VIETNAMESE
ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE
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The low level of correspondence from Vietnam in recent years is more
a reflection of the high cost of postage than an indication of the level of
listening to the BBC Vietnamese Service. Virtually every recent visitor to
Vietnam - including five from the Far East Service has come back with
reports of massive listening to the BBC from top Party Cadres in Hanoi to
street hawkers in Ho Chi Minh City. For example the Party General Secretary
Nguyen Van Linh has told us that he listens regularly every morning to the
BBC news in Vietnamese, whilst the Senior Vietnamese producer on a recent
visit found devoted listeners everywhere, including the late Ho Chi Minh's
relatives in an impoverished northern province from which no correspondence
has ever been received. Some of the latest accolades. have come from the
Private Secretary to the Vietnamese Foreign Minister who, during a visit to
London in June, admitted to being an avid listener and also from a senior UNHCR
official, actively involved in working with the boat people. During a visit.
to Bush House last month (July) he said he had no doubt whatsoever about the
impact and importance of the BBC Vietnamese Service. Many Vietnamese diplomats
abroad admit to listening to the BBC, as do numerous refugees scattered around
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the world that is, when they can pick up the transmissions, which are
unfortunately not audible in many parts of north America and Europe..
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