Vietnam flag: US government asked to intervene

[MORTARDUDE]

http://abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANe...ies_807566.htm

Vietnam flag: US government asked to intervene

Radio Australia

Vietnam has officially asked the United States government to get two towns in California to drop their plans to adopt the flag of the former South Vietnamese regime.

Reuters news agency says the town of Garden Grove has joined Westminster in deciding to shun Vietnam's official gold-starred red flag and to use the old yellow and red striped South Vietnamese flag at civic functions.

A spokeswoman for Vietnam's Foreign ministry says the moves insult the dignity of the Vietnamese people and contravene the norms of diplomacy.

She says Vietnam has asked the United States government to have the decisions rescinded and prevent similar incidents from happening in any place inside US territory.

Reuters news agency says the campaign to revive the defunct South Vietnamese flag started in the eastern state of Virginia, where the State Department intervened last month.

It persuaded Virginia's lawmakers to kill legislation that would have required the state to fly the former South Vietnamese flag at state functions.

[MORTARDUDE]

City Will Debate Resolution to Ban Flag of Communist Vietnam
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Los Angeles Times

Invoking symbols from a war gone by, officials in two California cities have joined with Vietnamese emigres in a campaign to banish the flag of communist Vietnam from local official functions.

To fly in its place: the yellow banner of the vanquished Republic of South Vietnam.

Garden Grove City Council members are to consider a resolution Tuesday night that would designate the South Vietnamese flag for official functions, mirroring a resolution the neighboring Westminster City Council approved unanimously last month.

The flag issue has no effect on foreign policy, but the campaign has drawn outrage from the Vietnamese government, which has complained to state and federal officials.

Flags have long been powerful symbols in Little Saigon, a district that sprawls across the border between the two cities and serves as hub of Southern California?s Vietnamese community. Flags have launched controversies there over everything from First Amendment rights of free expression to whether protocol allows the South Vietnamese flag to be flown at the same height as the American flag on U.S. soil.

The current campaign first surfaced in Virginia, where the State Department intervened last month to persuade state legislators to kill a measure that would have required the state to fly the former South Vietnamese flag at official functions.

A similar resolution was approved Feb. 19 in Westminster, where the South Vietnam flag hangs in storefronts as a symbol of unity in exile.

Embracing of the flag led to a showdown four years ago with the City Council over whether the U.S. and South Vietnamese flags should be flown in tandem during annual commemorations of the fall of Saigon ? a closely observed event in Little Saigon, a community of the displaced. The flags ultimately did not wave, because veterans groups prevailed in their argument that adding the South Vietnamese flag to the U.S. flag in municipal displays would be disrespectful.

The resolution of Garden Grove Councilman Mark Rosen would affect municipal functions in which foreign flags are displayed. He said the South Vietnamese flag is ?a flag that represents the hopes and dreams and democracy of the Vietnamese people, rather than a flag of conquest, which is what the communist flag represents.?

The Vietnamese government, which termed the Virginia effort ?insolent,? has been aggressive in trying to stop the resolution.

Nguyen Tam Chien, Vietnam?s ambassador to the United States, wrote to California Gov. Gray Davis last month urging him to ?take proper measures to stop the resolution? in Westminster because it ?goes against international conventions and practices,? and is ?written in such a very improper language full of slanders and fabrications about Vietnam.?

Nguyen also cited the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam, and the nations? desires to nurture economic ties.

?The resolution therefore will only serve to revive the past of hatred and damage the potential relationship of mutual benefit between our two countries and between Vietnam and your state,? the ambassador wrote.

Davis spokesman Russ Lopez said the governor?s office replied, noting that Vietnam and California enjoy good relations but that Westminster City Council members are entitled to set their own policy.

Leaders in Little Saigon were less diplomatic.

?Is Mr. Nguyen a voting constituent, and does he pay taxes in California?? asked Garden Grove Councilman Van Tran. ?We have no legal obligations to satisfy his request.?

(Optional add end)

The current Vietnamese flag was flown by North Vietnam and followers of Ho Chi Minh during the civil war that ended with the pullout of U.S. troops in 1975 ? and that sparked the exodus that led to today?s growing Vietnamese American community.

?The communist flag is a bloody flag because they killed, harassed our people,? said Ky Ngo, an activist who displays the South Vietnam flag on his van and clothes.

[sfc_darrel]

and the location they like least...

[TheOldSarge]

I wonder ... do the current leaders in Vietnam know what "KMA" means?

The Old Sarge

[VIETNAM 1968]

I would like to add my input into the discussion concerning the display of the Old Republic of Vietnam Flag. I recently purchased a brand new OLD REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM FLAG on E-Bay, and intend to predominantly display it, along with our American Flag, at my home. Of course, Old Glory will receive it's due respect while displaying both flags.

My plan to display the Republic of Vietnam Flag is two fold:

First: I want to show the Present Communist Government in Vietnam that they might have defeated the South Vietnamese Government, but they NEVER DEFEATED the American Troops that served there. In fact, the United States forces NEVER LOST A BATTLE during the entire time the United States was involved in hostilities. Why now should we lose a diplomatic battle, to the present government of Vietnam, simply because that government DOES NOT APPROVE OF OUR DISPLAY OF the former Vietnamese Flag. We live in a FREE SOCIETY which gives each person the right to EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT SOMEONE ELSE APPROVES! I would like to think that our Government would quickly tell the PRESENT COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT IN VIETNAM---TO GO TO HELL, rather then give in to their demands that only the NEW RED COMMUNIST FLAG OF VIETNAM BE DISPLAYED in the United States.

Secondly: We, as Vietnam Veterans served under two flags while doing our Tour of Duty in Vietnam. The United States Flag and the Yellow and Red Flag of the former Republic Of Vietnam. Vietnam was the longest war that the United States ever fought. During that time over 58,000+ United States Troops gave their lives while defending BOTH FLAGS. For that reason, I now wish to display the Old Republic Of Vietnam Flag, as a sort of symbolic tribute to those 58,000+ Americans that paid the Supreme Price in a GALLANT ATTEMPT TO SAVE VIETNAM from THE SAME PEOPLE who now desire to wipe out any reference TO THEIR SACRIFICE. That should NEVER BE PERMITTED TO HAPPEN! The Communists were able to snuff out the lives of those 58,000+ American Troops, but they SHOULD NEVER BE PERMITTED TO SNUFF OUT THEIR MEMORY, AND WHAT THEY DIED FOR!

Lastly, I DO NOT LIKE BEING TOLD, by some enemy FOREIGN GOVERNMENT, just WHAT I CAN AND CAN NOT DISPLAY ON MY OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY. The Communist Vietnamese might be able to dictate to THEIR OWN PEOPLE; BUT I REFUSE TO BE ORDERED TO DO SOMETHING by the VERY PEOPLE WE FOUGHT SO HARD AGAINST SO MANY YEARS AGO.

Yes I completely intend to PROUDLY DISPLAY THE TWO FLAGS I DEFENDED while serving in Vietnam thirty-five years ago. If I aggravate MY OLD ENEMIES BY DOING SO, SO MUCH THE BETTER! Let the present Government of Vietnam see that THE UNITED STATES WILL NEVER GIVE IN TO DEMANDS ON OUR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS. This is far more important then merely displaying a flag which represents a government that DOES NOT EVEN EXIST TODAY. It represents our willingness to RESIST an attempt by Communist Vietnam, to erode one of our American Freedoms. A Freedom that is just as important today, as it was when we FIRST OPPOSED COMMUNISM so many years ago! THE FREEDOM TO DECIDE, FOR OURSELVES, HOW WE WISH TO EXPRESS OUR FEELINGS.


To all my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I wish to state:


WELCOME HOME

Vietnam 1968

[9th Inf. Doc.]

AMEN!!Anybody know where the flags can be bought?

[SuperScout]

Beautifully stated! Thanks for your passionate, reasoned and righteous defense of the flag that I'm still proud to have served under. To strive to give freedom to an oppressed people is truly an honorable and noble gift. We gave.

[ArtySgt]

Well, you just can't say it any better then that, thank all of you.