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by delapidated but speeding trucks and buses.
Unfortunately,
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for any who might like to believe that the Chinese economic squeeze' approach might result in popular discontent and pressure on the regime to alter its foreign or domestic policies, I left Vietnam satisfied that at least in the most populous
area of North Vietnam, there is still a long way to go before any crisis point is reached', That impression was underlined by the
generally low profile of security and the virtual invis- ibility of the regime. Uncle Ho is clearly still revered, but I did not see a single picture of or slogan about any of his successors. Next year will', however, not be easy, and the most recent estimates available in Hanoi showed a projected net def-
icit of 3 million tonnes of rice (paddy equivalent).
And my visit did come at the lushest time of year, with the main rice harvest coming in. Although I drove through areas affected by the first of this season's typhoons, there was little evidence
of lasting damage: bamboo frame shacks were being built, perhaps to replace ones damaged, and some paddy seemed to have been laid by a storm, while there were also various 'jury rigged”.
power lines.
3.
In the course of the visit I met a wide range of other
diplomatic representatives and several local business represent-
atives, and made a low-level courtesy call on Europe II Division, MFA. The level of discussions was not very high: all western
missions were effectively isolated from direct contact with the
regime or its citizens by the device of channelling all requests
through the MFA-supplied senior LE interpreter'. The Swedes
(with the only large remaining western aid programme and thus
some access), and the UNDP representatives were not available.
4.
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Given the very limited opportunities for observation of
developments, and the absence of any chance of influencing
public or official opinion other than by formal démarches, I
found myself wondering whether the product justified asking 6
/UK-based
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