CURRENT EVENTS

AND NEWS
ABOUT
COMMUNISM
 Ex-politburo member Dinh La
Thang among 22 officials on trial
for economic crimes

Mr Dinh, who is 57, will appear in court on

Monday on charges of economic
mismanagement in connection with his former
role as chairman of PetroVietnam, the country’s
largest state-owned company by revenue.
 He will be the highest-ranking state
official to face criminal charges in
decades.
Vietnamese officials are investigating
alleged fraud involving PetroVietnam and
Ocean Bank, a major private bank in which
the oil and gas group bought a stake during
an acquisition spree by state-owned
Vietnamese groups.
 He will be the highest-ranking state
official to face criminal charges in
decades.
According to Vietnamese state-controlled media, Mr
Dinh is accused of investing 800bn Vietnamese dong
($35m) of PetroVietnam’s money in Ocean Bank
without having appraised the deal properly and will
face charges of “deliberate violation of state
regulations on economic management, causing
serious consequences”.
 The charges could bring the former
official up to 20 years in jail.

Vietnam’s Communist leadership, under general

secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, has been cracking
down on the corruption that has allowed some
officials to amass large-scale personal wealth
and fomented resentment among many ordinary
Vietnamese.
 . “This will worry investors,” said
Nguyen Phuong Linh, a Singapore-based
analyst with Control Risks, the
consultancy. “Vietnam used to be the
most politically stable country in south-
east Asia, but this could create a higher
perception of risk.”
 China will increase military, diplomatic and
other kinds of pressure against proudly self-ruled
Taiwan to deliver on President Xi Jinping’s
demand in January that the two sides unify.
“We believe it will step up measures to contact and
merge with Taiwan,” said Chiu Chui-cheng, deputy
minister with Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.
“So, I think that perhaps military threats, diplomatic
pressure and economic absorption, as well as the
pressure to penetrate into and divide all of Taiwanese
society, will get stronger bit by bit.”
 At least 10 military flybys had been
logged between 2015 and the end of
2017. China’s first aircraft carrier, the
Liaoning, has passed through the Taiwan
Strait at least four times during Tsai’s
term to date in office.
 China claims sovereignty over Taiwan,
but the island is self-ruled, and 83 percent
of Taiwanese like it that way, according
to Mainland Affairs Council figures.
 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, elected in
2016, rejects Beijing’s dialogue condition
that both sides see themselves as part of a
single China. Beijing has responded by
cutting off dialogue, buzzing Taiwan’s
airspace with military planes and passing an
aircraft carrier fleet through the Taiwan
Strait. A year ago, Beijing rolled out 31
incentives to lure Taiwanese people over for
work, study and investment.
 Xi told a live internet broadcast Jan. 2
that the two sides should pursue a “one
country, two systems” model of
unification that his government applied to
Hong Kong in 1997. China said that year
it had given the former British colony
local autonomy. Xi also said China had
not ruled out the use of force, if needed,
to make Taiwan unify.
Taiwan will look to the United States, for
help in standing up against China
Washington sees democratic Taiwan as part of
a chain of allies in East Asia that form a
checkpoint against the maritime expansion of
China
 “The resolute support of the U.S.
government is a trusted source for us in
facing these challenges,” Chiu said. “U.S.
support for Taiwan is support for
democracy and support for our universal
values. So, this is also extremely
important for people in positions of
leadership in the United States.”
 Public opinion
“Taiwan’s society might have two paths,”
said Andy Chang, China studies professor at
Tamkang University in Taiwan. “One is a
path favoring China, and the other favoring
the United States. (The government)
definitely hopes Taiwan society will pick the
U.S. path, toward the international
community, and not the China path, the
market path.”
 Taiwanese voters said before local
elections in November they hoped their
officials would find a way to talk with
China - while maintaining the island’s
self-rule.
Dialogue is hard as long as China
demands unification and keeps weapons
pointed at the island, Chiu said.
Cuban voters ratified a new Constitution

In Sunday's ballot, 86.85 percent voted in

favour of the new Constitution while nine
percent voted against it. Spoiled or blank
ballots made up 4.15 percent of ballots
cast.
 "There's no longer political unanimity
around government proposals," Raudiel
Pena Barrios, adjunct professor of law at
the University of Havana, told Al Jazeera.
"We should see this as an important
minority of Cubans who hope for
something more in the management of the
state."
Changes in the New Cuban Constitution
Lead to laws that permit same-sex marriage

Private ownership
Presidential term limits
Foreign Relations
Speaking when the draft was approved,
President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez
said "each Cuban will be able to freely
express their opinions" to build a
constitution that "reflects the today and
future of the nation".
a "communist society" has also been dropped

"The objective is not to allow the

concentration of wealth, which reinforces
the uncertainty of any foreign
investment," said Carlos Seiglie, a
professor of economics at Rutgers
University.
 Cuba’s current constitution only
recognizes state, cooperative, farmer,
personal and joint venture property.

“We believe in a socialist, sovereign,

independent, prosperous and sustainable
country.”
In the new constitution, the government
allowed their citizen to enrich
themselves.
 Thank you for
listening!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prepared by:
FRANCIS A. DE LA CRUZ
BSED-II