During 2020, there are numerous events with great concerns about the world and Vietnam. A number of guests of BBC News Vietnamese at the end of the year shared their views.
From Kent, UK, BBC World Service journalist Nguyen Giang said:
“The most serious problem of the UK and Europe in 2020 that rising only a few days away or a week from the end of the year, is the problem of Brexit at a serious stalemate, regarding the percentages of the fishing quotas in British waters to countries in Europe such as France, Denmark, the Netherlands, or the Republic of Ireland and Spain for those countries to access, although the UK wants to regain sovereignty over the sea …
“And at the time we are talking, there is another major crisis in Britain named Covid-19 mutation which forces authorities to stop ships and cargo ferries from Scotland to France, and trucks carrying goods from Europe into England and at this point more than a thousand trucks were stopped at the British port of Dover …
“Back to the Brexit deadlock, the two sides have come to the end in the negotiations, but it is thought that the European Parliament and the UK will not be able to pass any agreement in time, due to the Covid-19 pandemics, now, MPs from other countries have temporarily retired, even people think that in January 2021, the British Parliament and the European Parliament will allow the agreement’s temporary enforcement in 1-2 weeks before being officially approved by the two parliaments.
“These are unprecedented events in the history between the UK and Europe and cause a lot of anxiety for people in the UK like us, not to mention in the UK, the Southeast and the region of London are in lockdown. There is a level 4 of the blockade, people are not permitted to leave the country and more than 40 countries have prevented flights or ferries or sea transport from England. So ten days before Brexit, the UK had become increasingly isolated.
“This is a very strange sign that allies, friends, partners for decades, or it can be said that hundreds of years together without talking to each other, it is a very problem. It was a serious political disagreement, in which one side, like Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and on the other side, French President Emmanuel Macron, talked to each other over and over on the phone, but could not agree. And at this moment, thousands of people are suffering in the port of Dover, exactly 45 minutes from my home,” journalist Nguyen Giang told BBC News Vietnam’s 2020 look-back online discussion on December 23.
2020 isn’t just pandemic – 6 world-breaking news
From Hanoi, guest Cao Vinh Thinh told the seminar:
“After watching a compilation BBC video of an international event in 2020, I think along with Covid-19 pandemics worldwide with huge losses, there is an issue of young people in Hong Kong.”
“There have been many people standing up to ask for Hong Kong rights, as well as get out of the hands of China.
“More especially, the generation of these young people is the same as my age.”
This week, BBC News Vietnamese has released a 2020 review video featuring six major world notable events, in addition to the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Accordingly, 2020 is a year full of fluctuations in the world even without the aforementioned pandemic, and the events mentioned by the BBC are that Australia has lost more than 1 billion wildlife after one of the worst forest fires in history, with fires destroying 27.2 million acres of forest and scientists say climate change has increased the risk of wildfires.
The next event was the anti-racism and anti-violence movement- Black Lives Matter after the black American citizen George Floyd was killed in custody by US police.
The Hong Kong protest was the third event to be mentioned, with protesters, mostly young people, defying police and government violence, strongly opposing new security laws regarding Hongkong that were passed by the authorities, a law that critics see as a harbinger of the end of democracy in Hong Kong.
In addition to the shocking explosion that happened in the Lebanese capital Beirut, the smoke rising reminiscent of the mushroom-shaped nuclear bomb explosions that killed up to 200 people, caused millions of dollars in damage. In the UK, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have made a sudden decision to “withdraw from the Royal Family.” The sixth major highlight is the 2020 US presidential election between the two candidates Donald Trump and Joe-Biden whose results and post-election developments have become the most controversial events in recent US presidential elections.
Returning to the comments of BBC News Vietnamese guests at a conference on the world and Vietnam event in 2020, also from Hanoi, engineer Nguyen Lan Thang told BBC:
“In addition to these events, I also see that the impact of the Covid situation also makes Vietnam now as well as 2020 a very fierce year.”
“It is fierce because of economic problems, as well as the importance of the upcoming national congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam.”
“I see a fight, as well as an uncompromising destruction among factions, as well as the attack on voices and political opinions in society in Vietnam in 2020, especially serious.”
The presidential election in America with Vietnamese
The Vietnamese community has many different opinions and views about the candidate’s Trump and Biden as well as about the results of the US election in 2020.
The guests of the conference also took time to comment on the events of the 2020 US presidential election and the post-election developments, and their impact on the Vietnamese people.
From the UK, journalist Nguyen Giang said:
“There is, of course, a very fierce debate online in Vietnam between supporters of the impending incumbent President Donald Trump and the President-elect, Mr. Joe Biden of the Democratic Party.”
“This everyone can see is that the BBC, both English, and Vietnamese, has posted a lot of news, discussions, opinions of the two sides.
“And it causes what can be said to be chipped in the friendship relationship, in the community that the Vietnamese love for Mr. Donald Trump and Mr. Joe Biden is sometimes very strong, that is, love, both hate is very strong.”
“This is a prominent sign on Vietnamese social networks in 2020 and there are also conspiracy theories of one side, as well as the other side, that in general, nobody believes in anyone and the belief in the traditional official channel information is also quite serious, ie increased.”
“One detail I noticed was that Mr. Joe Biden in his most recent speech, after the United States began to approve its approval of anti-Covid-19 vaccination, he said a very important statement ‘the darkest days are ahead of us, not behind.’”
“And this is a sign that even with a vaccine, the US will enter an incredibly dark winter and the Biden administration is aware of it …”
From Hanoi, guest Cao Vinh Thinh, environmental activist, commented to BBC:
“I am an environmental activist, so I am very interested in the US election on the grounds that when President Trump was elected president, he canceled the US’s participation in the international agreements like the Paris Agreement against Climate Change.”
“Then came the Covid-19 period in the US, the environmental situation in the US was even worse when President Trump made decisions that opened doors for businesses to feel comfortable, perhaps not limited emissions, or you can do anything as long as it develops economically, in exchange for environmental problems in America.”
“So up to the US election I was thrilled because I really wanted the new President of America to be visionary, as well as there are ways applied by former president Donald Trump can be stopped for such extreme environmental destruction.”
“Because everyone knows the consumption of the US is huge, in terms of mining is also ranked number one in the world, so if America is not a pioneer country for protecting the environment and combating climate change, so for sure countries like China or Europe, or Vietnam as small as this, will be a road or a wall that never sees light.”
“And one more thing is that I live in a very exciting feeling in Vietnam as everywhere I see Vietnamese people talking about the US election, in cafes, people are very focused, attentive, watching the chart on “green, red” on the US election website and found very special because, in Vietnam, elections or like the party congress in Vietnam are close for the local people so the US election is an opportunity for Vietnamese fishermen to experience.”
A year making big changes for Vietnam to come here?
2020 is a year of great upheaval for Vietnam, according to the BBC’s guests from Hanoi
As for Vietnam in 2020, activist Cao Vinh Thinh added:
“In the past year, the situation for Vietnam, the most remarkable thing to me about the environment, the National Assembly of Vietnam has passed a revised law on the Environment law, but in my view, it does not contribute to better environmental protection.
“It is more likely that it creates loopholes that cause civil society groups as well as citizens to supervise the business side, as well as corporations in the heavy industry production, as well as the companies exploiting areas, like in forests, will be increasingly difficult, because of that newly revised law.’
“Second is the problem of flooding in the Central region when the hydroelectric dams in the area are too many, causing natural disasters and multiplication into one and making the flood relief situation more difficult, as well as the people living in Central region at this time as well as in the future will face many difficulties …”
“In addition, other issues such as the cassation hearing of Ho Duy Hai case, the Dong Tam land dispute case and near the end of the year there was news that many activists such as journalists Pham Thi Doan Trang and several other activists were arrested, which is news that caught my attention and attention.”
Engineer Nguyen Lan Thang added:
“The year 2020 in my opinion is a year when the change in Vietnam is extremely large, and according to the world situation, the first thing is that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic creates a tremendous economic pressure as well as socially and healthy.”
“Vietnam struggled under the condition that the epidemic was rapidly increasing in its early stages, but fortunately perhaps the virus strain had very slight effects on the genetic makeup of the Vietnamese, so the anti-epidemic is also quite effective.”
“In parallel with that the 13th party national congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam is preparing to take place, the moves around the organization of the congress are the fighting between the factions, in addition, there is an uncompromising punishment for the voices of dissidents.”
“There are many more people who are not really activists, but just people who raise their views on social issues, but a lot of people have been suppressed by the government, some are still held in pre-trial detention and others are going to be brought to court soon. I think 2020 is a year that makes a huge change in Vietnam in the coming period.”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
