mojito wrote:
“Things are getting hot.”
I refer you to 1965, South Vietnam. Buddhist monks did this, in response to government actions, too.
Now, a Vietnamese Buddhist, “of an outlawed Buddhist sect”, (by the government), Ho Chi Minh City, which I think was called Saigon at one time, and in front of ‘The Repatriation Building’ no less, puts herself to the torch, complete with banners.
The Vietnam War, with the backing of the Soviet powers, and Red China, came to a close in 1975, with South Vietnam being ‘repatriated’ by North Vietnam.
Now, the unified Vietnam is standing up to the Communist Chinese, in issues of some idea of self-determination and self-identity. (pretty good, huh? Commie vs. Commie?)
Bottom line, things did start heating up, once monks and clerics began self-immolating.
“Now, the unified Vietnam is standing up to the Communist Chinese, in issues of some idea of self-determination and self-identity. (pretty good, huh? Commie vs. Commie?)”
Red China invaded northern Vietnam before; in 1979 they invaded in what they called a “punitive expedition” after the Hanoi government invaded Kampuchea (Cambodia) putting a stop to “The Killing Fields” (Red China was an ally and trading partner of the Khmer Rouge, trading weapons for rice - hence the starvation in Cambodia - which was basically run as a giant farm from 1975-1979).
I’ve been to Hue, where the monk from that iconic Viet Nam era came from. They have his car on display a bit outside the city up the Perfume River. I was but a kid when it happened but remember it vividly.
China must be mad to consider invading Vietnam. How do you defeat people capable of such fanatical zeal? Short of during them of course.