Vietnam Memorial Visits Leave Over 100,000 Items

Since the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in l982, visitors have left there more than 100,000 items including medals, photos, helmets, notes and one custom-built motorcycle, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the National Park Service report. These items have been left in tribute to the more than 58,000 service members whose names are inscribed on the black granite of the memorial. “When we built the Memorial in 1982, no one foresaw this,” said Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. “Our goal was to help the nation remember and pay tribute to all who served and sacrificed in Vietnam . No one anticipated that The Wall would become a place where visitors would leave tokens of their love, esteem and remembrance.” Items left at the Memorial are collected each evening, catalogues and professionally preserved. Objects from the first 100,000 items left will be featured in rotating exhibit at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center, an educational facility to be built near the Memorial. Ralph Applebaum, president of the firm designing exhibits for the Center, said, “Part of the story of the men and women whose names are on the...Memorial is the people they left behind and how those loved ones have mourned them. It is impossible to view the mortar boards left ¦by children and grandchildren” as if to tell their parent and/or grandparent they graduated from school and are doing all right without tearing up yourself.”

Wilson Center Meet Looks at Chinese Military

A recent Wilson Center Asia Program conference examined the capabilities of China ’s People Liberation Army (PLA), reports the center newsletter, Centerpoint. Stanford University’s Litai Xue emphasized Communist Party control of the military and said “the party’s political bureau ultimately decides national security matters. Bernard Cole of the National War College at Fort McNair in Southwest Washington, noted that the PLA Navy (yes, the Chinese army has a navy and it is called PLAN) is focused on a “ Taiwan contingency.” Retired U.S. Army officer and former defense attache in Beijing Dennis Blasko said Chinese military planners say their army will not complete its modernization process until 2020. All speakers agreed that while China ’s military modernization “bears close scrutiny,” the capabilities of the PLA “cannot compare with those of U.S. forces.” For now, anyway.

Taiwan Official Examines ‘Dangerous Rivalry’ with China

In related Wilson Center Asia Program news, the chairman of Taiwan ’s Mainland Affairs Council offered a “spirited” presentation of the government of President Chen Shui-bian on what he called “the dangerous Taiwan-China rivalry.” Joseph Wu said public opinion polls in Taiwan show that roughly 80 percent of the nation’s people favor the “political status quo.” Accordingly, Mr. Wu said, the democratically-elected government of President Chen, “representing the majority’s views,” has no plans (emphasis provided) to push for independence, and that there is “no justification for Chinas” suspicions of the Chen government. He also called on Beijing to enter into dialogue with the Chen government and “pushed Washington” to encourage China to negotiate with Taiwan without preconditions. Hold your breath.

Work Begins on Lao Hmong Museum in Wisconsin

Ground has been broken for a museum in Sheboygan, Wisconsin dedicated to the memory of Laotians, Hmong and Americans who fought in Southeast Asia, we learn from SITREP, the newsletter of Counterparts, an organization of veterans of the Vietnam War. Groundbreaking ceremonies included traditional Hmong music and cultural performances, followed by remarks by representatives of the Hmong community, U.S. veterans and local community leaders. U.S. Army Major Chue Pheng Lo, a Lao-American with the 220th Military Police Brigade, said the museum will be a “living memorial that will serve as a reminder that we, the Lao Hmong people, are not forgotten by our battlefield allies.” The website is laohmongusmemorial.com.

More U.S. Focus on Central Asia Urged

The United States has three main interests in Central Asia, according to Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Ariel Cohen: energy, security and democracy.  Speaking at a Kennan Institute conference at the Wilson Center, Cohen said “energy is now driving developments” in the region, which is leading to an “increasingly assertive Russia ” and an increasing focus on the five former Soviet republics of that area. And given Central Asia’s strategic importance, Cohen said there should be “increased U.S. engagement” in that part of the world.

UN Awards USINDO Member for Helping Build Aceh School

The United Nations Association of the National Capital Area has presented a Community Human Rights Award to Mrs. Margaret Sullivan, the United States-Indonesia Society (USINDO) project coordinator for the Aceh School Project. The award, given to those who have demonstrated “a commitment to human rights in their professional and volunteer work,” was given in recognition of Mrs. Sullivan’ work in helping build a school in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after the destruction of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. For almost two years, USINDO said, Mrs. Sullivan worked with Syiah Kulala University to build a model community high school in Banda Aceh. The school will be an educational center and training center for student teachers. After the tsunami, USINDO began a fundraising effort to help with reconstruction. As of December 2006, the society had raised $2,200,000 from Americans and Indonesians, including schoolchildren, adults and businesses. The school is scheduled to open in July 2007. For more information, e-mail program@usisndo.org.

Exhibit on Asian Women Leaders Includes Nepal , Laos , China

A recent Asia Foundation exhibit on women leaders in Asia at Washington’s Union Station focused on women “at the forefront of efforts to promote social, economic and political rights and opportunities.” The exhibit is entitled Portraits of Leadership: Women Changing the Face of Asia.  It featured the only female Muslim lawyer in Nepal , the founder of the first long-term shelter for abused and trafficked women in Laos and the director of an organization which educates migrant women workers in southern China on their legal rights. After Washington, the exhibit was shown in San Francisco.

Taiwan Enjoy Says Beijing Tries to ‘Steal Allies’

Speaking to editors and reporters of The Washington Times, the Republic of China’s chief diplomatic representative to the U.S. , said rival China “tries in every way it can to steal diplomatic allies from us.” Speaking at a lunch at his residence, Taiwan ’s elegant Twin Oaks Estate in Northwest Washington, David Tawei Lee told the journalists this agenda of Beijing “is not really focused on in the U.S. , but ¦is clearly a major factor in the mainland’s diplomacy,” according to Times reporter James Morrison. Many of the almost 30 nations that recognize Taiwan , Mr. Lee said, “are small, perhaps, but the relationships carry a lot of weight symbolically and psychologically.” The Taipei diplomat also said relations with the Bush administration “remain excellent” and that many in the incoming Democrat congressional leadership not only “have strong ties to Taipei (but) strong reservations about Beijing, particularly on human rights,” Morrison wrote in his Embassy Row column. Mr. Lee also said that Taiwan ’s young people “feel little attachment to the mainland.” For them, he said, “ China is almost irrelevant. They are much more focused on life at home. China to them is just another big country on their border.”

Asia Foundation Adds Four Trustees

The Asia Foundation has announced the addition of four members to its board of trustees. At its recent board meeting in New York City, the foundation said the new members ar: Gina Lin Chu, who it said is a “vocal proponent” of open East-West dialogue and advocate for Asian-American communities; Jared Frost, founder of RMI and “longtime supporter” of Asia Foundation programs in Indonesia; David Michael Lampton, Dean of Faculty, George and Sadie Hyman Professor and Director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; and Judith F. Wilbur, daughter-in-law of foundation founding member Brayton Wilbur, Sr.