misusing some of the $265,000 raised during those demonstrations, including spending $2,700 for a six-country trip to Europe and trips to Sacramento, Seattle, Houston and Washington D.C.  The anti-communist group closed escrow this week on a $311,000 building where it plans to set up its headquarters. Requests by both contributors and media for the group to open its books to document how it has used the donations have been declined. "We do need a building for the community -- not for Mr. Tuan.". Full story Channel 2000.com.

Sept 4, 1999: E. Timor picks independence As U.N. announces results, violence continues in parts of territory DILI, Indonesia -- After 24 years of brutal occupation by Indonesia, the people of East Timor, defying a campaign of terror instigated by the military, have voted overwhelmingly to become an independent nation, the United Nations announced today. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Security Council that voters in the referendum on Monday rejected by 78.5 percent a proposal by the government of a new autonomous status within Indonesia. Annan said the totals in the voting were 344,580 against autonomy, and thus in favor of independence, and 94,388 for autonomy within Indonesia, which invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the next year as its 27th province.``The people of East Timor have thus rejected the proposed special autonomy and expressed their wish to begin a process of transition toward independence,'' Annan said. In January, President B.J. Habibie announced that if autonomy was rejected, Indonesia would end its claims on the former Portuguese colony and simply let it go free, after a generation of separatist guerrilla warfare in which 200,000 people have died. The referendum results are not binding, however. Technically, the referendum was a ``popular consultation'' whose outcome would have to be endorsed by the Indonesian parliament at the end of the year. Full story SJMN.

Sept 3, 1999: Sheriff appoints trio of veterans as top assistants. Putting her reorganization plan into action, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith on Thursday appointed two white men and one man of Spanish descent to her administration. The ethnic makeup of the sheriff's administration became an issue earlier this year after Smith announced she would replace the troika of assistant sheriffs, of which she was once a member, with an undersheriff and two commanders. Smith named Capt. Robert Wilson as undersheriff and captains Steve Cushing and Michael Bernal as commanders. Bernal is of Spanish descent. As a result of the shakeup, Assistant Sheriff Ruben Diaz, who is Latino, was laid off, and Assistant Sheriff Tom Sing, who is Asian-American, was demoted three ranks to sergeant. Sing decided instead to retire. But Sgt. John Hirokawa, a spokesman for Smith, said that the sheriff has appointed an Asian-American woman to the civilian post of chief fiscal officer. Full story SJMN.

Sept 2, 1999: Viet Mercury now updates daily News in Vietnamese. Vietmercury.

Sept. 1, 1999: East Timor back to disruption, dissension. DILI, Indonesia -- Anti-independence thugs who have terrorized East Timor for months reasserted themselves Tuesday, one day after an extraordinarily peaceful referendum on the region's future in which, officials said, 98.6 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. U.N. official, David Wimhurst, said he could not confirm this. Wimhurst said the electoral process was proceeding as scheduled, with all the blue plastic ballot boxes from around the country securely gathered, ``all safe and sound'' in a counting center. The center is guarded by unarmed U.N. police advisers. The main police station is next door, although the local force has been mostly passive in the face of the violence here. Wimhurst said reviewing and counting the ballots would begin today. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to announce the result within about a week, he said. President Clinton, who is vacationing this week in Skaneateles, N.Y., was pleased by the high turnout and the ``relative lack of violence'' in East Timor, Jake Siewert, deputy White House press secretary, said Tuesday. The strong voter turnout suggested a victory for independence, and opponents of independence began Tuesday to raise complaints about the balloting and to balk at a role in a planned commission of reconciliation. Full story SJMN.

Aug. 30, 1999: Little Saigon, Westminster City Council recently granted a preliminary festival permit to organizers of the celebration of the Vietnamese New Year on Jan. 29 and 30. The Union of Vietnamese Student Assns. of Southern California, the organizers of next year's Tet festival on Monroe Avenue, must meet with city workers to discuss conditions the city may have before a final permit can be approved.

Aug. 29, 1999: Vietnam behind in Y2K bug preparation. Y2K preparations, it seems, have been as slow as an old 386 PC. ``Embarrassingly late,'' said Chu Hao, the government's point man on the year 2000 problem and a deputy minister at the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment.. ``Thumb-twiddling,'' sneered one state-run newspaper. The problem is, Vietnamese authorities have no idea exactly how many computers they have -- it's estimated at about half a million -- or where they all are, let alone how many will be affected or whether they'll be fixed by midnight Dec. 31. A nationwide inventory of government offices -- an inventory declared to be compulsory -- was poorly promoted and virtually ignored: Of 61 cities and provinces, only one responded. In many ways, Vietnam remains a country that conducts business much as it did 50 or 100 years ago, a country of handwritten records and carbon-paper receipts. It's a country of nearly 80 million where people haggle over the price of limes, noodles, sandals and Coke. Bar codes are virtually non-existent and cash registers are rare; cigar boxes and brassieres are the more usual ways for vendors to keep the day's receipts.Full story SJMN.

Aug. 27, 1999: Time Asia. The Most Influential Asians of the Century. The map of Asia was redrawn this century by a cavalcade of towering individuals and a newly awakened populace.  Including an article by Mr. Bui Tin (former colonel and deputy editor in chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, the Communist Party newspaper) that drawn Vietnam mad and denounced him as traitor.Details.

Viet dissident's call for trade ties stirs local debate. REACTION: A man long jailed by Hanoi supports full trade relations with the United States. Nguyen Dan Que, 57, believes new economic ties would help destabilize Hanoi's communist regime, Reuters news service reported. He directed his remarks at overseas compatriots, asking them not to oppose last month's preliminary agreement on a comprehensive trade deal between Hanoi and Washington. Nguyen has spent about 20 of the past 23 years in prison for urging political and social reforms in his homeland. The former Nobel Peace Prize nominee, released last September, remains under heavy surveillance in his home in Ho Chi Minh City. He has met with numerous foreign dignitaries, including U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana. "He's putting the Vietnamese abroad in a very difficult position," said lawyer Nguyen Quoc Lan of Westminster, a longtime human-rights activist in Little Saigon. "He has suffered a lot for criticizing communism, so I think he's genuine here. I can understand his argument, but I don't support it." That increased trade with America will force Hanoi to radically alter its state-run industries, leading to transformation of the Communist Party itself. That although Vietnamese officials stand to profit most from any trade deal, some benefits will trickle down to the average household. "My father still despises communism," Hoang said, "but in his long-term perspective, he sees this opportunity as opening a floodgate of positive change for his nation." Full story OC. Orange.

Aug. 26, 1999: A Unifying Voice Vietnamese-Language Radio Strengthens Sense of Community. It was radio that brought some 15,000 people into   the streets of Westminster for a single rally earlier this year, and the power of the medium--which already reaches across the country--is only likely to increase with use of the Internet and plans for a full-fledged Vietnamese-language radio station in the works. "The sense of community is definitely strengthened by radio. There's no lag time. What happens in Little Saigon today will be talked about in Washington, D.C., today," said Nguyen Ngoc Bich, director of Vietnamese services for Washington-based Radio Free Asia, the U.S. government-funded network that broadcasts in Asia.  At least a dozen professional radio production  companies in Orange County's Little Saigon, home to the nation's largest Vietnamese community, lease air time--up to 12 hours a day--on three frequencies. Three of the programs are simulcast in San Jose and Houston, also home to large Vietnamese communities. Excerpts from programs also are broadcast in cities ranging from Atlanta to Seattle to Washington, D.C.  The proliferation is fueled by an ever-growing appetite for news from local communities as well as Vietnam. Its impact was most forcefully felt during the height of anti-communist protests in Little Saigon earlier this year. The effect was immediate: Some 15,000 people turned out along Bolsa Avenue for the single largest rally during the two months of protests. The radio broadcasts went national, and within days, Vietnamese American communities throughout the country, from San Jose to Houston to Washington, D.C., had organized supporting rallies. The watershed demonstrations served to highlight the emergence of Vietnamese language radio as both a unifying community presence and a mobilizing tool. Before radio, Vietnamese-language newspapers served as the pipeline of information from region to region, but the lag time was considerable--several weeks at a time as papers were passed around from friend to friend. Full story LA. Times.
Viet Mercury is now online. Please go to our links page for weekly news. For this week, Vietmercury.

Aug. 25, 1999: Vietnam bureau chief, Viet Mercury plan forum Mark McDonald, Vietnam bureau chief for the Mercury News, will be appearing Sept. 9 at a free community forum at Mayer Theatre on the Santa Clara University campus. Joining him will be staff members from Viet Mercury, the newspaper's Vietnamese-language weekly produced in San Jose. The forum will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The evening will feature a discussion of current events in Vietnam, plus slide shows of recent photographs from Vietnam by Mercury News photographers. A question-and-answer session will follow, and translation will be provided for Vietnamese speakers. Refreshments will be served.More details.

Estranged wife alleges Gingrich took `assets'. The estranged wife of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich wants a Cobb County, Ga., judge to  freeze the couple's assets until their divorce is final. In her counterclaim to Gingrich's July 29 divorce petition, Marianne Gingrich accuses her husband of transferring ``substantial portions of certain valuable assets'' before filing for divorce. She also asks that Newt Gingrich be ordered to stop any ``further transfers or concealment'' of assets, and replace any assets he has already transferred. Judge Dorothy Robinson will hear the counterclaim Sept. 16. By SJMN.

State voters poll shows Bush, Gore in dead heat. George W. Bush hasn't managed to quell questions about drug use, but the popularity of the Texas governor among California Republicans only continues to grow, according to a Field Poll released today. Bush leads the pack seeking the GOP presidential nomination with backing from 47 percent of California Republican voters, more than the combined total of the eight other Republicans in the race. His support has increased 10 percentage points since the last Field survey in March. Among Democratic voters, Vice President Al Gore maintained a 3-1 ratio of support over former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley between March and August. Gore leads Bradley, 50 to 16 percent, among state Democratic voters, although almost a third remain undecided.Full story SJMN.

Aug.  23, 1999:China Waging War of Words on Taiwan. Asia: Analysts say threat of force to reunite island with mainland is scare tactic. Photos of Chinese tanks and choppers have been plastered across the front pages of Beijing-backed papers in Hong Kong. Television footage depicts soldiers lustily singing songs about "liberating" the tiny island that Beijing considers a breakaway province. China's war of words, coupled with hints of military action, has been relentless since Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui upset the delicate balance of Sino-Taiwanese ties last month with his surprise demand that the two be treated as equals. The leadership here is fully aware that a military move against Taiwan would bring on international opprobrium and could trigger diplomatic and economic sanctions at a time when China can least afford it. While it is true that some parts of the Chinese military can be mobilized quickly, any large-scale maneuver would probably be detected beforehand by Taiwanese and U.S. intelligence. Even the limited air sorties now underway by China and Taiwan, which have prompted international concern, are far fewer than during the crisis three years ago. Short of a full invasion, which would require an amphibious landing difficult to sustain along Taiwan's shoreline. "The military folks, being well aware of the risks they face, tend to include quite a few people who don't want war--yet," said Dreyer at the University of Miami. "The idea is always that a couple of years down the road, given more time to train, a couple more squadrons of planes and a few more submarines, then they will be ready."Full story LA. Times.

Aug.  21, 1999: Prominent dissident freed by Vietnam after 66 days. HANOI (AP) -- A prominent dissident who was detained for more than two months this year says he went on two hunger strikes before he was released without charge. Nguyen Thanh Giang, an internationally known geophysicist, also said in a seven-page letter faxed Friday to the Associated Press that his children had been punished for his activities by losing their jobs. Giang was arrested March 4 in Hanoi for allegedly possessing anti-communist documents. He also had written articles on party corruption that were circulated on the Internet and published in newspapers put together by Vietnamese living in exile. His arrest prompted international criticism. The U.S. State Department had called for his immediate release before he was freed in mid-May. Vietnam called Washington's criticism ``brazen interference'' in its internal affairs. Full story SJMN.

Radio of Free Vietnam begins its broadscasting. A community meeting was announced on a number of  Vietnamese newspapers in San Jose and was also held this afternoon at William C. Overfelt High school, 1835 Cumnnigham Ave., San Jose. About 500 people attended during this Saturday afternoon which started at 1 pm. A 30 pages publication and one video tape were given to the audiences. The Radio  of Free Vietnam and the meeting has been organized by the establishment of the Government of Revolutionary Free Vietnam, which a few months earlier caused a number of rumors and innuendo in the Vietnamese community. This afternoon presentation with news publication and free video of their activities given out, intended to establish the seriousness and well organized of the organization to Vietnameses which are living outside Vietnam, especially the most populated Vietnamese in Orange County and Santa Clara county in California. They have a web site http://www.rfvn.org for more information.

Aug 19, 1999: Voter Campaign Targets Vietnamese. Politics: Sparked by anti-communist rallies this year, activists plan rock concert to boost Little Saigon registration drive. The effort is the biggest ever undertaken to register new Vietnamese American voters. It also is the first major event to come out of the political movement sparked by the huge anti-communist rallies in Little Saigon earlier this year. "There's a collective awareness now. Everyone senses the dynamic that this is the time for our voices to be heard," said attorney Van Thai Tran, project chairman and a member of the Vietnamese American Voters Coalition.  The daylong music concert, set for Oct. 17, stars some of the hottest acts in the Vietnamese pop world. It takes its name from MTV's prominent voter awareness campaign. Orange County is home to the largest community of Vietnamese immigrants in the country--an estimated 200,000. About half are citizens, and only 35,000 of them are registered to vote, said Nhi Ho, one of the coordinators on the project. "Politically, the Vietnamese community has been defeated on a number of issues--from the embargo being lifted to the trade agreement recently reached between the U.S. and Vietnam. The lesson we learned is that we need to be stronger." Full story LA. Times.

Aug 18, 1999: China: The Awkward Superpower. If the 20th was the American Century, the 21st might very well belong to China. This newsfile charts the American/ Chinese relationship and the issues facing China today.Time Magazine.

U.S. Opens New Consulate Building In Former Saigon. HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Reuters) - The United States opened a new consulate in the former Saigon Monday, nearly a quarter century after a dramatic airlift from its old embassy marked the end of the Vietnam War. U.S. senator Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran, helped open the new consulate and said the event marked an important step in ties between the one-time enemies. This is...symbolic in many ways but it's very real in many ways also,'' Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska and member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Reuters Television at the opening ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City. Last month the U.S. and Vietnam reached ``agreement in principle'' on a long-awaited trade pact, and enactment of the deal is expected by the year-end. Hagel and Peterson were among 300 guests who watched the U.S. flag raised at the new consulate building, which stands next door to a vacant lot that housed the U.S. embassy in Saigon during the Vietnam War. For Hagel, who was awarded two Purple Hearts for his Vietnam service, the trip marked the first time he had set foot on Vietnamese soil since his tour of duty. He was accompanied by his brother Tom, who fought in the same unit during the conflict, and the memories flooded back. `Like in any war, there are bad memories and there are good memories. But I think you do not let the bad memories control, or dictate or set the course for the future,'' said Hagel. Full story Reuters.

Aug 17, 1999: Vietnam veteran finally gets medals he earned in combat. Don't tell Mike Lewellen he's a hero. He'd deny it, despite earning a cluster of some of the most prestigious medals the U.S. Army gives for bravery for his four years in Vietnam. "I don't consider myself a hero. There were many other people that served in that war that were. I know because I served with some of them," Lewellen said after receiving his honors Monday. That modesty may in part account for why it has taken so long for Lewellen to get his National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, Air Medal, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Combat Infantryman Badge. The 52-year-old veteran, computer systems manager for the Santa Ana Police Department, waited years to be decorated. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, made the presentation at a ceremony attended by 80 people at the Police Department. The reason for the delay is still unclear, but Lewellen never complained about it to anyone. He joined the Santa Ana Police Department in 1969, after his Army service ended. He quickly climbed the ranks, starting out as a patrol officer, then being promoted to sergeant in 1975, and lieutenant in 1977. Full Story OC. Register.

Aug 16, 1999: Lutherans welcome 1st Vietnamese woman cleric. Minh-Hanh Nguyen, 57, the first Vietnamese woman ordained in the Lutheran faith, stood in her white robe, green stole and black shoes and smiled.Born in Saigon to parents who embraced the Seventh Day Adventist Church when she was 5, Nguyen found comfort in her religious beliefs early on. Nguyen says her decision to serve God is the outcome of cumulative experiences, but one incident stands out in her mind. It was a day when tropical rain pounded on the tile roof of her family's home and men in trench coats came to arrest her mother for aiding in the resistance against the French government — a charge dropped three months later. Nguyen was 8 then. "As I was running out into the rain fol- lowing my mother to the truck, I was frantically calling on God for help," she said. Nguyen arrived at Camp Pendleton with her family in 1975 as a refugee. She worked as a state Department of Rehabilitation counselor for 16 years through July. Having served as a lay leader in two other Christian denominations, she was encouraged to join the seminary in 1995. Full Story OC. Register.

Aug 15, 1999: Money Is at Root of New Split Among Vietnamese. Activism: Little Saigon anti-communist protests brought more than $250,000 in donations. Some suspect group's leader misused it, but he won't open books. It was a passionate plea for a noble cause. And so the money--small change and large checks--flowed in. Altogether, more than $250,000 poured into the paper-box coffers of the Committee for Just Cause for a Free Vietnam during anti-communist protests in Little Saigon earlier this year. Members of Orange County's Vietnamese emigre community, enraged by a shopkeeper's display of communist icons, gave freely. Ho said the donations, which he says totaled $279,680, are safely held in a bank. But he has yet to open the books to the public. "He has refused to answer the public's questions. Now people are worried that he has hidden away the money," said Thang Ngoc Tran, president of the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, a nonprofit social service organization. In the past, the Committee for Just Cause has served as the political arm for the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, which as a social service organization officially didn't participate in political activities.Ho acknowledges that some money has been spent on his working trips, such as $2,700 for the Australia trip and $2,530 for a Washington, D.C. trip. But visits to Germany, France, England, Texas and Hawaii were  paid either from his own pocket or through Vietnamese groups that invited him to speak, Ho said. The bulk of the money, Ho said, is being used to buy a building that will serve as the committee's headquarters as well as a community center. He said his group is in escrow on a two-story 4,400-square-foot commercial building at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Garden Grove Boulevard.From a legal standpoint, Ho's group is entitled to use the money as it chooses, said lawyer and activist Van Thai Tran. Donors have no say over allocation of cash that was given with no restrictions. But reestablishing community trust is another matter, Tran said. "I think the jury's still out on whether funds have been misused," said Tran. But "there's no doubt he has done a poor job of assuring the community that the money is in good hands." Full Story LA. Times.

Aug 14, 1999: Crowd flocks to holy site. Field in Vietnam draws Catholics. LA VANG, Vietnam (AP) -- Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics on Friday streamed to the biggest church event of the year in Vietnam, a communist nation where any religious gathering is a concern for the government. A rural area flanked by lush rice fields was the pilgrims' destination -- the spot where a group of persecuted Catholics was said to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary 200 years ago. It remains the only reported apparition of Mary in Southeast Asia. A tent city sprouted quickly Friday in an adjoining field, 25 minutes from the nearest town. Church officials estimate 200,000 people may visit the site by Sunday, when a yearlong celebration of the apparition's bicentennial wraps up. Vietnam's 76 million people are predominantly Buddhist, but the 8 million Catholics are the most numerous in Southeast Asia outside the Philippines. Catholic church officials see the government's relatively hands-off attitude toward the commemoration as a hopeful sign, especially as the Vatican tries to open diplomatic relations with Hanoi. Still, some religious adherents -- particularly unauthorized groups like the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam -- continue to complain of harassment. Both the United Nations and the U.S. State Department have issued critical reports on religious freedom in Vietnam. For its part, the government denies it holds anyone for religious or political views.Full Story SJMN.

Aug 13, 1999:$5,000 support received from Pacific Bell to Vietnamese American Council. At noon today, Mr. Dat Nguyen, executive Director and 2 summer job students of VAC came to Pacific Bell campus at River Oaks Place, San Jose to receive a $5,000 donation check to support a program for Vietnamese women. This program is to promote and training in leadership skills as well as the confidence needed to help them to become more involved in the leadership roles in the Vietnamese community. Thank you Pacific Bell for support to this important project.

Paving the way for Vietnamese to visit U.S. New consulate, on old Saigon embassy site, braces for flood of visa applications The old U.S. Embassy building here in the former Saigon was a tangible and concrete reminder of the country's bitter involvement in the Vietnam War. But the building is long gone, and a new U.S. Consulate, located on the old embassy site, will officially open Monday. And beginning next month, the United States will begin issuing tourist visas here for the first time. The handsome new building on Le Duan Street has been designed specifically to handle an expected flood of visa applications, according to U.S. Consul General Charles A. Ray, who said Vietnam is now the fifth-largest source of immigrants to the United States. Ray said the new consulate will be able to shorten visa approvals from eight weeks to as little as 48 hours. The current procedure requires visa interviews to be conducted in Hanoi, with the paperwork processing then being done in Bangkok. Visa applications in Vietnam have increased about 20 percent a year in recent years, and in 1998 some 20,000 non-immigrant applications were received. Of those, about 9,600 visas were eventually issued -- mostly to Vietnamese students, government officials and business people. Next year, however, State Department officials expect applications in Ho Chi Minh City alone to reach 150,000. Only about 200 tourist visas were approved last  year, mostly family emergencies and medical visits. Completed a month ahead of schedule, the $3.2 million consulate was built by an American contractor using Vietnamese subcontractors. Completed a month ahead of schedule, the $3.2 million consulate was built by an American contractor using Vietnamese subcontractors. Change welcome, but not too much. ``We will not accept any other parties or a multiparty system,'' Dao Duy Qu at, deputy head of the Communist Party's Ideology and Culture Commission, told foreign reporters. ``We do not want a multiparty system because we do not want such opposition parties.''Government statistics show that nearly 25 percent of foreign tourists come from China, followed by the United States (12.3 percent), Taiwan (9.1 percent), Japan (6.4 percent) and France (5.6 percent). Full story SJMN.

Chinese military pressures Taiwan. Beijing quietly tells U.S. it will `do something'. In a recent series of meetings with the unofficial U.S. experts on China policy, the Chinese officials appeared to have been trying to measure the likely response by the United States to such a move, they explained. Analysts say such a U.S. reaction to a Chinese move could range from economic and political sanctions to military action. ``They walk in with the same message: `We're going to do something. We can't tell you what, but we're going to do something,' '' said James Mulvenon, an expert on the People's Liberation Army at the Rand Corp., a think tank specializing in military affairs. ``The goal for China would be to cause maximum impact in Taiwan, without bringing the U.S. in.'' Although the United States officially endorses Beijing's view that there is only one China, under the Taiwan Relations Act it has committed itself to protecting the island against unprovoked attack from the mainland. Full story SJMN.

Aug 12, 1999: Taiwan develops a new identity. Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui's recent declaration that Taiwan and China should interact as political equals alarmed Washington and Beijing alike, prompting Chinese air sorties and fears of war in the Taiwan Strait. But diplomatic tussles and questions of motive aside, Lee gave voice to a growing sense of national identity in Taiwan that has been decades in the making. The ingredients of modern Taiwan pride are a complex mixture of ethnic and cultural consciousness, economic accomplishment and a yearning for international status. Underlying it all is China's claim to the mountainous, 13,900-square-mile island in the South China Sea -- and Taiwan's desire to get out from under the shadow of its communist neighbor. ``Taiwan consciousness has become a major issue,'' says Lin I-Hsiung, chairman of the Democratic Progress Party, Taiwan's main opposition party. ``It's become clearer and clearer to people that Taiwan and China are two different countries.'' Paradoxically, even as mainlanders increasingly identify with Taiwan, Taiwanese are expanding their economic ties to China. The amount of Taiwan investment in China was $1.5 billion last year, a whopping increase of 760 percent over $174 million in 1991. Growing numbers of Taiwanese businessmen live part-time in China and marry Chinese women, like Alexander Chiu, a restaurant owner in his 50s who married a mainland woman in her 20s. Full story SJMN.

Aug 11. 1999: Controversial Little Saigon figure guilty of video piracy. COURTS: Truong Van Tran, notorious for his pro-communist displays, will remain free until his appeal is settled. Cramin reviewed the only evidence — a 21-page police report — and found Tran guilty. He sentenced Tran to 90 days in jail, 80 hours of community service, three years' probation and a $200 fine.Full story OC. Register.

Aug. 10, 1999 Target of Protests in Little Saigon to Be Sentenced. Courts: The shopkeeper who triggered anti-Communist demonstrations is ready to accept guilt in video piracy case. Tran faces a maximum of five years in prison for the crime but is likely to receive a lighter sentence, deputy district attorney Dan Wagner said. In the last three years, about two dozen people have been convicted on video piracy charges in Orange County, with sentences ranging from 90 days to one year in jail, he said. Tran, 37, sparked a two-month protest in mid-January in Westminster's Vietnamese community when he posted a picture of Communist leader Ho Chi Minh and a flag of the current Vietnamese government in his video shop. His action ignited passionate protest from thousands of Vietnamese emigres in the community who considered the Communist symbols offensive. Many are exiles and former political prisoners who fled the Communist regime after the war. Tran defended his display, saying that he simply wanted to prompt dialogue within a community that has never accepted dissent on the issue of normalizing relations with Vietnam. Since his arrest March 16, Tran has stayed out of the public eye as the political movement born out of the protests has continued. Demonstrators continue to picket, for example, outside the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. Full Story LA. Times.

July 1999 News Page