Vietnam Government Officials

"You are my baby," Nam Tran Tran Van Chuong told her then-60-year-old son one evening in the summer of 1986, kissing his hand at the dinner table. Then, pulling out a sketch of her burial plot, she pointed to the place where her husband would lay beside her, and, on the other side, the spot where their son would join them someday. It seemed a portrait of tranquillity, after years of upheaval, for this prominent Vietnamese family.

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party named National Assembly Chairman Nong Duc Manh as its new secretary-general Sunday, filling the country's most powerful leadership post. Sixty-year-old Manh has been speaker of the National Assembly for nine years. Under his leadership, the assembly, which once rubber-stamped decisions behind closed doors, became a forum for televised discussions of policy issues.

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party named National Assembly Chairman Nong Duc Manh as its new secretary-general Sunday, filling the country's most powerful leadership post. Sixty-year-old Manh has been speaker of the National Assembly for nine years. Under his leadership, the assembly, which once rubber-stamped decisions behind closed doors, became a forum for televised discussions of policy issues.

Vietnam's top leader, Communist Party Secretary-General Le Kha Phieu, was removed from office Tuesday because of disenchantment with his conservative style, officials said. The leading candidate to replace the 70-year-old party leader reportedly is Nong Duc Manh, a member of the ethnic Tay minority who would be expected to promote economic change and the development of a market economy more quickly than his predecessor.

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said Saturday that Vietnam will move cautiously in adopting economic reforms in 1999 and that it intends to continue building a socialist economy. His comments, made during a conference with diplomats and journalists, are sure to disappoint foreign investors who had hoped that Vietnam would take some bold moves to revive its economy and move toward a true free-market economy. "We need to maintain a leading role for state enterprises," Khai said.

Hundreds from Orange County's Vietnamese community are expected to protest a speech today by Vietnam's ambassador to the United States, who was invited to speak to the World Affairs Council of Orange County. The protest will mark the first visit by a Vietnamese ambassador to Orange County, home of the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, since President Clinton normalized relations with that country in July.

A day after taking office, Vietnam's new prime minister said his role is to push economic reform forward while abiding by the guiding hand of the Communist Party. In a speech published in state-controlled papers, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, 63, said reform must come with stability and equity for all Vietnamese.

Vietnam's National Assembly chose conservative Gen. Le Duc Anh as president Wednesday in what observers said underlines the Communist Party's determination to keep a firm grip on economic reforms. The 72-year-old Anh, Vietnam's top general, was the only candidate and received all of the secret ballots cast by the 392-seat Assembly, the state-run Voice of Vietnam radio said.

In a bizarre vestige of Cold War intrigue, an unknown author has fabricated a document purporting to be a Los Angeles Times news article quoting the Vietnamese ambassador to the United Nations as sharply criticizing his own government.

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said Saturday that Vietnam will move cautiously in adopting economic reforms in 1999 and that it intends to continue building a socialist economy. His comments, made during a conference with diplomats and journalists, are sure to disappoint foreign investors who had hoped that Vietnam would take some bold moves to revive its economy and move toward a true free-market economy. "We need to maintain a leading role for state enterprises," Khai said.

In an unprecedented display of high-level dissent in Vietnam, Lt. Gen. Tran Do, a veteran of the Communist revolution who later became one of the regime's top ideological leaders, has called upon the leadership in Hanoi to open the way for democracy. The retired general sent a letter last December to the Communist Party's top officials, urging "radical political reforms" including free elections and guarantees of freedom of thought and expression.

A day after taking office, Vietnam's new prime minister said his role is to push economic reform forward while abiding by the guiding hand of the Communist Party. In a speech published in state-controlled papers, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, 63, said reform must come with stability and equity for all Vietnamese.

Vietnam's Communist Party has selected the country's new leadership, passing over a top general and choosing a relative unknown as the next president. Tran Duc Luong, 60, a deputy prime minister elected to the all-powerful Politburo last year, was picked as president, a senior party official confirmed Wednesday. The move represents a significant concession by the influential military leadership. Defense Minister Gen.

Vietnamese voted for national lawmakers Sunday in elections that are expected to start a swing toward a younger generation of Communist leaders. All 450 seats of the National Assembly were being filled. Ballots were being counted by hand, and final results were expected to be announced in a week. The vote probably will give the National Assembly a younger face. Only a fifth of the outgoing members sought reelection.

In the highest-level U.S.-Hanoi contact since the Vietnam War ended 15 years ago, Secretary of State James A. Baker III told Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach on Saturday that Washington will consider normal diplomatic relations as soon as peace is restored in neighboring Cambodia and Hanoi accounts for missing American servicemen.

The French burned his Vietnamese village in 1951. The Americans bombed his Hanoi neighborhood in 1972. But Le Van Bang has spent his career shedding the burden of his wartime memories and helping his country carve out its place in the world. And now, as Vietnam's first ambassador to the United States, he is an influential player as the two former enemies seek to normalize their relationship.

A speech by Vietnam's ambassador to the United States on Tuesday night sparked a boisterous demonstration by at least 500 chanting protesters who lined the streets and parking lot at the Radisson Plaza Hotel. Carrying placards that read "Human Rights for Vietnam" and "Communists Are Evil," the demonstrators protested the appearance at the hotel of Ambassador Bang V. Le before a gathering of the World Affairs Council of Orange County.