Vietnam Appoints Military Officer as Propaganda Chief
Nguyen Trong Nghia previously oversaw the creation of a 10,000-strong army cyber unit to combat anti-government sentiment online.
February 22, 2021
Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, meets Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of what was then known as the U.S. Pacific Command, at Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defense, October 26, 2016.
Credit: Flickr/U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
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Vietnam has named a senior military officer to head the country’s powerful propaganda department, according to reports in Vietnamese state media, a development that augurs ill for the country’s beleaguered and ever-shrinking circles of dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
Report to Congress on U.S.-Vietnam Relations
February 17, 2021 8:43 AM
The following is the Feb. 16, 2021, Congressional Research Service In Focus report: U.S.-Vietnam Relations.
From the report
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam in 1995, overlapping strategic and economic interests have led the two countries to expand ties across a wide spectrum of issues. The United States is Vietnam’s 2nd largest bilateral trading partner (after China), and Vietnam is the United States’ 10th largest trading partner. Since 2010, the two countries have formed partnerships on many regional security and economic issues, due in part to shared concerns about China’s increased assertiveness in the region and to Vietnam’s position as a rising middle power. Vietnam is serving as a 2020-2021 non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, providing addition opportunities for bilateral cooperation.