GENERAL VO NGUYEN GIAP LAST BATTLE

GENERAL VO NGUYEN GIAP LAST BATTLE
The general, a confidante of Ho Chi Minh, who oversaw the siege of Dien Bien Phu
and helped repel the Americans is taking on the communist regime over the
environment and Chinese influence
In 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap masterminded a harrowing epic 57-day
siege which brought about the crushing defeat of the French empire in
Indochina.
It was a victory which destroyed the assumption of Western invincibility
and inspired anti-colonial struggles all over the world.
During the US war Giap was again commander-in-chief, but this time he
assumed extra responsibility as the defence minister in Ho Chi Minh's
government of North Vietnam.
The amazing supply-line carved out of a 2,000 mile long trail through
dense jungle and mountains dubbed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" was Giap's
Initiative. It was to become one of the most bombed roads in the history
of warfare. The General also masterminded the final offensive in Spring
1975.
Giap is widely considered to be one of the greatest military leaders of the
20th century - all the more remarkable given that his background was
entirely civilian - his early working years were spent as a teacher and a
journalist. After the war hard-liners in control of the Vietnamese
communist party were jealous of his international stature and intellectual
abilities and the war hero was ejected from the politburo in 1982. In 1991
he retired as deputy prime minister.
The country's most famous soldier is still fighting. This time over the
environment.
Now 97, physically frail but still mentally sharp, Giap lives with his wife in
an old French colonial house in Hanoi, where he leads a modest
existence. He rises at around 5am when he starts his day with breathing
exercises before turning into RFI - Radio France International, before
listening to the news on Vietnamese stations.

Domestic life is occasionally interrupted by the arrival of various visiting
foreign and Vietnamese dignitaries who come to pay their respects.
President Lula of Brazil, Hugo Chavez from Venezuela and the South
Africa's Thabo Mbeki visited him last year. A number of US politicians
have also been to see him, including Robert McNamara his counterpart in
the Vietnam War in charge of US Defense Department.
Giap has largely retired from public office apart from holding several
honorary roles in associations for Vietnam's war veterans and historians,
but the country's most famous soldier is still fighting. This time the battle
is over the environment.
The Vietnamese government, eager to keep up the impressive economic
growth that was derailed by the global financial crisis, is committed to
extracting an estimated 8 billion tonnes of bauxite, the ore which is
essential to aluminum production.
Two-thirds of Vietnam's bauxite is to be found in the Central Highlands, a
stunningly beautiful and fertile region of thickly forested mountains,
coffee plantations and, some argue, an area of enormous eco-tourism
potential. There are fears that open-cut mining will destroy vast areas of
forest and crops leaving huge deposits of toxic sludge.
Despite Vietnam's long history of conflict with China which briefly invaded
the country in 1979, the Chinese aluminum giant Chinalco has been
granted a contract for one of the mines. But in January this year, General
Giap sent an open letter calling on the government to halt the project.
Giap's stature as a national hero, one-time confidante of late president Ho
Chi Minh and one of Vietnam's few untainted politicians is undisputed and
the Government realized that they couldn't dismiss him as a mere
dissident. Moreover having actively helped Vietnam's ecologists back in
the 1980s when he was deputy prime minister, Giap's green credentials
are convincing.
According to the scientist, Nguyen Huu Ninh, who was part of a UN team

awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for work on climate change, Giap has
a real understanding of ecology. Moreover, "He was our first leader after
the war to focus on environmental problems". He has long been
fascinated by the green movement. In 1986 a professor returned from a
trip to UK with a copy of Schumacher's 'Small is beautiful', one of the
Movement's great works and gave it to Giap on a Friday evening; by
Monday the General had finished it and was asking for more books on
ecology.
So the letter from the 'Green General', which detailed the consequences
of the mining proposals in terms of environmental damage, harm to
ethnic minorities and even a threat to national security, prompted an
unprecedented protest, a rare event in what is still a one-party
communist state. It is also rare in a one-party system for such a protest
to be reported in the state-owned media.
The general's intervention prompted 135 intellectuals to sign a petition to
the Vietnamese National Assembly calling for a halt to the project.
In the face of the outcry, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who had
described the exploitation of the bauxite as "a major policy of the party
and the state", felt he had no choice but to backtrack. Last month, after a
hastily convened seminar on the environment, he agreed to scale back
the development until a full assessment of the possible environmental
impact could be made.
Now opponents have questioned the mines' economic feasibility, given
that bauxite processing requires a lot of water and access to cheap
electricity, and Vietnam is facing shortages of both. In addition to the
environmental concerns, some critics have complained about the
presence of hundreds of Chinese workers in the strategic Central
Highlands.
Amid the flurry of criticism, which was even joined by his Environment
Minister, Dung has now frozen work on one bauxite mine, though he has

permitted Chinalco to proceed with another.
General Giap may not win this battle outright but, as always, he is putting
up a ferocious fight
Giap is a national hero, confidante of late president Ho Chi Minh and one
of Vietnam's few untainted politicians