Global Courant 2023-05-05 17:20:00
HANOI – Vietnam’s communist government has demanded that Australia stop issuing commemorative coins featuring the flag of overthrown US-backed South Vietnam, a claim Canberra denied on Friday.
In April, the Royal Australian Mint issued 85,000 sets of A$2 gold and silver coins to mark the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of Australian troops from South Vietnam.
The yellow and red flag of South Vietnam has been banned by the Vietnamese government.
“We deeply regret and strongly protest against the Royal Australian Mint and Australia Post for issuing items depicting the yellow flag – the flag of a regime that no longer exists,” said Vietnam Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Pham Thu Hang, in a statement posted on the government’s official Facebook page on Thursday.
She said Vietnam has discussed the issue with the Australian government and has requested that the coins be stopped from circulation.
During the visit of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Vuong Dinh Hue, to Canberra last November, Australia and Vietnam expressed their intention to elevate their bilateral relationship into a comprehensive strategic partnership.
“This is completely contrary to the good development trend (of those efforts),” the spokesman said.
The Royal Australian Mint defended the coins on Friday.
“The design of the coin echoes the colors of the ribbons of service medals awarded to Australians who served in Vietnam, including the Vietnam Service Medal, introduced in 1968,” the coin said in a statement to AFP.
“The Australian government does not recognize the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam.”
More than 60,000 Australian soldiers served in the Vietnam War, 523 died and nearly 2,400 were injured, according to the country’s war memorial website.
It was Australia’s longest involvement in a war in the 20th century and it became very unpopular, with thousands marching against Australia’s role in the early 1970s.
Australian troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973, two years before the communists from the north stormed Saigon and declared victory on April 30, 1975. AFP
