US authorities on Monday (Jan 29) announced fines and charges against three major European banks and eight individuals accused of manipulating futures markets for precious metals.
Deutsche Bank, UBS and HSBC will together pay a total of US$46.6 million to settle allegations that traders at the banks worked to manipulate futures markets in precious metals through a process known as “spoofing,” the Justice Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.
Seven former traders, including ex-UBS trader Andre Flotron, who was indicted last year, as well as a technology consultant, also face charges of “spoofing” – in which traders place and then abort trades to manipulate prices – on markets for various precious metals including gold and silver between early 2008 and about 2014.
The suspects were based in New York, Switzerland, Britain, Australia, the United Arab Emirates. Prior to this case, only three other people had been charged with the crime of spoofing, according to the Justice Department.
In actions brought by the CFTC, which regulates derivatives markets, Deutsche Bank suffered the largest penalty at US$30 million while UBS agreed to pay US$15 million and HSBC was fined US$1.6 million.
The suspects allegedly placed hundreds and sometimes thousands of fraudulent “spoof orders” to create the appearance of demand and cause other market players to trade at inflated prices or make moves when the would otherwise have held their positions.
“Conduct like this poses significant risk of eroding confidence in US markets and creates an uneven playing field for legitimate traders and investors,” John Cronan, the acting head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement.
James McDonald, director of enforcement at the CFTC, which regulates derivatives markets, said electronic and algorithmic trading had created opportunities both for legitimate trading, which CFTC supported, and for fraud.
“We are equally committed to identifying and punishing these bad actors,” he said in a statement.
David Liew, a Deutsche Bank trader, pleaded guilty in June and has reportedly agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Budget carrier VietJet has been fined VND40 million (US$1,760) for hosting a bikini performance on its flight carrying the national U23 football team back home from the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China on the weekend.
The fine was issued on Tuesday by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAA), according to an announcement posted on its website the same day.
The performance in question occurred on VietJet charter flight VJ7269 from China’s Changzhou to Vietnam’s Hanoi on Sunday.
Although the in-flight performance did not lead to unsafe conditions, it was a potential threat to flight safety and therefore the airline had been fined in accordance with aviation regulations, CAA said in its announcement.
Apart from the administrative fine on the airline’s part, the purser on flight VJ7269 was also fined VND4 million ($176) for failing to report the incident to the flight captain.
VietJet CEO and President Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao received written advice for her responsibility as the chief executive of the airline.
VietJet has drawn a storm of criticism after a clip began to circulate across social media platforms on Sunday showing bikini-clad dancers strutting and performing suggestive moves on the airline’s Changzhou-Hanoi flight carrying the U23 footballers.
The performance was described as “ridiculous” and “grotesque” by Vietnamese fans, given that the passengers were ‘national heroes’ who had brought pride to the country by finishing as runners-up at the Asian football championship.
VietJet’s Thao took to the airline’s official Facebook page later the same day to apologize for the public relations misstep, though blaming the dancers for having put on a spontaneous performance.
The VietJet Facebook page has now been deactivated following a drove of negative comments on its posts directed at the scandal.
Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula, which is bordered by China, Laos and Cambodia. It has advantageous natural conditions and rich mineral resources. Vietnam is a socialist state that officially espouses communism and is currently enjoying political stability. Since 1986, Vietnam has initiated a series of economic and political reforms and opening-up policies, and has embraced an economic development-centred policy that pushes it towards integration with the world economy.
In November, 2006, Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), and after that the Vietnamese economy has kept a high growth rate, with the annual GDP growth in 2015 and 2016 running at 6.7% and 6.2%, respectively, and economic forecasts for 2017 to achieve 6.3%.
Attracting foreign investment
With the rapid development of the economy, Vietnam is becoming more and more attractive for foreign investors. Besides the political stability and economic growth, there are other factors that make the country attractive, such as: (1) Relatively low wages. The population of Vietnam is relatively young, with 64.33 million people at working age out of a population of 91.9 million; (2) Advantageous geographic location. As a coastal country with 3,260km of coastline, Vietnam has major sea ports that provide transportation convenience for traders; (3) Relatively friendly investment legal framework. The laws in Vietnam provide comprehensive basic legal protection and preferential policies for foreign investors; (4) High degree of openness. Investors can take advantage of the ASEAN Economic Community, Trans-Pacific Partnership and other free-trade platforms to access the international market; and (5) Strong demand for infrastructure. With rapid economic development, the demand for infrastructure is increasing.
Legal framework
After joining the WTO in November 2006, Vietnam vigorously cleaned up domestic laws and regulations, and increased the attraction for foreign investment. The Law on Investment (LOI) 2014 and the Law on Enterprises (LOE) 2014 came into effect on 1 July 2015. These laws allow foreign investors to participate in economic investment activities in Vietnam, noting that investment in certain sectors, such as banking and insurance, must be subject to specialized laws and regulations.
Local commercial presence
Under Vietnamese law, foreign investors may establish a commercial presence either wholly or partly owned by foreign investors. The commercial presence may be established in the form of a limited liability company, joint-stock company, partnership or representative office.
Under Vietnamese law, foreign investors may participate in BOT, BCC, BT and PPP projects. Under government decree 15/2015/ND-CP, dated 14 February 2015 (decree 15), the government expressly encourages investment in infrastructure facilities including roads, railways, air and sea ports, water supply and treatment, drainage, garbage and sewage treatment, power plants and transmission plants.
The LOI of 2014 provides for a new type of investment form: the public-private partnership (PPP). The PPP contract is not a legal entity, but a contractual agreement between investors and the competent state agency for implementation of an investment project for new construction, renovation, upgrade, expansion, management and operation of infrastructure facilities, or provision of public services.
There is no separate law on protection for foreign investments in Vietnam. However, foreign investment protection can be found in international investment agreements to which Vietnam is a signatory. In addition, the LOI 2014 includes various provisions that provide guarantees relating to foreign investors’ assets in Vietnam.
Pursuant to the provisions of the LOI 2014, lawful assets and invested capital of investors may not be nationalized or confiscated. The state may only nationalize or confiscate assets of a foreign investor in an actual necessity for the purpose of national defence and security, or the national interest. In such cases, the investor should be compensated at prevailing market prices. Compensation should be made on a non-discriminative basis and in a freely convertible currency that can be remitted abroad.
Foreign investors are also protected with respect to their intellectual property, market access, and the right to remit their capital and assets out of Vietnam. The LOI 2014, however, states that remittance of profit and other gains by foreign investors may only be done after satisfaction of financial obligations (including payment of taxes).
Chinese investors can also benefit from certain protections and guarantees under the bilateral investment protection treaty between Vietnam and China, which came into force on 1 September 1993.
Source: vantageasia.com
Investment Law firms, recommended by foreign investors in Vietnam
Unable to ‘play’ on a level playing field, domestic games developers and distributors are finding it difficult to grow.
According to Director of VTC Intecom Nguyen Thanh Hung, the number of Vietnamese users downloading games provided by domestic firms from Google App Store accounts for 26 percent of total games, while foreign games account for 74 percent.
While domestic firms are put under tight control of state management agencies, foreign firms are not.
Foreign games are provided through Google or Apple app stores. Hung urged management agencies to apply measures to force foreign firms to pay tax. As they earn money from the Vietnamese market, they have to contribute tax.
CEO of CMN Online Pham Quoc Thang said management agencies’ need to carefully consider the problems in the gap between local and foreign firms. Games distributors also pointed out problems existing in the payment method for games.
Consumers pay via mobile network operators’ cards, SMS, international payment cards, and intermediary payment portals such as e-wallets, or pay directly to games distributors via their own issued cards.
However, the revenue from payments via mobile network operators’ cards and SMS is the biggest, accounting for 65 percent of total revenue. Vietnam is contrary to global trends where revenue via this mode is very low.
Thang said it is necessary to discourage payment through mobile network operators’ scratch cards because of technical problems as this can allow phishing.
He also complained about profit sharing between games distributors and telcos.
According to Thang, telcos pocket 18-20 percent of revenue, while games distributors, after paying games royalty, marketing expenses, salaries and operation costs, can collect only 3-5 percent.
Games development and distribution is an industry with high potential. However, games firms said they struggle to survive, while many others have died.
To compete and obtain the right for games distribution, domestic firms have to raise purchase prices, thus eating into profits.
Thang said in 2011, firms had to pay $20,000-30,000 for one foreign game, mostly from China. In many cases, firms have to pay one million dollars to buy one game for domestic distribution.
“This is because domestic firms compete with each other and don’t support each other,” he commented.
Vietnam has been the biggest game market in South East Asia since 2015. The total revenue of the game industry in the year reached $237 million, ranking sixth in Asia, after China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The Vietnamese game industry is expected to earn annual revenue of US$1 billion within 10 years, according to experts.
Reports released recently by market analysis firms all show that in the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector, Vietnamese brands hold the upper hand over rivals from multinational corporations.
Kantar Worldpanel’s Asia Brand Power report released on January 15 showed that Asian brands have been prospering in domestic markets in recent years.
In Vietnam, market share held by Vietnamese brands are superior to global brands in both rural and urban markets. In rural areas, Vietnamese brands hold 78 percent of market share, or 3.5 times higher than global brands. In large cities, the figures are 71 percent and 29 percent, respectively.
Kantar Worldpanel’s David Anjoubault commented that the strength of Vietnamese brands not only lies in good understanding about local markets, but also in distribution networks.
The success of Vietnamese brands is attributed to the close cooperation with Vietnamese retailers.
The relation between Vietnamese manufacturers and retailers is stable because it aims for mutual benefits. Retailers help Vietnamese brands approach local consumers more easily than international rivals. Meanwhile, manufacturers support retailers’ sale strategies to get adapted to the changes in consumers’ shopping habits.
The report by Nielsen on top 100 FMCG manufacturers in Asia Pacific also gave similar comments.
After analyzing four largest market segments including food, beverage, home care and personal care products, Nielsen came to the conclusion that while multi-national brands gained a. 2 percent growth rate in value in 2016 (5 percent in 2014), Vietnamese brands gained a growth rate of 7 percent (5 percent in 2014). Vietnamese manufacturers made up to 42 percent of total revenue of the whole FMCG sector.
In the food & beverage segment, Vietnamese enterprises hold the upper hand with market share of 69 percent and 45 percent, respectively. In home care and personal care segments, multinational brands have advantages, but their growth rates were lower than domestic ones.
Nguyen Anh Dung from Nielsen Vietnam explained that domestically made product quality has been improved recently, while they have more competitive prices and they are distributed through large retail markets which allow access to consumers in remote areas.
More modern retail chains have become distributors for FCMG manufacturers.
With the current low consumption level in the Vietnamese market, the FCMG sector still has great opportunities to develop and bring stable profits to investors.
Profit500, a Vietnam Report list of the 500 most profitable enterprises, showed that increasing sales and reducing costs are the top priority of FMCG manufacturers in the next 12 months.
Also according to Vietnam Report, the number of Vietnamese digitally connected spenders is expected to rise from 23 million and consumption level of $50 billion in 2015 to 40 million and $99 billion by 2025.
I’ve spent most of the past 5 years here in Vietnam as well as my other roaming destinations and Vietnam is by far my favourite.
Locals and foreigners alike usually burst out laughing when I tell them my big secret:
Since I came back to live in Asia 5 years ago, I have avoided most interaction with expats!
Of course I come across some really great expats but all too often what I wrote above is true – I can’t stand their whining and moaning about overseas living, why the locals do this and don’t do that, why things don’t function the way they’re accustomed to, the food, traffic.
You name it, they moan and groan about it.
What is an expat? The term is the abbreviation of “expatriate” which originates from the Latin “ex patria,” referring to someone living outside their home country. That can be someone on an overseas work assignment, retired and living in another country, or a nomad, like myself, who doesn’t live in any one particular place.
For the purposes of this discussion let’s focus on the expat who has chosen to go abroad to marry, work, or retire voluntarily.
I’ve spent most of the past 5 years here in Vietnam as well as my other roaming destinations and Vietnam is by far my favourite. From welcoming, tolerant, warm locals to great weather, variable climates, the best food I’ve ever had, a low cost of living, and a great infrastructure considering it’s a developing country, you can’t go wrong here.
In my opinion, an expat would really have to put in top effort to have a bad experience here.
This is a topic about which I consider myself an expert – I’m into my 40th year as an expat. I’ve lived in 8 different countries outside my native Canada. I’ve survived coups, revolutions, typhoons, earthquakes, and a host of other obstacles. I speak a bunch of languages, some poorly, some very fluently. For certain, I know the expat game from here to Peru and a lot of places in between.
I estimate three-quarters of expats are for the most part unhappy with their situation. The other 25% roll with the punches, accept the good and bad, and are overall content.
So why are so many expats so unhappy?
Part of it is easy to understand: the expat goes overseas and leaves behind all things familiar and comfortable, taking off into the unknown. That’s not easy to do. To cushion the blow and best manage that change, the expat needs to study his destination in great detail before going and to come up with realistic expectations.
Simple concept, yet most expats I know spent little or no time analyzing the situation in their target country before setting sail. They choose a country for a variety of reasons – most of those reasons seem bizarre and impractical to me: they met a girl and took a chance at a country they knew nothing about, they had a buddy already living in that country, or they had a job opportunity that attracted them.
Just because someone likes a girl in a given country or has a friend there, will that ensure that their whole expat experience will be favourable? Of course not, why would it? It’s nice to know people, especially a potential partner or close buddy, but that doesn’t ensure success or even give a distinct advantage.
But, wait, it gets weirder.
The other observation I’ve made is that many expats go abroad expecting to reap all the benefits a developing country like Vietnam offers without confronting any of the obstacles that go hand in hand with the experience.
That makes no sense to me and never has. Here’s a classic example: the driving habits in Vietnam are very different from any highly developed country. The expat who wants to drive here must accept the risk that goes with it – for example, accidents are frequent, foreigners often do not get the benefit of the doubt in case of an accident, nor should they.
That’s just the way it is – we take it or we leave it.
Similarly, Vietnam has the same issue with garbage and recycling that every country has, developed or not. It’s huge, it’s everywhere, and it’s getting worse. In many cases, those spotless countries that appear to have it all solved pay to have their garbage shipped abroad.
As a Canadian, I was appalled at the situation in the USA when I moved there. It’s commonplace to find household furniture, appliances, and every imaginable type of rubbish on freeway entrances and exits where it’s easy to dump things out of vehicles undetected. Garbage is routinely thrown on the streets, sidewalks, and out of car windows.
So why would we expect a developing country to manage it as well as we do? Developing countries have limited resources, that’s why they’re labelled as developing. Vietnam doesn’t have the resources to put a policeman or street cleaners on every corner.
Why is it that I rarely hear expats talking about the bad things at home that they’ve been lucky enough to leave behind? Right now in my country it’s the middle of winter – it’s cold, it’s so dry that sinuses, eyes, ears, and throats often ache. Snow all over the place, everything must be heated at great cost. Winter clothes, snow tires, and on and on.
It’s awful by any measure, and on top of that the cost of living is horrendous! If I had stayed in Canada or the USA, I’d be lucky if I ever retired, so how should we feel to be abroad?
There is only one answer: I’m very fortunate to have escaped at a relatively young age and remind myself of it every day of my life. If not for the low cost of living in Vietnam I’d be slaving away working in my country until too old to enjoy life.
Gratitude is another big piece of the puzzle, yet I rarely hear expats telling me how lucky they are to live on a paltry sum and enjoy the wonderful weather, food, and easy lifestyle.
Indeed, many spend a lot of their day dissecting, re-engineering, and improving everything they don’t like instead of being grateful for all the benefits. I hear it every day when I’m around expats: substandard hygiene in restaurants, the aforementioned garbage issues, double pricing, and so on ad nauseam.
This assumption that we do everything better is another head-scratcher to me. Granted, developed countries are the purveyors of countless modern amenities and innovations. But that doesn’t mean that locals are without culture and sophistication and require our expertise to improve their lifestyles.
Just sit down and eat and watch what goes on! Do Vietnamese people hastily prepare their food, then ram it down their throats as if they were filling the gas tank on their cars? Local customs are diligently respected from preparation right through to enjoyment. After all, what’s more important than the food we eat? Incredible eating culture in this country yet many expats find a way to criticize it. Baffling.
So, much of the expat experience comes down to learning rather than teaching, absorbing and understanding what is done and why. Those who come to teach and cultivate face a long uphill battle that never ends.
Me? I’m busy rolling with the locals, learning, absorbing, respecting their ways. I’m here to learn – if not why come here?
And I keep as far away from those 75% that are disgruntled with the whole experience.
Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, enjoyed little more than one month of clean air last year as pollution levels rose to match China’s smog-prone capital, Beijing, preliminary findings of a new report showed.
Annual average air pollution in Hanoi in 2017 was also four times higher than those deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines, according to a report by the Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID).
And the situation is likely to get worse, according to the Hanoi-based non-profit organisation.
“A bit more than one month were days with good air quality,” said Lars Blume, technical advisor at GreenID, which analysed air monitoring data compiled at the United States embassy in Hanoi.
“It is out of people’s control – they have to go out and work – and in many cases it is hard to really feel whether air is good or bad,” Blume told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Air pollution in Hanoi is due to a number of factors, including a rise in construction works, an increase in car and motorcycle use, and agriculture burning by farmers, Blume said.
But research in the report suggests that heavy industries, like steel works, cement factories and coal power plants in areas near the capital, are also significant contributors.
Hanoi’s air pollution is now worse than the Indonesian capital Jakarta, the report showed, and things are unlikely to improve as Vietnam pushes ahead with plans to build more coal power plants.
Exposure to high levels of air pollution, especially over the long term, can affect human respiratory and inflammatory systems, and can also lead to heart disease and cancer.
Acknowledging the problem, in mid-2016 the Vietnam government launched a national action plan to that sought to control and monitor emissions and improve air quality. Hanoi is planning to install 70 air monitoring stations.
The GreenID report criticised the lack of regulations on air quality, a lack of public awareness of the problem and on effective measures to minimize the effects – such as home purifiers.
The Vietnamese government must install more air pollution monitoring stations across the country and make the data available to the public, Blume said.
Improved urban planning and investments in renewable energy and public transport systems are also needed, said the report, which is due to be published at the end of February.
Previous GreenID surveys showed a growing concern among the Vietnamese over the issue of air quality and a rise in respiratory problems among children, said Nguyen Thi Anh Thu, a researcher at the organisation.
“How stupid can you get?” was a question teachers often used to ask me. “How stupid do you want?” was always my reply.
Over the last few years I have written articles about the attraction of Vietnam as an investment destination. Before proceeding further I must admit to travelling there 56 years ago when in the Merchant Navy, and now my youngest brother is a doctor in Ho Chi Min City. His experiences, and my recent visit, confirm my opinion of this country.
The population of Vietnam is around 93 million with an average age of 35 years. More than half now live in the cities and have aspirations to live a western lifestyle – this includes mobile phones and the internet.
Originally the roads were packed with bicycles, then it moved to scooters (carrying the whole family plus livestock) and now there are cars. Vast sums of money are being spent on roads, rail and infrastructure in general.
The country is self-sufficient in oil and rice, and the surplus is supplied into the rest of the Asian community. China, America and Japan have offshored manufacturing here for a number of years due to the low wages and the ‘can do’ attitude of a young population. When these countries do well, then, so do the Vietnamese.
Just look at the graph below, showing two means of investing directly into Vietnam.
In 2003, one of my first investments ever was into the VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF) where my money almost doubled before I exited in 2007, fortunately ahead of the world markets collapse of 2007/8.
I revisited Vietnam five years ago to holiday with my brother, and the activity there was simply startling. On my return to the UK I observed how the Saltydog Investor numbers covering Asia and the Pacific region appeared to be turning favourable, so I reinvested.
Here is the rub, and the reason I was reminded of my old school teachers. Although I was aware of two ways to make an investment into Vietnam, through an investment trust or an ETF, I only ever used the VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity trust. This was the one I was familiar with, and I ignored the Vietnam tracker ETF. I put all my eggs into the one basket, and then compounded the error by not keeping track of the performance of the ETF (both investments feature in the Saltydog numbers).
A quick glance at the table for the last six months hammers home the error of my ways. That has now been rectified.
Now don’t get me wrong, this single investment has proved very lucrative. But it was poor decision-making to travel solo. I should have used both investment vehicles and made the trip in convoy.
As for the future, will this performance continue? Who can be certain, but if China and Japan continue to perform well, and they are on Vietnam’s doorstep, then why not? This probably also applies to the Asia Pacific region in general.
Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia in Southeast Asia ranked ninth in the Top 10 destinations for Americans who are 55 years or older, according to Mr. Alan E. Lewis, Chairman of Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T), the leader in small groups on the road less traveled.
He announced O.A.T’s “Top 10 Destinations for 2018” based on year-to-date bookings by O.A.T. travelers. More than 15,000 travelers have booked an adventure to one or more of these destinations in 2018. There have been 1,295 bookings to Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, or Cambodia.
O.A.T. anticipates 57,012 travelers overall in 2018, up from 46,247 in 2016 and 40,266 in 2013. “Whether 55 or 75, older American travelers are heading to far-flung locations in record numbers and their varying choice of destinations mirrors the myriad interests of their generation,” said Mr. Lewis.
“What these travelers share in common is the desire to be fully immersed in local life when traveling, by engaging with students and teachers in rural schools, sharing a meal with a family in their home, or spending the day with local people in their village so they can gain a first-hand understanding of the destination and, ultimately, get a better sense of the world we share.”
Established in 1978, OAT is part of the Boston-based Grand Circle Corporation’s family of travel companies, which also include Grand Circle Cruise Line and Grand Circle Travel.
According to figures from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, total international arrivals last year reached 12,922,151, an increase of 29.1 per cent compared to 2016. There were about 614,117 arrivals from the US, up 111.1 per cent.
Many Vietnamese people are seeking to buy sets of multi-national bank notes as the Lunar New Year lucky money for their friends and relatives.
The set, which consists of 52 real bank notes of 28 countries, are sold at between VND200,000-500,000 (USD9.09-22.70).
The market for Tet lucky money is being transformed by different kinds of bank notes. Besides Vietnamese and USD small changes, there are Belarus 5 Rubles from 1992, Macao 10 Patacas from 2018 with all having the image of the dog on.
Among those, the 28-country bank note set is being sold on the internet claiming they can bring luck and happiness for people.
According to shop owners, they are real bank notes of countries such as the UK, the US, Japan, Australia and China with the smallest face value. They have the flag of the countries and sold along with a red envelope.
Nguyen Ngoc Lan in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District, a trader, said that the sets have attracted lots of customers this year because they are new. Each day, around 20 customers order the set.
Lan advised people to carefully consider before deciding to buy a set to avoid fake products.
Lien Huong in Cau Giay District, Hanoi, said that she has booked 10 sets of this kind as the lucky money for her friends and colleagues for the Tet Holiday instead of giving them US dollars as in previous years.
Tran Van Quang in Hai Ba Trung District selected the set to give his children because he wanted them to know more about the money of countries and have a better understanding of the world.
Vietjet Air CEO, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, has apologised for the use of models wearing bikinis on the plane welcoming the local U23 football team home yesterday.
In an apology posted on Vietjet Air’s Fanpage on Sunday evening, Thao said she wanted to say sorry to the Vietnam Football Federation, the national U23 football team and the public over the incident.
The low-cost carrier’s CEO claimed the performance by dancers wearing bikinis on the flight taking the U23 football team from China to Hanoi on January 28, was not in their plan but added by the flight’s reception team.
“A dancer had come to the players asking for their signatures and photo poses, which was not in the programme,” Thao said, “And her photos were criticized by the public.”
The CEO said that they had organised a meeting on the incident and had strictly punished staff.
Model Lai Thanh Huong was photographed hugging and sitting beside several players during their flight from Changzhou to Hanoi on January 28. The images were posted on Facebook. The post soon received thousands of negative comments from the public who criticised both the model and Vietjet Air for bad taste.
The model completely refuted Vietjiet Air’s explanation.
“We were invited to perform a bikini show as models, not dancers,” Huong’s representative told the Phunuonline Newspaper. “We were asked to wear bikinis, not our choice.”
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have asked their inspection team to report on the incident by January 31.
Speaking with Dtinews on January 29, head of the ministry’s Department of Performing Arts, Nguyen Quang Vinh, stressed that these kinds of performances should be banned.
In 2012, VietJet Air was fined VND20 million (USD960) by Vietnam aviation authorities for organising a bikini show on the Ho Chi Minh City-Nha Trang City route.
With the establishment of a working group on the formation of a special committee responsible for managing State capital at enterprises, Vietnam has taken the first step to realize the plan initiated in 2016.
The government’s Resolution No 1, released on the first day of 2018, mentioned the establishment of a committee in charge of managing the state’s capital at enterprises as an important task that needs to be done this year.
The PM signed a decision to form a working group to boost the formation of the committee led by Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue.
However, as Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon commented, the operation model to be applied to the committee is unclear. Setting up the committee in such a context may cause unnecessary costs to society.
In fact, there are two models for Vietnam’s reference, either one like Temasek in Singapore, or SASAC in China (State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council).
The draft plan that MPI (the Ministry of Planning & Investment) previously submitted to the government raised controversy after it was open for ministries’ opinions.
Regarding the model of Temasek, Phan Minh Ngoc, an analyst, commented in a newspaper that the Temasek model is not a suitable solution for Vietnam. To apply the model, Vietnam needs a transparent governance policy, completely independent of political intervention.
The committee will operate purely for commercial purposes which aim to optimize profits from the state’s investment capital and bring optimal added value to shareholders.
Meanwhile, it must not concurrently hold other tasks such as restructuring enterprises, or renovating and upgrading business performance of SOEs.
If so, the key personnel of the committee must be experienced managers, not government officials from ministries and branches.
As for SASAC, which was initially set up in accordance with the Temasek model and has experienced a lot of restructuring, some analysts said this is not a good choice for Vietnam.
The analysts said that Chinese enterprises managed by the committee do not have business performances as good as those of enterprises managed by Temasek.
SASAC manages SOEs without exercising the owner’s right of supervising the operation of enterprises under its management unlike Temasek.
SASAC, for example, owns and manages 100 percent of capital of China Hi-Tech Group Corporation. The corporation has subsidiaries, namely China Garments Co. Ltd and CHTC Helon Co. Ltd. Though SASAC is the ultimate owner, it only supervises the enterprises’ operation through China Hi-Tech.
‘I’ve asked them not to show off… I still watch them.’
The South Korean coach visited in Hanoi on Monday to answer readers’ questions about the memorable run to the AFC U23 final.
– What were your targets before going to China for the AFC U23?
There were 16 teams at the tournament, and Vietnam was considered one of the underdogs, being ranked 14th. In our group alone, we had Australia, South Korea and Syria, and people thought there was little hope for Vietnam.
We had to focus completely on each and every game and have a strategy for each game. Our target was just to try our best to win each game.
– How did you know your team was as at the same level as South Korea and Japan?
I think I may have been misunderstood. During the tournament, a local reporter asked me about the quality of the Vietnamese players, but I did not compare them to South Korea or Japan.
I’ve coached South Korean players, but I’ve never worked with Japanese players.
What I said was that Vietnamese players have their own unique special qualities in terms of pace, strength and technique that I do not see in Japanese or South Korean players. I did not say they are at the same level.
– Why did you decide to sign a deal with the VFF to become head coach of Vietnam’s U23 national team?
Actually, it was kind of a surprise. I’d never trained a Vietnamese team before. Then my agent told me that the VFF (Vietnam Football Federation) was interested in me while I was in charge of a small South Korean team.
I did not know much about Vietnam or the Vietnamese players. All I knew was that Xuan Truong was playing in South Korea and that Vietnamese football is developing fast.
I wanted to challenge myself. I think this is the last challenge and opportunity in my career. Now my dream of coaching abroad has been fulfilled and it’s lucky that everything has been good.
Maybe I need VnExpress to ask the VFF: Why me? Many coaches in South Korea want to know the answer because South Korea currently has many young and talented coaches. I’m already old enough to retire.
– What strategy did you use to help Vietnam’s U23 team transform in just a short period of time?
You should not say that I have transformed the Vietnamese football team into something else because the team can do much better.
For me I will try my best to share all the experiences I have collected over the decades to help the Vietnamese players.
– What did you and your assistants do to inspire the players?
We all have to deal with stress in our lives. I was away from home and felt homesick, but every morning when I looked into the players’ eyes, it made me stronger, it motivated me. I couldn’t find that feeling even in my hometown. It’s not just me, all the members of my crew felt it too.
I don’t know why there is a preconception that Vietnamese players are weak and that their qualities cannot be compared with others in Asia.
I want to change that way of thinking. I want to make the best out of Vietnamese players.
– What did you do to make the Vietnamese players physically stronger?
It was actually impossible to improve their strength in just a couple of weeks, but I recognized that Vietnamese players have their own strong points and techniques to compensate for their strength and size.
The most important strategy is that I changed the formation from four midfielders to just three to overcome their weaknesses.
I don’t know why people keep saying that being small is a weak point for Vietnamese players. Small players are quicker, and in addition, Vietnamese players are smart, they can easily understand my strategies and adapt to them very quickly.
We also figured out that their upper bodies are weak, so we sent them to the gym to train a month before the tournament.
But after all that, I want to say again that my assistants and I did not do much to improve the players’ strength. I want to remind you all Vietnamese players are not weak.
– How did you and the VFF change the diet of the Vietnamese players to make them stronger?
This is another misunderstanding. I respect the Vietnamese culture and cuisine and I did not make any changes to their diets. I just told them to eat more soya and milk each day.
I have to thank the VFF for carefully preparing the food for the players.
– How did you choose the players for the U23 national team?
I did not have much knowledge of Vietnamese players before I came to Vietnam. My method was to watch them play.
I also chose players based on their characters. I prefer players who have good manners, have good relationships with others and know how to behave in public.
– What did you tell your players during the most difficult points of the championship?
During training, I asked a lot from the players, and even yelled at them. But once they were in the game, I did not say much, most of the time. Once they’re in the game they know what to do and they have to find ways to connect with each other. Of course it depends on who they are playing but giving each player a role was what I paid most attention to.
I always ask players to talk to each other. When they live together and play games together, they talk to each other a lot, but they do that much less on the field. In football, players have to find a way to communicate with each other on the field. The players have reached about 60 percent of my requests for them to communicate so far.
– You seem to have a close relationship with your students. It looks like you’re their father. How did you erase the gap between you and them?
As I said, I feel emotional when I look into their eyes. I decided to leave everything behind. I went from going to the World Cup in 2002 to becoming the head coach of Vietnam’s U23 national team. In training, I had to yell at them and be strict. But after all we’re a team, we have to put our egos behind us. I am the head coach, I have to be their role model. I’d like them to look at me as a big brother.
My last name is Park and some players have joked that they’re going to change their last names to Park. Just like a father and his sons. The players managed to create a friendly atmosphere between us. They are my players. I chose them and I take responsibility for them. It’s just like being a parent and being responsible for our kids. But sometimes parents need to rely on their children, like when I laid my head on Trong Dai’s shoulder to take a nap at the airport. I’m a coach, but sometimes I have to rely on the players.
– What were you thinking when you were sitting by yourself in the technical area with your head down after Vietnam lost to Uzbekistan in the final?
We all know the players had to play in snowy conditions, something they had never done before. In harsh conditions like that, they played at their best, but it was a huge pity that they lost concentration in the last minute of the game. That was what I was thinking when I was sitting there.
The AFC decided to make the awards right after the match, and most of us had not regained out composure. It made me upset. Maybe the AFC wanted to finish things quickly because the weather was so bad.
– Who was the first person you called after the final?
I wanted to call my mother, but she’s too old (97) to take my calls. I was also afraid that she was worried about me.
– What were your feelings as you stepped off the plane at Noi Bai Airport?
I’d been aware of the support we received through the media since we were in China. When we arrived at the airport, there was a huge crowd, but I was not that surprised. I’d felt it before in 2002 when South Korea made it to World Cup quarterfinals. But I thought the crowd would just be at the airport. I could not believe that so many people were waiting for us all the way from the airport to center of Hanoi.
I never knew that the Vietnamese love for football was so strong, and I couldn’t tell if it was just their love for football, or just patriotism. That also puts pressure on me because I know there will be more challenges ahead. I think I have to prepare myself and my players from today.
– Do you think that the success of Vietnam at the AFC U23 was temporary or has the standard of Vietnamese football jumped to another level?
I heard somebody said that Vietnam had got lucky. Luck can come once, or twice, but it can’t help us get to the final. They shouldn’t think like that. As coach of the Vietnamese team, I can’t say if the players have reached a high standard, but I don’t think this is “temporary.”
The result is not something random; it’s thanks to the long-term efforts of our players. The image of Vietnamese football has been lifted. However, we need more time for the team to reach a higher level.
After AFC U23, expectations will be higher. Asia will look at Vietnam with different eyes, so the VFF, my crew and I will have to try much harder than before.
– Fans are crazy about your players. What advice do you want to give them to keep their feet on the ground?
I chose the players, and that’s why I adore them. Most of them are younger than my son. I look at them as my children. Aside from training sessions, there is no gap between us. Of course I have my own rules, as long as they do not cross the line, everything is fine.
In the short term, they will return to their clubs. As their leader, I’ve asked them not to show off. I want my assistants to tell them to double their efforts. When they wear the national colors, they have to be proud and try their best. Otherwise, they do not have the right to wear them. I want to remind them all that I still watch them, even when they return to their clubs.
Park Hang-seo only started coaching Vietnam’s U23 national football team three months ago.
In over 40 years of coaching, this is the tournament I am most proud of,” said Park, who was assistant to Dutch coach Guus Hiddink during the 2002 World Cup where South Korea finished fourth, the country’s biggest achievement.
“I’d like to thank my players; they’re the ones who have created these memorable moments for me.”
Vietnam lost in the AFC U23 final to Uzbekistan after conceding a goal in the last minute of extra time.
In addition to silver medals, the Vietnamese team also received the Fair Play Award at the competition, which took place in China.
It was the first time a Vietnamese national team has made it to the final of a continental championship, attracting attention from global football fans.
Over 35,000 smart phones in Vietnam have recently been infected by GhostTeam virus which is designed to steal passwords of Facebook accounts.
GhostTeam virus has been spread via popular Vietnamese applications on Google Play, according to Vietnam’s leading computer security firm BKAV on Sunday.
Hackers put “clean” popular applications such as calendar, flashlight and compass on Google Play. When users install the applications, they would display security alerts such as phone slowdown and virus infection which call for the users to follow the displayed instruction.
If users do as suggested, GhostTeam virus will be installed on their phones, and steal their Facebook accounts’ passwords.
Google Play has removed the applications so the number of smart phones infected with GhostTeam virus is declining, said BKAV.
By the end of 2017, Vietnam had 127.4 million fixed and mobile phone subscribers, down 2.1 percent against late 2016, said the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority.
Specifically, the number of mobile phone subscribers declined 1.3 percent to 119.7 million, mainly because the Ministry of Information and Communications tightened management over prepaid mobile phone subscriptions.
A local production house has unveiled its plan to make a movie inspired by Vietnam’s remarkable journey at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China, where the team defied all odds. The film is expected to hit cinemas in November 2018.
The film project, titled ‘Viet Nam Oi!’ (Dear Vietnam!), will begin filming right after the tournament’s conclusion on Saturday, according to Minh Beta, founder of the Hanoi-based Beta Media production house in charge of the project.
“This is a mark of honor that I as well as other Vietnamese football fans and film lovers would like to dedicate to our national U23 team,” Minh Beta said.
“To me, the fact that they made it to the final was a miracle in itself. Regardless of the result of Saturday’s match, the players are the champions in the hearts of over 90 million Vietnamese people,” he added.
According to Minh Beta, ‘Viet Nam Oi!’ will follow the journey of goalie Bui Tien Dung from a small boy to a national hero.
Dung was praised for his exceptional performance in the tournament that contributed greatly to Vietnam’s wins and won him a Third Labor Order from the Vietnamese State President.
The plot will also explore the themes of friendship, teamwork, patriotism and love as it follows the Vietnamese players’ journey at the Asian tournament.
The film is expected to hit cinemas in November 2018.
The teaser poster for the ‘Viet Nam Oi!’ film project. Photo: Beta Media
The 2018 AFC U23 Championship was held from January 9 to 27, featuring 16 of Asia’s top teams in the under-23 age group.
Few had predicted that Vietnam would make it to final before the tournament commenced, as they had drawn into the same group with title favorites South Korea, Australia and Syria whilst the team had never even qualified for the quarterfinals.
The Golden Stars defied the odds to finish the group stage as runners-up behind South Korea, and were the first team in Southeast Asia to pull off this incredible feat.
The Reds defeated former champions Iraq 5-3 on penalties in the quarterfinals after a 3-3 draw after 120 minutes, before going on to eliminate Qatar 4-3 in another penalty shootout following a 2-2 tie after 120 minutes in the semis.
Vietnam’s fairy tale ended on Saturday, when a 120th minute header from Uzbek substitute Sidorov shattered the championship dream of the indomitable players, who had held their ground in the heavy snow with a 1-1 draw until that moment.
On Sunday, the players were welcomed back to their country as national heroes by a huge crowd that stretched kilometers from Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to the city center.
