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China and America were allies during WWII, then fight in Korean peninsula, played game in Vietnam, later again were de facto allies against USSR, relationship is dynamic. China respect America's interest in Asia Pacific, in fact we want America stay here, especially stay in Japan. furthermore, we don't pursue hegemony, UN community acknowledge this point, we're consistent on this, we're even happy to help America to stay in super power. America will eventually recognize our valid claims. The only concern is how much stakes are exchanged, WHAT're the stakes?
I hope I have clearly explained the game, I could be possibly wrong though.

Generally Chinese don't hate Japanese, we only hate Japanese Militarism. That's all.
 
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Highest level Japanese official visits Taiwan since 1972.

---start---
Japanese Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Jiro Akama arrived in Taiwan yesterday on a one-day visit to promote tourism in his country, becoming the highest-level Japanese official to visit Taiwan since the two nations ended official ties in 1972.

Shortly after his arrival, Akama chaired the opening of a two-day Japanese tourism fair at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei.

The fair, titled “Colorful Japan,” was organized by the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which represents Japan’s interests in Taiwan in lieu of a formal embassy.

Organizers said the tourism fair also aims to expand the market for Japanese regional foods and creative works in Taiwan.

A source connected with the tourism fair said the visit represents the next step forward in the improvement of relations with Japan, coming after the Japanese delegation’s recent name change from “Interchange Association, Japan.”

Akama’s attendance, as well as his hosting of the fair’s opening ceremony, show that Japan places great importance on its relationship with Taiwan, the source said, adding that the visit demonstrates a departure from past handling of Japanese cultural events, which were typically hosted directly by association representatives.

At the event’s opening ceremony yesterday morning, Association of East Asian Relations President Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) said that the closeness of the relationship between the nations was underlined by the “shared challenges” that they face.

While not easy to put together, the visit had great significance, Akama said, adding that he was happy to share Japanese culture with Taiwanese.
Akama said he hoped that Taiwan would soon allow imports of products from Fukushima Prefecture.

Reconstruction work there has been completed, and its products have tested safe and are back on store shelves in Japan, he said.

Later, speaking on the sidelines of the event, he repeated statements on food from Fukushima, but said he was aware of differing opinions in Taiwanese society.

Food imports to Taiwan from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba have been suspended since March 25, 2011, due to fears that the areas might have been contaminated by radiation after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.

Importers of Japanese food products have since May 15, 2015, been required to present certification to prove their produce does not originate from any of the five prefectures.

After President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed office in May last year, her administration briefly considered a plan to lift the ban in two phases, retaining the ban on Fukushima imports while allowing imports from Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures on condition of batch-by-batch inspection.
However, the plan met strong public opposition, forcing the Cabinet to put it on hold.
---end---
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/03/26/2003667488





Some footage of Taiwan's large scale "Hanguang 32" exercise in 2016.

Large demonstration in the jungle.

Amphibious assault.

Artillery demonstration.

Urban warfare training.
 
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Highest level Japanese official visits Taiwan since 1972.

---start---
Japanese Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Jiro Akama arrived in Taiwan yesterday on a one-day visit to promote tourism in his country, becoming the highest-level Japanese official to visit Taiwan since the two nations ended official ties in 1972.

Shortly after his arrival, Akama chaired the opening of a two-day Japanese tourism fair at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei.

The fair, titled “Colorful Japan,” was organized by the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which represents Japan’s interests in Taiwan in lieu of a formal embassy.

Organizers said the tourism fair also aims to expand the market for Japanese regional foods and creative works in Taiwan.

A source connected with the tourism fair said the visit represents the next step forward in the improvement of relations with Japan, coming after the Japanese delegation’s recent name change from “Interchange Association, Japan.”

Akama’s attendance, as well as his hosting of the fair’s opening ceremony, show that Japan places great importance on its relationship with Taiwan, the source said, adding that the visit demonstrates a departure from past handling of Japanese cultural events, which were typically hosted directly by association representatives.

At the event’s opening ceremony yesterday morning, Association of East Asian Relations President Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) said that the closeness of the relationship between the nations was underlined by the “shared challenges” that they face.

While not easy to put together, the visit had great significance, Akama said, adding that he was happy to share Japanese culture with Taiwanese.
Akama said he hoped that Taiwan would soon allow imports of products from Fukushima Prefecture.

Reconstruction work there has been completed, and its products have tested safe and are back on store shelves in Japan, he said.

Later, speaking on the sidelines of the event, he repeated statements on food from Fukushima, but said he was aware of differing opinions in Taiwanese society.

Food imports to Taiwan from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba have been suspended since March 25, 2011, due to fears that the areas might have been contaminated by radiation after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.

Importers of Japanese food products have since May 15, 2015, been required to present certification to prove their produce does not originate from any of the five prefectures.

After President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed office in May last year, her administration briefly considered a plan to lift the ban in two phases, retaining the ban on Fukushima imports while allowing imports from Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures on condition of batch-by-batch inspection.
However, the plan met strong public opposition, forcing the Cabinet to put it on hold.
---end---
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/03/26/2003667488





Some footage of Taiwan's large scale "Hanguang 32" exercise in 2016.

Large demonstration in the jungle.

Amphibious assault.

Artillery demonstration.

Urban warfare training.

Team up with Japan ? Same as sleep with evil
 
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Team up with Japan ? Same as sleep with evil
However, folks like Lee Teng-hui whom grew up under Japanese colonial rule, developed a strong interest for Japan. Just consider this reality, Lee's father was a middle-level Japanese police aide, and his brother joined police academy and soon volunteered as for the Imperial Japanese Navy and died in Manila. And Lee after graduated from high school, was given a scholarship to Japan's Kyoto Imperial University. Just wonder why the elders of KMT were so blind and made grave mistake by picking a personality with such background to lead the KMT party back then :rolleyes::eek: And today folks like Tsai and her many cohorts.

The other reality is Japan had occupied the Taiwan Island for many decades, at least as far as the Shimonoseki Treaty in 1895, after the Qing Dynasty lost the First Sino-Japanese War to Japan and lasted until the end of World War II.

From Wiki:
The annexation and incorporation of Taiwan into the Japanese Empire can be viewed as first steps in implementing their "Southern Expansion Doctrine" of the late 19th century. As Taiwan was Japan's first overseas colony, Japanese intentions were to turn the island into a showpiece "model colony". As a result, much effort was made to improve the island's economy, industry, public works and to change its culture for much of the necessities of the war machine of Japanese military aggression in the Asia-Pacific until the surrender of Japan. 

In 17 March 1945, the House of Representatives of the Imperial Diet in Tokyo has passed a Reform Bill to grand Formosan habitants the right to vote representatives in the House of Representatives. In other words, Formosan were granted the political right in the Empire of Japan.

The experience of Japanese rule, ROC rule (including the ROC governing only Taiwan and surrounding islands since 1949), and the February 28 Incident (1947) continues to affect issues such as Taiwan Retrocession Day, national identity, ethnic identity, and the formal Taiwan independence movement. Japan formally renounced the rights to Taiwan in April 1952.

Now just IMAGINE, during over the five decade colonization, how many Japanese people were deliberately moved into that island by the rulers of the Japanese Empire, then how many mixed-blood marriages (both forced and voluntary ones) did happen during such long period and so on... even such practices of human engineering were systematically implemented in "Manchuria region" pre-World War Two.

I won't be surprised at all if there's a substantial population in that island having such ties with Japan thus favor its former 'colonizer' and maintain such cultural affinities until today.


More at Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_under_Japanese_rule

It will be a grave historical and human legacies for the Chinese people to deal with such affairs in future upon reunifying that renegade island! Much a painful yet hard realities... the great pains of the very bleak Chinese history still remain and the costs are still incurring...

@TaiShang
 
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Don't forget that President Ma (2008-2016) was Pro-Beijing. But as Taiwanese witnessed the umbrella movement in Hong Kong, they felt that getting closer to China would mean the end of their own democracy just as how many people in Honk Kong fear that their own democracy will be eliminated by the CCP, despite the promise of "One country, Two systems". So in other words, Taiwan gave the idea of getting closer to China a recent period of real consideration. But they, and nobody else, wants to become "harmonized" under CCP rule. That is why KMT lost big time in the 2016 presidential election.
 
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Taiwan to build 8 submarines under indigenous shipbuilding project

upload_2017-4-5_18-49-0.png


TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan plans to build eight submarines to bolster its current fleet of four ageing foreign-built vessels, a senior Taiwanese navy official said on Wednesday (April 5).

"In our indigenous submarine project, we hope to be able to make eight submarines," Lee Tsung-hsiao, navy chief of staff, told lawmakers, confirming publicly for the first time the number of vessels being planned.

Cheng Wen-lon, chairman of state-controlled shipbuilder CSBC Corp Taiwan, which has been contracted to build the submarines, also told lawmakers that the initial design will be fully completed by early 2018.

Military and defence industry officials in Taiwan have said the first submarine is expected to go into operation within 10 years.

Lee's comments come ahead of the first meeting between leaders of the United States and China this week that Taipei has fretted could harm its interest.

China regards democratic Taiwan part of its territory and has never renounced the use of force to take control of what it sees as a wayward province.

The United States is obligated by US law to help Taiwan defend itself, but its arms sales to Taiwan angers Beijing and has slowed down the pace of sales, defence experts said.

Taiwan and the United States, its sole arms supplier, are currently engaged in fresh arms sales talks.

Last month, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen vowed that her administration would see through the indigenous submarine programme as she toured one of the navy's four aging submarines, purchased from the United States and Netherlands at least 30 years ago.

Taiwan has never built a submarine before and will need to rely on foreign technology support to make an advanced vessel, defence experts have said.

Taiwan's submarine project is in the middle of a four-year design contract phase budgeted at NT$3 billion (S$138 million)that began in 2016.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/ea...marines-under-indigenous-shipbuilding-project
 
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A far better decision than that submarine deal the Pak navy engaged in.
 
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20170406000119M.jpg



The China Post news staff
April 10, 2017, 3:06 pm TWN


The number of Vietnamese tourists visiting Taiwan increased a brisk 22.4 percent from 2016, according to Vietnamese government statistics.

According to Vietnamese tourism authorities, 150,142 nationals visited Taiwan between January 1 and March 31 this year, a 22.4 percent increase from the same period in 2016. Taiwan was the 6th most popular vacation destination for Vietnamese tourists for the first three months of the year. The top three spots went to mainland China (940,000 visitors), South Korea (530,000 visitors) and Japan (200,000 visitors).

In an effort to diversify sources of tourism, Taiwan has relaxed visa restrictions on Vietnamese citizens. The number of Vietnamese tourists increased from 140,000 in 2015 to 190,000 in 2016. The 40,000 tourists visiting Taiwan in the first two months of 2017 represents a 91.4 percent year-on-year increase.

The Vietnamese government hosted a major tourism exhibition in Hanoi on April 6, in which Taiwan's tourism officials led a delegation of 40 local companies to promote the island's popular attractions.

http://m.chinapost.com.tw/asia/2017/04/10/495269/Number-of.htm
 
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How much do they spend in Taiwan per head?

images
 
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Recently the mayor of Taipei said that Hong Kong is boring and tourists should visit Taipei instead of HK. Hmmm...
 
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How much do they spend in Taiwan per head?

images
until recently, hardly anyone can afford holiday overseas. little to no money, but now Vietnamese travel to overseas countries like there is no tomorrow. viet companies offer a short 4-day trip to Taiwan for $430, or 5-day $870. it is actually even cheaper than spending holiday in Vietnam.

Taiwanese government offer free-visa travel to Vietnamese, who possess visa to US, Canada, Japan or South Korea within the last 10 years.

Recently the mayor of Taipei said that Hong Kong is boring and tourists should visit Taipei instead of HK. Hmmm...
LOl what do you think a mayor of Taipei should say: pls don´t visit Taipei? :D
 
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until recently, hardly anyone can afford holiday overseas. little to no money, but now Vietnamese travel to overseas countries like there is no tomorrow. viet companies offer a short 4-day trip to Taiwan for $430, or 5-day $870. it is actually even cheaper than spending holiday in Vietnam.

Taiwanese government offer free-visa travel to Vietnamese, who possess visa to US, Canada, Japan or South Korea within the last 10 years.

The Taiwan economy is pretty bad at the moment so tsai will take anything and anybody into her territory:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-01/25/content_28055266.htm
and I think the Taiwanese will be suffering even more so under the tsai regime whose poll rating drops to a new low just recently at about 27%

1 year on, Taiwan's President Tsai's approval ratings halved

  • By Victoria Jen, Channel NewsAsia's Taiwan Correspondent
  • Posted 16 Jan 2017 18:18
  • Updated 16 Jan 2017 18:20

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...t-tsai-s-approval-ratings-halved/3442018.html


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NewsChinaPolicies & Politics
TAIWAN POLITICS
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Tsai Ing-wen
Trump turbulence to test Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen this year



Poorly received reform efforts and lacklustre economy add to challenges faced by island’s leader


PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 01 February, 2017, 8:03am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 01 February, 2017, 8:24am

COMMENTS: 13


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Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen won 56 per cent of the vote a year ago but her popularity has been tumbling since her inauguration in May and hit a new low last month.

A lacklustre economy and the fallout from reform efforts contributed to the fall and analysts predict little relief this year in the face of external and internal challenges, including the uncertainty spawned by US President Donald Trump and almost daily public protests against her policies.

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Tsai led her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to landslide victories in the island’s presidential and parliamentary election on January 16 last year, giving her a mandate for her reformist agenda. However, an opinion poll released by the pro-DPP Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation late last month put her approval rating at a fresh low of 38 per cent, down from 41.4 per cent in November and 69.9 per cent in May.

Another opinion poll conducted last month by the TVBS cable news network – which is close to the mainland-friendly opposition Kuomintang (KMT) – put Tsai’s approval rating at just 27 per cent, down from a post-inaugural high of 47 per cent in June.

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Chief among the reforms that sparked anti-government protests were controversial amendments to the island’s Labour Standards Act, but Tsai has also upset various interest groups with plans to reform the pension system for teachers and civil servants, legalise gay marriage and confiscate Kuomintang assets.

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The grievances and divisions caused by those reforms explained why Tsai’s popularity hit a new low even though Taiwan’s gross domestic product growth picked up in the third quarter of last year, rising by 2.06 per cent year on year when the market had expected growth of 1.99 per cent. That led analysts to predict an annual growth rate for 2016 of more than 1 per cent, compared with just 0.7 per cent in 2015. The government is expected to release last year’s GDP growth figure next month.

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Wang Kung-yi, a professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, said Tsai’s “low rating is apparently the result of her government’s poor economic performance and her eagerness to introduce reforms which she hopes will win public approval, but end up increasing public resentment”.

The Tsai administration met with strong protests and harsh criticism from both employers and employees last month after the DPP-dominated legislature passed controversial amendments to the Labour Standards Act that cancelled seven island-wide holidays and implemented “one mandatory day off and one flexible rest day” as part of plans to introduce a five-day, 40-hour workweek.

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The amendments – which had also sparked serious scuffles in the legislature and violent protest by workers in the months before they were passed – were not welcomed by employees because they reduced their holidays and were opposed by employers because they added to their costs by making them pay employees working on the flexible rest day more than double overtime.

Restaurants and hospitals have increased their prices since the bill was passed and some convenience stores are now closed on Sundays.

Meanwhile, Kuomintang members and employees protested against a law passed in July that paved the way for the confiscation of the party’s “ill-gotten” assets, including those it fled to Taiwan with in 1949 and those it inherited from Japan at the end of colonisation in 1945.

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On December 26, the legislature pushed through the amendments to the Civil Code in a first reading to allow same sex marriages, again sparking protests.

On January 7, when Tsai embarked on a nine-day state visit to four Taiwanese allies in Central America, thousands of retired soldiers, civil servants and teachers clashed with police in the central city of Taichung as a public hearing was held on how they should be paid following pension reforms initiated by the Tsai administration. The government, concerned about the long-term viability of financially strapped pension programmes for public servants and teachers, wants to terminate a controversial 18 per cent preferential interest rate on savings deposits for public-sector employees within the next six years.

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“The DPP was able to win the elections last year not just because of the poor performance of the KMT administration led by Ma Ying-jeou, but also because of its promise to reform,” Chang Yu-shao, an assistant professor of law at Soochow University in Taipei, said in a recent Facebook post. “In introducing the reforms, which are tipped to anger existing interest groups, the Tsai government has hoped to please everybody, but it ends up inviting more resentment because of the lack of proper follow-up measures.”

What does Taiwan hope for following Tsai-Trump phone call?

Chang said that in its eagerness to gain public approval, the Tsai administrations had introduced many reforms at the same time without setting priorities, which only served to trigger more disputes from all sides and open up new divides in Taiwanese society. Marriage equality, something Tsai had promised to introduce once elected, had, for instance, resulted in public confrontations between gay rights activists and conservatives and religious groups which went beyond the old political enmity between the island’s independence-leaning and mainland-friendly camps.

Apart from creating new enemies for herself, Tsai has also faced increasing pressure from a disgruntled Beijing, especially after making a congratulatory phone call to Trump in early December which Beijing perceived as a threat to the one-China principle. Trump’s statements since have only exacerbated its concerns.

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But Tsai’s cross-strait policies have also angered hardcore pro-independence politicians and young radicals as well as more moderate politicians who supported her predecessor Ma’s engagement with Beijing.

While hardcore pro-independence politicians, including DPP veteran Koo Kuan-min, have been unhappy with Tsai’s relatively moderate policy towards the mainland, radical groups from the camp’s younger generation, including the New Power Party, have urged Tsai to abandon her commitment to the cross-strait status quo.

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During her inaugural speech in May, Tsai vowed to maintain that policy, based on the constitution of the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official title, in the hope of placating Beijing. However Beijing criticised her pledge as “an incomplete test paper” and insisted she adhere to the “1992 consensus” – an oral agreement reached at talks in Hong Kong in 1992 between non-governmental intermediaries from both sides of the strait that there is only one China but that each side has its own interpretation of what that means.

Beijing said acceptance of the one-China principle was a prerequisite for continued cross-strait talks and has suspended interactions between Beijing and Taipei since June.

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“Actually, through her phone conversation with ... Trump, Tsai has already broken the cross-strait status quo and her pledge to maintain a predictable policy in cross-strait relations,” said Su Chi, chairman of the Taipei Forum Foundation, a Taiwanese think tank.

He said the phone call and Trump’s questioning of America’s one-China policy, which Beijing regarded as “non-negotiable”, would only pose more challenges for Tsai this year.

Tsai’s congratulatory call to Trump shortly after his election victory infuriated Beijing, which retaliated by stepping up military intimidation of Taipei and wooing away a tiny African ally of Taiwan – Sao Tome and Principe – late last month.

Honeymoon’s over for Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen as policy fights slow reform

Tsai admitted in a year-end news conference that her administration would face uncertainty in the first half of this year, a comment analysts said reflected the government’s concerns about Trump.

Analysts said Trump was likely to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip in attempting to force economic and other concessions from the mainland.

How Trump will ultimately play the Taiwan card remains to be seen. But Beijing is set to ratchet up pressure on Tsai, with President Xi Jinping eager to show his ability to contain Taiwan in the run-up to the Communist Party’s 19th national congress this autumn.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...urbulence-test-taiwans-president-tsai-ing-wen

In addition to the above woes, in a stark contrast of Tsai's attemp to build a stronger ties with the japanese, Taiwanese fishermen are banned by the japanese govt from fishing in the territory of Senkaku Islands over which japan claims sovereignty rights in defiance of the territorial dispute that is still unsettled. Also her permission of the import of nuke contaminated food products from japan all add up to her looming failure of her rule of Taiwan! There are more people protesting her admin than during Ma's government

Vietnamese communists have a different set of values from Taiwan so what Tsai's claim of "values sharing" in democracy, human rights bla bla with other countries are nothing more than bullshits which aims to spice up the ties with the likes of trump, abe etc

images
 
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Guys, stay on topic.

According to Vietnamese tourism authorities, 150,142 nationals visited Taiwan between January 1 and March 31 this year, a 22.4 percent increase from the same period in 2016. Taiwan was the 6th most popular vacation destination for Vietnamese tourists for the first three months of the year. The top three spots went to mainland China (940,000 visitors), South Korea (530,000 visitors) and Japan (200,000 visitors).
Vietnam outbound tourism is on the rise, good trend.
 
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Guys, stay on topic.


Vietnam outbound tourism is on the rise, good trend.
Yes but the number is rising too fast. I never expected it. The Vietnamese should make less visits to overseas, more in Vietnam, keeping the money domestic. Anyway also we bring culture with our people to the world :-)

33728_n41017missvietnampageantjessicasurianorgb_2f.jpg
 
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Yes but the number is rising too fast. I never expected it. The Vietnamese should make less visits to overseas, more in Vietnam, keeping the money domestic. Anyway also we bring culture with our people to the world :-)

33728_n41017missvietnampageantjessicasurianorgb_2f.jpg
That means Viet household wealth is growing too fast, let's slow down will you! Anyway that's the real good news, ain't household well being the ultimate goal. You're right the national financial treasurer definitely wants travelers to stay domestic, that will improve services surplus (or reduce services deficit), hence national current accounts, but let travelers choose for themselves, outbound travel once a year is not a bad idea
 
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