https://www.scmp.com/rss/323302/feed Michael Tatarski is a freelance journalist based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he covers society, tech, development and travel, among other topics. Find him on Twitter @miketatarski. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com First it was a scribbled map in the Warner Bros’ Barbie film, now Blackpink are facing the ire of Vietnamese nationalists calling for a boycott of the K-pop supergroup’s coming tour dates in Hanoi, as pop culture increasingly takes collateral damage from geopolitics. Eagle-eyed social media users noticed last week that the website of iMe Entertainment, the Chinese company organising the Blackpink concerts in Vietnam slated for July 29 and 30, featured a map showing Beijing’s controversial... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3227132/blackpink-barbie-and-beijings-south-china-sea-claims-collide-vietnam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3227132/blackpink-barbie-and-beijings-south-china-sea-claims-collide-vietnam?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:30:17 +0000 In mid-May, during a period of extreme heat, Diep Nguyen lost power at her house in Ha Long City in northern Vietnam, when a forest fire knocked out a transmission line. While difficult to deal with, it was not unexpected. “In the news there are daily discussions about power shortages that could occur due to extreme weather,” she said. In response, Diep is reducing her electricity consumption with the help of an app that monitors her home’s energy use, while following government recommendations... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3222755/can-vietnams-plan-boost-energy-capacity-work-amid-rolling-outages-electricity-shortages?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3222755/can-vietnams-plan-boost-energy-capacity-work-amid-rolling-outages-electricity-shortages?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jun 2023 01:45:11 +0000 As soon as the roads are widened a fresh glut of cars moves in to fill them, says lifelong Ho Chi Minh City resident Thinh Pham, who fears urban planning is forever condemned to lag behind the unrelenting growth of one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic cities. Young, energetic and teeming with start-ups and finance houses, Vietnam’s biggest city and economic engine room is also facing some of its most urgent challenges: gridlocked roads, flooding and infrastructure that’s sagging under the weight... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3194366/gridlocked-and-flood-prone-vietnams-biggest-city-struggles-keep?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3194366/gridlocked-and-flood-prone-vietnams-biggest-city-struggles-keep?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:30:12 +0000 For residents of Vietnam’s biggest city, the sight of trees being cut down for development is not uncommon. In 2017, 258 trees that had dated back to the French colonial period were removed from a major street in central Ho Chi Minh City for the construction of a bridge. Last month, city officials announced that 178 trees on the same road would be cut down or relocated for the renovation of a park along the Saigon River. Such actions come despite Ho Chi Minh City having just 0.55 square metres... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3137492/vietnam-fights-climate-change-has-it-missed-wood?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3137492/vietnam-fights-climate-change-has-it-missed-wood?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jun 2021 08:27:00 +0000 Just weeks before the US presidential election, the administration of President Donald Trump took aim at Vietnam, opening an investigation into the extent to which illegally harvested timber is exported to the United States from the Southeast Asian nation and accusing Hanoi of manipulating the country’s currency. Both inquiries carry the threat of tariffs and other restrictions on imports of Vietnamese goods and services. This announcement of the investigations hardly went down well in Hanoi,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3109385/vietnam-biden-win-could-mean-end-ustr-currency-and-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3109385/vietnam-biden-win-could-mean-end-ustr-currency-and-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Nov 2020 23:00:20 +0000 Freight carriers are facing a shortage of shipping containers amid a wave of demand for delivery by sea, helping drive up rates and increasing supply chain costs for some businesses across Asia. Triton International, one of the world’s largest container leasing firms, said in a presentation to investors last month that pick up in demand for its containers had sped up in the third quarter and utilisation was nearly at full capacity. The company has ordered US$725 million worth of containers for... https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3105336/global-container-shortage-drives-spike-shipping-rates-brings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3105336/global-container-shortage-drives-spike-shipping-rates-brings?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Oct 2020 23:30:05 +0000 In an average week, the Hanoi-based Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation brings anywhere from two to five Vietnamese people rescued from human trafficking in China back to their home country. However, amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, the foundation’s last such border crossing took place on January 25, the first day of Lunar New Year. “It’s not so much that we decided to stop, but that travel within China and across the border is simply not possible,” said Michael Brosowski, its founder and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3049200/coronavirus-vietnams-charities-schools-and-tourism-feel-pinch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3049200/coronavirus-vietnams-charities-schools-and-tourism-feel-pinch?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:11 +0000 VinFast’s ambition to become the national car brand of Vietnam has gone up a gear with the first deliveries of its two luxury models to customers. With the recent roll-out of the Lux A2.0, a sedan that retails for US$65,000, and the Lux SA2.0 SUV that starts at US$86,000, the automobile company owned by Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private corporation, hopes to avoid the fate of other Southeast Asian car companies, such as Malaysia’s Proton, that have launched with much fanfare only to stall... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3023156/vinfast-will-vietnams-new-locally-made-car-take?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3023156/vinfast-will-vietnams-new-locally-made-car-take?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Aug 2019 00:00:08 +0000 For the first time in their histories, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are both in the middle of desperately needed major metro-system projects that aim to transform their cities. Both are facing delays, but a series of high-profile accidents has already cast a larger shadow over the Chinese-led effort in the capital. In contrast, the metro project led by Japanese conglomerates in Ho Chi Minh City has been accident-free. This feeds into longstanding assumptions in Vietnam about the perceived... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2104149/vietnams-tale-two-metros-one-built-japanese-and-other-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2104149/vietnams-tale-two-metros-one-built-japanese-and-other-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jul 2017 03:48:44 +0000 It’s been a long day following the tourist trail in Da Nang, on Vietnam’s central coast. And as the group’s attention fades, somewhere around Linh Ung Pagoda and its huge statue of the Goddess of Mercy, their tour guide rattles off an alternative version of Vietnam’s history and culture. It’s late and it’s hot, and thoughts have turned to air-conditioned hotel rooms, so the Chinese group can be forgiven for missing the subtle geopolitical implications of what their unlicensed leader is... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2058279/good-bad-and-ugly-chinese-tourists-vietnam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2058279/good-bad-and-ugly-chinese-tourists-vietnam?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jan 2017 02:00:00 +0000