Vietnam has held a series of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the death of Nguyen Van Troi, who tried to kill former U.S. Defense Minister Robert McNamara by mine in 1964, state media reported. The activities were conducted on Oct 15 in many localities, including the capital city of Hanoi and Quang Nam province, where Mr. Troi was born, as representatives of the ruling communist party and its arm the Ho Chi Minh Youth Communist Union placed flowers and paid tributes to his statues in local parks. The state-controlled media published a number of articles praising Mr. Troi’s actions which were aimed at placing a bomb on Cong Ly Bridge in Saigon to kill Minister McNamara when he led the U.S. high-ranking defense delegation to visit the South Vietnam on May 2, 1964. Mr. Troi was arrested and the bomb was not activated due to technical failure. Later, he was sentenced to death and executed on Oct 15 in the same year. The honor of Mr. Troi is made amid rising diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. Since the two countries signed a comprehensive partnership in July last year during the visit of President Truong Tan Sang to Washington, there have been high-profile visits, including the visits of State Secretary John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to the communist nation, and the recent trip of Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh to the American country. Last month, the U.S. announced its partial removal of lethal weapon ban imposed on Vietnam since 1985, allowing the communist nation to purchase modern American weapons to enhance its defense capacity, particularly its naval forces to deal with China’s expansionism in the East Sea. After nearly 40 years of the Vietnam War, the U.S. is one of the biggest economic partners of Vietnam. Trade between Vietnam and the U.S. is predicted to hit $33.6 billion this year, with the former likely to maintain a trade surplus of $22.7 billion. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan – People’s Army Oct 16)
