Latest news with #GulfOfTonkin
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
France's Macron on a visit to Vietnam urges for greater cooperation in defense and trade
French President Emmanuel Macron called on Monday for closer cooperation between Vietnam and France in an increasingly unstable global landscape as he visited Hanoi as part of a Southeast Asia tour focused on strengthening regional ties. Macron emphasized the need for 'an order based on law' at a time of 'both great imbalance and a return to power-driven rhetoric and intimidation.' He next heads to Indonesia and Singapore. The visit comes amid trade tensions, with the U.S. threatening steep tariffs on goods from Europe. Vietnamese imports to the United States were hit with 46% tariffs — among the highest rates applied to any country — in April. Macron signed more than a dozen agreements on defense, nuclear power and trade, including one with the Vietnamese budget airline company VietJet and Airbus to buy 20 A330-900 planes. He paid tribute at a Hanoi war memorial to those who fought the French colonial rulers and met with his counterpart Luong Cuong, as well as Communist Party general secretary To Lam. Macron also visited the 11th century Temple of Literature in the heart of the Vietnamese capital. France and Vietnam's 'sovereignty partnership' could be the central axis of France's approach in the Indo-Pacific, Macron said. France has demonstrated its 'desire to defend international maritime law' when it deployed the French carrier strike group in the South China Sea in early 2025, Macron said. China and Vietnam have long had a maritime agreement governing the Gulf of Tonkin, but have been locked in competing claims in the South China Sea over the Spratly and Paracel Islands and maritime areas. Macron said France would also support Vietnam in key sectors, including critical minerals, high-speed rail, civil nuclear energy and aerospace, and focus on partnering with the Asian nation to help it transition away from dirty coal power while adding new capacity in renewable energy and civil nuclear power. This is Macron's first trip to Vietnam since he took office in 2017. France and Vietnam share a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam's highest diplomatic status, also held with Russia, China, and the U.S.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Look Back: West Side Catholic basketball standout killed during the Vietnam War
May 18—At 12, Bernard Francis Rupinski was named to the Edwardsville Little League All-Star team that won the district championship in August 1955. As a student at West Side Central Catholic High School, Rupinski was known as one of the best male dancers and a standout on the basketball court, being named to the first team of the Catholic League Central Division his senior season in 1961. After high school, Rupinski attended King's College where he was also a standout on the college's basketball team. Following college graduation, Rupinski became a Naval Aviator, commissioned a lieutenant and flew as a Navy Flight Intercept Officer on the F-4 Phantom jet, stationed on the USS America during the Vietnam War. Lt. Rupinski and pilot Lt. Walter E. Wilber were shot down over North Vietnam on June 16, 1968. While Wilber survived and was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese, the body of Rupinski has never been found and is listed by the U.S. Defense Department as killed-in action. "On June 16, 1968, a F-4 Phantom with a crew of two was the lead aircraft in a flight of two on a combat air patrol mission over the Gulf of Tonkin. The flight was directed inland to repel enemy aircraft reported to be south of the 19th parallel and encountered enemy MiGs over Nghe An Province, North Vietnam. During the ensuing combat, a MiG-21 fighter fired a missile which hit the Phantom in the fuselage, causing it to explode and crash. The pilot ejected, parachuted to the ground and was captured by enemy forces. The second crew member was not seen to eject and is believed to have died in the crash," according to an article on the U.S. Defense Department's POW/MIA Accounting Agency's website. Rupinski was only 24 when killed and had been in Vietnam for more than one month. Prior to being deployed, Rupinski and his wife, a native of Norway, were living in Virginia Beach, Va., and had a daughter, Michelle. Nearly four years after being shot down, the U.S. Defense Department listed Rupinski, "killed from hostile action," according to a story in the Times Leader Evening News on May 25, 1972. "Fragments of information collected from escaped and a small number of released POWs along with Navy intelligence revealed Bernie had apparently catapulted from the aircraft but never had been reported on the ground," the Evening News reported. Rupinski's name along with 81 other veterans from Luzerne County killed during the Vietnam War are listed on the Vietnam Memorial on the south lawn of the Luzerne County Courthouse, which was dedicated on Feb. 21, 1988.
