![\"AFP](\"..\/images\/AFP.gif\")
<\/a> Agence France Presse<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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HANOI, 2 April 2009 (AFP) – A dissident Buddhist monk has joined scientists and intellectuals in opposing a government plan to mine bauxite in Vietnam, according to a statement received from his overseas spokesman.<\/p>\n
Thich Quang Do, head of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, or UBCV, urged workers to stay away from factories to protest the plan to allow Chinese companies to mine bauxite in Vietnam\u2019s Central Highlands.<\/p>\n
Do called on Vietnamese to denounce the plan\u2019s \u201cdestructive effects on the lives and environment of tens of thousands of indigenous people, \u201d<\/em> in the statement received late Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThis project is not the fruit of studies by economists or environmental experts, but an illustration of Vietnam\u2019s dependence on China, \u201d<\/em> he said, urging preparation for a month of \u201cpeaceful demonstrations at home\u201d<\/em> during May.<\/p>\n Vietnamese scientists and intellectuals have strongly denounced the government in recent months for having authorized Chinese involvement in the project, which is under development.<\/p>\n They say it threatens national sovereignty and the environment.<\/p>\n Vietnam\u2019s war hero, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, is among those who have urged the communist government to reconsider the plans.<\/p>\n Do, who is effectively under house arrest in Ho Chi Minh City, according to his spokesman, said a permanent Chinese presence in the Central Highlands would pose \u201can alarming threat\u201d<\/em> to Vietnam\u2019s national security.<\/p>\n China and Vietnam fought a war in 1979, and much of the population remains distrustful of its larger neighbor\u2019s territorial ambitions.<\/p>\n State-linked Tuoi Tre newspaper last weekend reported that Chinese contractors have already won numerous key projects and sent thousands of workers and equipment to Vietnam.<\/p>\n The Unified Buddhist Church has been banned since the early 1980s when it refused to join the state-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Agence France Presse HANOI, 2 April 2009 (AFP) – A dissident Buddhist monk has joined scientists and intellectuals in opposing a government plan to mine bauxite in Vietnam, according to a statement received from his overseas spokesman. Thich Quang Do, head of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, or UBCV, urged workers …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-press-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}