query: The Vietnam War has another name.

pos: Vietnam War The Vietnam War ( Chiến tranh Việt Nam ) , also known as the Second Indochina War , and known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America ( Kháng chiến chống Mỹ ) or simply the American War , was a war that occurred in Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975 . It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam . The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union , China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States , South Korea , Australia , Thailand and other anti-communist allies . The war is therefore considered a Cold War-era proxy war .   The Viet Cong ( also known as the National Liberation Front , or NLF ) , a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North , fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region , while the People 's Army of Vietnam , also known as the North Vietnamese Army ( NVA ) , engaged in more conventional warfare , at times committing large units to battle . As the war continued , the military actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role and engagement of the NVA grew . U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations , involving ground forces , artillery , and airstrikes . In the course of the war , the U.S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam .   The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam . They viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States . The U.S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam . This was part of the domino theory of a wider containment policy , with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism worldwide .   Beginning in 1950 , American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina.The Military Assistance Advisory Group , Indochina ( with an authorized strength of 128 men ) was set up in September 1950 with a mission to oversee the use and distribution of US military equipment by the French and their allies . U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s , with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962 . U.S. involvement escalated further following the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident , in which a U.S. destroyer clashed with North Vietnamese fast attack craft , which was followed by the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution , which gave the U.S. president authorization to increase U.S. military presence . Regular U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965 . Operations crossed international borders : bordering areas of Laos and Cambodia were heavily bombed by U.S. forces as American involvement in the war peaked in 1968 , the same year that the communist side launched the Tet Offensive . The Tet Offensive failed in its goal of overthrowing the South Vietnamese government , but became the turning point in the war , as it persuaded a large segment of the U.S. population that its government 's claims of progress toward winning the war were illusory despite many years of massive U.S. military aid to South Vietnam .   Gradual withdrawal of U.S. ground forces began as part of `` Vietnamization '' , which aimed to end American involvement in the war while transferring the task of fighting the communists to the South Vietnamese themselves . Despite the Paris Peace Accord , which was signed by all parties in January 1973 , the fighting continued . In the U.S. and the Western world , a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture . The war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs , and altered North -- South relations .   Direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 . The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war , and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year . The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities ( see Vietnam War casualties ) . Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million . Some 240,000 -- 300,000 Cambodians , 20,000 -- 62,000 Laotians , and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict , and a further 1,626 remain missing in action .

neg: Battle of Dak To The Battle of Đắk Tô was a series of major engagements of the Vietnam War that took place between November 3 to 23 , 1967 , in Kon Tum Province , in the Central Highlands of the Republic of Vietnam ( South Vietnam ) . The action at Đắk Tô was one of a series of People 's Army of Vietnam ( PAVN ) offensive initiatives that began during the second half of the year . North Vietnamese attacks at Lộc Ninh ( in Bình Long Province ) , Song Be ( in Phước Long Province ) , and at Con Thien and Khe Sanh , ( in Quảng Trị Province ) , were other actions which , combined with Đắk Tô , became known as `` the border battles . '' The objective of the PAVN forces was to distract American and South Vietnamese forces away from cities towards the borders in preparation for the Tet Offensive .   During the summer of 1967 , heavy contact with PAVN forces in the area prompted the launching of Operation Greeley , a combined search and destroy effort by elements of the U.S. Army 's 4th Infantry Division and 173rd Airborne Brigade , along with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam 's 42nd Infantry Regiment and Airborne units . The fighting was intense and lasted into the fall , when the North Vietnamese seemingly withdrew .   By late October , however , U.S. intelligence indicated that local communist units had been reinforced and combined into the 1st PAVN Division , which was tasked with the capture of Đắk Tô and the destruction of a brigade-size U.S. unit . Information provided by a PAVN defector provided the allies a good indication of the locations of North Vietnamese forces . This intelligence prompted the launching of Operation MacArthur , and brought the units back to the area along with more reinforcements from the ARVN Airborne Division . The battles that erupted on the hill masses south and southeast of Đắk Tô became some of the hardest-fought and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War .

neg: The Spitting Image The Spitting Image : Myth , Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam ( 1998 ) is a book by Vietnam veteran and Sociology professor Jerry Lembcke . The book is an analysis of the widely believed , but historically inaccurate , urban legend that American soldiers were spat upon and insulted by antiwar protesters upon returning home from the Vietnam War . The book examines the origin of the earliest stories ; the popularization of the `` spat-upon image '' through Hollywood movies and fiction literature , and the role of print news media in perpetuating the now iconic image through which the history of the war and antiwar movement has come to be represented .   Lembcke contrasts the absence of credible evidence of spitting by antiwar activists with the large body of evidence showing a mutually supportive , empathetic relationship between veterans and antiwar forces . The book documents the efforts of the Nixon Administration to drive a wedge between military servicemen and the antiwar movement by portraying democratic dissent as betrayal of the troops , effectively redirecting blame for failure in Vietnam onto protesters . Coupled with American society 's exaggeration of medical conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) and drug abuse among veterans to the point of broadly vilifying the Vietnam veteran as mentally unfit , emotionally volatile and a `` loser '' and `` victim '' , the collective memory about Vietnam has been refocused onto the veteran and away from the war . Lembcke equates this disparagement of the antiwar movement and veterans with the similar ` stab in the back ' myths propagated by Germany and France after their war defeats , as an alibi for why they lost the war . Lembcke details the resurrection of this myth of the spat-upon veteran by later administrations during subsequent Gulf War efforts as a way of silencing public dissent .

neg: China–Vietnam relations The bilateral relations between the People 's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( 中越关系 , Quan hệ Trung Quốc -- Việt Nam ) have been turbulent , despite their common socialist background . Centuries of conquest by modern China 's imperial predecessor have given Vietnam an entrenched suspicion of Chinese attempts to dominate it . Though the PRC assisted North Vietnam during the Vietnam War , relations between the two nations soured following Vietnam 's reunification in 1975 . China and Vietnam fought a prolonged border war from 1979 to 1990 , but have since worked to improve their diplomatic and economic ties . However , the two countries remain in dispute over territorial issues in the South China Sea . A 2014 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showed 84 % of Vietnamese were concerned that territorial disputes between China and neighbouring countries could lead to a military conflict .   Once , Vietnam had a territorial control even to the territory of modern-day Guangxi and Guangdong , due to historical wars with China , the border between China and Vietnam has been defined like today .

neg: Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement ( NAM ) is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc . , the movement has 120 members .   The purpose of the organization has been enumerated as to ensure `` the national independence , sovereignty , territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries '' in their `` struggle against imperialism , colonialism , neo-colonialism , racism , and all forms of foreign aggression , occupation , domination , interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics , '' by Fidel Castro in the Havana Declaration of 1979 . The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations ' members and contain 55 % of the world population . Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World .   Although many of the Non-Aligned Movement 's members were actually quite closely aligned with one or another of the superpowers , the movement still maintained cohesion throughout the Cold War , even despite several conflicts between members which also threatened the movement . In the years since the Cold War 's end , it has focused on developing multilateral ties and connections as well as unity among the developing nations of the world , especially those within the Global South .

neg: Ho Chi Minh trail The Hồ Chí Minh trail ( also known in Vietnam as the `` Trường Sơn trail '' ) was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( North Vietnam ) to the Republic of Vietnam ( South Vietnam ) through the kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia . The system provided support , in the form of manpower and materiel , to the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam ( called the Vietcong or `` VC '' by its opponents ) and the People 's Army of Vietnam ( PAVN ) , or North Vietnamese Army , during the Vietnam War .   It was named by the Americans after North Vietnamese president Hồ Chí Minh . Although the trail was mostly in Laos , the communists called it the Trường Sơn Strategic Supply Route ( Đường Trường Sơn ) , after the Vietnamese name for the Annamite Range mountains in central Vietnam . According to the United States National Security Agency 's official history of the war , the Trail system was `` one of the great achievements of military engineering of the 20th century . ''

neg: Operation Cedar Falls Operation Cedar Falls was a military operation of the Vietnam War conducted primarily by US forces . The aim of this massive search and destroy operation was to eradicate the so-called `` Iron Triangle '' , an area located in close proximity to Saigon which had become a major stronghold of the communist National Liberation Front ( NLF ) or Viet Cong . The operation began on January 8 , 1967 , and ended on January 28 , 1967 .   Operation Cedar Falls was the largest American ground operation of the Vietnam war : Two Army divisions , one infantry and one paratrooper brigade , as well as one armored cavalry regiment participated in the operation ; altogether , Operation Cedar Falls involved 30,000 US and South Vietnamese troops . The Viet Cong , however , chose to evade this massive military force by either fleeing across the border to Cambodia or hiding in a complex system of underground tunnels . Nevertheless , the Allied forces uncovered and destroyed some of the tunnel complexes as well as large stockpiles of Viet Cong supplies . In the course of the operation , so-called tunnel rats were introduced to infiltrate Viet Cong tunnel systems .   In an attempt to permanently destroy the Iron Triangle as a Viet Cong stronghold , Operation Cedar Falls also entailed the complete deportation of the region 's civilian population to so-called New Life Villages , the destruction of their homes , as well as the defoliation of whole areas .   Most senior officers involved in planning and executing the operation later evaluated it as a success . Most journalists and military historians , however , paint a bleaker picture . They argue that Cedar Falls failed to achieve its main goal since the Viet Cong 's setback in the Iron Triangle proved to be only temporary . Moreover , critics argue that the harsh treatment of the civilian population was both morally questionable as well as detrimental to the US effort to win Vietnamese hearts and minds driving many into the ranks of the Viet Cong instead . Therefore , some authors cite Operation Cedar Falls as a major example for the misconceptions of the American strategy in Vietnam and for its morally troublesome consequences .

neg: Rice production in Vietnam Rice production in Vietnam in the Mekong and Red River deltas is important to the food supply in the country and national economy . Vietnam is one of world 's richest agricultural regions and is the second-largest ( after Thailand ) exporter worldwide and the world 's seventh-largest consumer of rice . The Mekong Delta is the heart of the rice producing region of the country where water , boats , houses and markets coexist to produce a generous harvest of rice . Vietnam 's land area of 33 million ha has three ecosystems that dictate rice culture . These are the southern delta ( with its Mekong Delta dominating rice coverage ) , the northern delta ( the tropical monsoon area with cold winters ) and the highlands of the north ( with upland rice varieties ) . The most prominent irrigated rice system is the Mekong Delta . Rice is a staple of the national diet and is seen as a `` gift from God '' .   The Mekong River and its tributaries are crucial to rice production in Vietnam . A total of 12 provinces constitute the Mekong Delta , popularly known as the `` Rice Bowl '' of Vietnam , which contain some 17 million people and 80 % of them are engaged in rice cultivation . The delta produced bountiful harvest of about 20 million tons in 2008 , about a half of the country 's total production . The rice bowl has assured food security to its population whose 75 % of daily calories are met by rice , which is also the staple diet of nearly 50 % of world 's population of 7.4-billion people .   Within the delta system dominated by rice , now the farming system also includes activities related to aquaculture , rearing of animals , cash crops and fruit trees . Under aquaculture fresh and saline water shrimp are raised within the paddy rice fields . As a further environmental zoning of the delta , mangrove forests are also developed .

neg: Reunification Day Reunification Day ( Ngày Thống nhất ) , Victory Day ( Ngày Chiến thắng ) or Liberation Day ( Ngày Giải phóng or Ngày Giải phóng miền Nam ) or the official name of Day of liberating the South for national reunification ( Giải phóng miền Nam , thống nhất đất nước ) is a public holiday in Vietnam that marks the event when Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon ( now Ho Chi Minh City ) on April 30 , 1975 . This signalled the end of the Vietnam War , known in Vietnamese as Chiến tranh Việt Nam ( Vietnam War ) or Kháng chiến chống Mỹ cứu nước ( `` Resistance War Against American invasion '' ) . It was the start of the transition period toward reunification , which occurred in the national election for national reunification on July 2 , 1976 , when the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam and Democratic Republic of Vietnam merged to form the modern-day Vietnam or the Socialist Republic of Vietnam .   The anniversary is marked by several festivals around the date .   Sections of the Vietnamese exile community remember it as the `` Fall of Saigon '' , `` Black April '' ( Tháng Tư Đen ) , National Day of Shame ( Ngày Quốc Nhục ) or National Day of Resentment ( Ngày Quốc Hận ) . This is a commemorative day for exiled Vietnamese who served , were affected , and displaced in those overseas communities , and as such is a day of reflection .

neg: Tĩnh Hải quân Tĩnh Hải quân or the Jinghai regiments ( Chinese : 靜海軍 , pinyin : Jìnghǎi-jūn ) was the name of Viet Nam from 866 to 968 . It was the reconstituted Chinese military protectorate of Annam in northern Vietnam during the Third Chinese domination of Vietnam . The area of the commandery is sometimes referred to as `` Circuit '' ( 道 dao ) in Jinghai the term Jinghai-jun was used .   This was the fifth section of the third domination commencing with Giao Châu ( or Jiaozhou , 602 -- 679 ) , then An Nam ( or Annam , 679 -- 757 ) , Trấn Nam ( 757 -- 766 ) , An Nam again ( 766 -- 866 ) and then Tĩnh Hải quân ( or Jinghai-jun , 866 -- 967 ) .   During the period until 939 , Vietnam was governed by jiedushi , including finally the three generations of the Khuc family who briefly asserted autonomy from China . With the proclamation of independence by Ngo Quyen , this name was retain throughout the Ngo Dynasty and the Anarchy of the 12 Warlords . In 968 , Dinh Bo Linh vanquished the warlords and renamed the country as Đại Cồ Việt .

neg: Operation Barrel Roll Operation Barrel Roll was a covert U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division ( later the Seventh Air Force ) and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 , interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos between 14 December 1964 and 29 March 1973 concurrent with the Vietnam War .   The original purpose of the operation was to serve as a signal to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( North Vietnam ) to cease its support for the insurgency then taking place in the Republic of Vietnam ( South Vietnam ) . This action was taken within Laos due to the location of North Vietnam 's expanding logistical corridor known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail ( the Truong Son Road to the North Vietnamese ) , which ran from southwestern North Vietnam , through southeastern Laos , and into South Vietnam . The campaign then centered on the interdiction of that logistical system . Beginning during the same time frame ( and expanding throughout the conflict ) the operation became increasingly involved in providing close air support missions for Royal Lao Armed Forces , CIA-backed tribal mercenaries , and Thai Volunteer Defense Corps in a covert ground war in northern and northeastern Laos . Barrel Roll and the `` Secret Army '' attempted to stem an increasing tide of People 's Army of Vietnam ( PAVN ) and Pathet Lao offensives .   Barrel Roll was one of the most closely held secrets and one of the most unknown components of the American military commitment in Southeast Asia . Due to the ostensible neutrality of Laos , guaranteed by the Geneva Conference of 1954 and 1962 , both the U.S. and North Vietnam strove to maintain the secrecy of their operations and only slowly escalated military actions there . As much as both parties would have liked to have publicized their enemy 's own alleged violation of the accords , both had more to gain by keeping their own roles quiet . Regardless , by the end of the conflict in 1975 , Laos emerged from nine years of war just as devastated as any of the other Asian participants in the Vietnam War .

neg: Dirty thirty (Vietnam) The first American soldiers to take an official role in the Vietnam War were a group of pilots called the Dirty Thirty .   They were U.S. Air Force pilots sent to Vietnam in 1962 and 1963 , to assist the South Vietnamese Air Force ( VNAF ) in military airlift and transport missions . They primarily flew as co-pilots alongside VNAF pilots on these missions .   Other G.I.s had survived in Vietnam and had participated in combat operations . Officially , however the Dirty Thirty ( an unofficial adopted nickname ) pilots were classed as `` advisors '' , not combatants .   The original group of pilots deployed in 1962 rotated home during early 1963 , and were replaced by a second contingent . During the 20-month period they were on loan to the VNAF , the total of sixty Dirty Thirty pilots flew approximately 25,000 hours , earning 97 Air Medals and two Distinguished Flying Crosses .   Richard W. Hudson wrote a book about the pilots , entitled `` The Dirty Thirty '' .

neg: Agent Orange Agent Orange is an herbicide and defoliant chemical . It is widely known for its use by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program , Operation Ranch Hand , during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971 . It was a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides , 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D . In addition to its damaging environmental effects , the chemical has caused major health problems for many individuals who were exposed .   Up to 4 million people in Vietnam were exposed to the defoliant , with around 1 million now suffering serious health issues . The chemical is capable of damaging genes , resulting in deformities among offspring of exposed victims . The U.S. government has documented higher cases of leukemia , Hodgkin 's lymphoma , as well as other various kinds of cancer in exposed veterans . Agent Orange also caused enormous environmental damage in Vietnam . Over 3,100,000 hectares ( 31,000 km2 or 11,969 mi2 ) of forest were defoliated . Defoliants eroded tree cover and seedling forest stock , making reforestation difficult in numerous areas . Animal species diversity sharply reduced in contrast with unsprayed areas .   The aftermath of the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam resulted in massive legal consequences . The United Nations ratified United Nations General Assembly Resolution 31/72 and the Environmental Modification Convention . Lawsuits filed on behalf of veterans as well as Vietnamese veterans sought compensation for damages .   Agent Orange was to a lesser extent used outside Vietnam . Some countries , such as Canada , saw testing , while other countries , such as Brazil , used the herbicide to clear out sections of land for agriculture . Land in Laos and Cambodia was sprayed with Agent Orange because forests on the border with Vietnam were used by the Vietcong .

neg: John Kerry military service controversy During John Kerry 's candidacy in the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign , a political issue that gained widespread public attention was Kerry 's Vietnam War record . In television advertisements and a book called Unfit for Command , co-authored by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi , the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ( SBVT ) , a 527 group later known as the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth , questioned details of his military service record and circumstances relating to the award of his combat medals . Their campaign against Kerry 's presidential bid received widespread publicity , but was later discredited and gave rise to the neologism `` swiftboating '' , to describe an unfair or untrue political attack . Defenders of John Kerry 's service record , including nearly all of his former crewmates , have stated that SBVT 's allegations are false .

neg: Free World Military Forces Free World Military Forces ( FWMF ) was a military force composed of a collective group of six nations who sent troops to fight in the Vietnam War under the FWMF banner , assisting the United States and South Vietnam .

neg: Vietnam Veterans of America Vietnam Veterans of America , Inc. ( VVA ) is a national non-profit corporation founded in 1978 in the United States that is committed to serving the needs of all veterans . It is funded without any contribution from any branch of government . VVA is the only such organization chartered by the United States Congress and dedicated to Vietnam veterans and their families . The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code . Its founding principle is `` Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another . ''

neg: Ronald Humphrey Ronald Humphrey was a United States Information Agency ( USIA ) official who was convicted of spying for North Vietnam . He and co-conspirator David Truong ( born Truong Dinh Hung ) , the son of a South Vietnamese politician Truong Nhu Tang , were arrested in 1977 and charged with conspiracy , espionage , theft of classified information and failing to register as foreign agents . They were convicted of spying for the North Vietnamese and both given a 15-year prison sentence .   Truong was a South Vietnamese expatriate living in the United States and who as active in the anti-Vietnam War movement . His father had run against Nguyen Van Thieu on a peace platform and was a member of the anti-Thieu Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam . Supplied with information by Humphrey , Truong passed on diplomatic cables and classified information to North Vietnam and the successor Socialist Republic of Vietnam government . The intermediary was the wife of a naval attache , Yung Krall , codenamed `` Agent Keyseat '' , who was a double agent for the U.S. intelligence services . Some of the documents were used by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong negotiators at the Paris Peace Conference . It is the only case of military espionage to come out of the Vietnam War .

neg: New wars New wars is a term advanced by British academic Mary Kaldor to characterize warfare in the post-Cold War era . This form of warfare is characterized by :  violence between varying combinations of state and non-state networks  fighting in the name of identity politics as opposed to ideology  attempts to achieve political , rather than physical , control of the population through fear and terror  conflict financed not necessarily through the state , but through other predatory means that seek the continuation of violence  Other terms used for the concept include `` wars among the people '' , `` wars of the third kind '' , `` hybrid wars '' , `` privatized wars '' , and `` post-modern wars '' . The new wars thesis has been adopted and adapted by other authors , as well as critiqued from various perspectives .

neg: Dirty War (Mexico) The Dirty War ( Guerra Sucia ) refers to the Mexican theater of the Cold War , an internal conflict between the Mexican PRI-ruled government , backed by the US , and left-wing student and guerrilla groups in the 1960s and 1970s under the presidencies of Luis Echeverría and José López Portillo . During the war , government forces carried out disappearances , estimated at 1,200 , systematic torture , and `` probable extrajudicial executions '' .   In Mexico the dirty war is a subject little known by the bulk of the population , this because the PRI has hidden or eliminated the information and was not written in the history books . The judicial investigation into State crimes against political movements was opened only until Vicente Fox 's term ( 2000-2006 ) , which created the Special Prosecutor 's Office for Social and Political Movements of the Past ( FEMOSPP ) . However , despite the fact that it has advanced in the knowledge of the historical facts , the FEMOSPP has not been able to arrive at finalize concrete legal responsibilities against which they have been indicated like main people in charge of the dirty war .

neg: Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam The Central Military Commission ( CMC ) , is the highest party organ in Vietnam on military policy . Its membership includes some members of the Politburo and military leaders . The CMC is headed by the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam , Nguyễn Phú Trọng .   The Statute of the Communist Party of Vietnam says that the Vietnam People 's Army ( VPA ) is `` under the party 's absolute , direct , comprehensive leadership '' . The membership of the CMC is appointed by the Central Committee . The CMC is responsible to the Party 's Politburo and the Secretariat . Its main priority is to supervise party affairs within the VPA , from the very bottom to the top , which is represented by the General Political Department . Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 , the norm has been that at least two VPA generals are to be represented in the Party 's Politburo , however , beginning in 1975 the number of VPA generals represented in the Central Committee has slowly decreased . The VPA has played a big role in economic development ; in 1993 VPA generals held five out of thirty-three ministries . Because of the army 's role in economic development , the Ministry of Defence established the General Directorate for Economic Development .   For the heads of the commission , see Secretary of the Central Military Commission .   The Commission publishes the newspaper Quan doi nhan dan together with the Ministry of Defence .

neg: Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to :   Something of , from , or related to Vietnam , the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia .  Something of , from , or related to the former country of Vietnam  Something of , from , or related to the former country of Vietnam  Vietnamese people , persons from Vietnam or of Vietnamese descent  Overseas Vietnamese , Vietnamese people living outside Vietnam in a diaspora  Vietnamese language  Vietnamese alphabet  Vietnamese cuisine  Vietnamese culture


query: Samantha Robson was born in London.

pos: Samantha Robson Samantha Jane Robson ( born 22 March 1966 in Wandsworth , London ) is an English actress who played WPC Vicky Hagen in The Bill from 1998 to 2001 . She has also appeared in Red Dwarf as Pete Tranter 's sister and Murder in Mind . Before working in television , she worked for eighteen months as a lap dancer under the name Shelley at For Your Eyes Only in north west London . Robson spent three seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company .

neg: Sam Nixon Sam Nixon ( born 21 March 1986 ) is an English singer and television presenter . He came third on the Pop Idol television series in 2003 and is now one half of the duo Sam & Mark , with the other being Mark Rhodes .

neg: Territorial Support Group The Territorial Support Group ( TSG or CO20 ) is a Central Operations unit of London 's Metropolitan Police Service ( MPS ) . In 2012 it consisted of 793 officers and 29 support staff . It specialises in public order containment , among other specialist policing . The TSG is a uniformed unit of the MPS that replaced the similarly controversial Special Patrol Group in 1987 . TSG units patrol the streets of London in marked police vans or `` carriers '' ; using the call sign `` Uniform '' . Generally each carrier has an advanced ( police ) driver , five constables and a sergeant . Territorial Support Groups often comprise three carriers , eighteen constables , and three sergeants reporting to an Inspector . They separately patrol designated patches . When deployed , it is by the MPS Information Room . Due to the public order nature of their role often numerous carriers will be assigned , a common situation being drunken rowdiness at public house closing time . TSG officers can be identified as TSG from the distinctive `` U '' in their shoulder numbers .

neg: London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in south London , England and is part of Outer London . It covers an area of 87 km2 and is the largest London borough by population . It is the southernmost borough of London . At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name . Croydon is mentioned in Domesday Book , and from a small market town has expanded into one of the most populous areas on the fringe of London . Croydon is the civic centre of the borough . The borough is now one of London 's leading business , financial and cultural centres , and its influence in entertainment and the arts contribute to its status as a major metropolitan centre .   Formed in 1965 from the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District and the County Borough of Croydon , the local authority Croydon London Borough Council , is now part of the local government association for Greater London , London Councils . The economic strength of Croydon dates back mainly to Croydon Airport which was a major factor in the development of Croydon as a business centre . Once London 's main airport for all international flights to and from the capital , it was closed on 30 September 1959 due to the lack of expansion space needed for an airport to serve the growing city . It is now a Grade II listed building and tourist attraction . Croydon Council and its predecessor Croydon Corporation unsuccessfully applied for city status in 1954 , 2000 , 2002 and 2012 . The area is currently going through a large regeneration project called Croydon Vision 2020 which is predicted to attract more businesses and tourists to the area as well as backing Croydon 's bid to become London 's Third City ( after ` The City ' and Westminster ) . Croydon is mostly urban , though there are large suburban and rural uplands in the south . Since 2003 Croydon has been certified as a Fairtrade borough by the Fairtrade Foundation . It was the first London Borough to have Fairtrade status which is awarded on certain criteria .   The area is one of the hearts of culture in London and the South East of England . Institutions such as the major arts and entertainment centre Fairfield Halls add to the vibrancy of the borough . However , its famous fringe theatre `` the Warehouse Theatre '' was put under administration in 2012 when the council withdrew its funding and the building itself was demolished in 2013 . The Croydon Clocktower was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 as an arts venue featuring a library , the independent David Lean Cinema ( closed by the council in 2011 after 16 years of operating , but now partially reopened on a part-time and volunteers basis ) and museum . From 2000 to 2010 , Croydon staged an annual summer festival celebrating the area 's black and Indian cultural diversity , with audiences reaching over 50,000 people . An internet radio station , Croydon Radio , is run by local people for the area . The borough is also home to its own local TV station , Croydon TV . Premier League football club Crystal Palace F.C. play at Selhurst Park in South Norwood , a stadium they have been based in since 1924 . Other landmarks in the borough include Addington Palace , an 18th-century mansion which became the official second residence of six archbishops , Shirley Windmill , one of the few surviving large windmills in Greater London built in the 1850s , and the BRIT School , a creative arts institute run by the BRIT Trust which has produced artists such as Adele , Amy Winehouse and Leona Lewis .

neg: Linda Sutton Linda Sutton ( born 14 December 1947 ) is a British painter . She was born in Southend-on-Sea , Essex .   She studied at Winchester School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London , graduating in 1974 . She still lives in London .   She is a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition .   Her work is based on narrative and mythological themes , with an autobiographical perspective .

neg: Simon Robson Simon Robson is a British actor , director and writer .   As an actor , he has appeared in Doctors , Tom & Viv , Bodywork , Trial and Retribution and EastEnders , playing Graham Stone .   Simon Robson studied at Cambridge University and trained as an actor at RADA . He has worked extensively in the theatre , as well as appearing in Eastenders and Doctors .  His first play , The Ghost Train Tattoo , was premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 2001 .  Since then he has published a book of short stories , The Separate Heart , which was shortlisted for the prestigious Frank O'Connor Prize in 2007 .

neg: Laura Robson Laura Robson ( born 21 January 1994 ) is a British tennis player and an Olympic Mixed Doubles silver medalist .   She debuted on the International Tennis Federation ( ITF ) junior tour in 2007 , and a year later won the Wimbledon Junior Girls ' Championship at the age of 14 . As a junior , she also twice reached the final of the girls ' singles tournament at the Australian Open , in 2009 and 2010 . She won her first professional tournament in November 2008 .   Robson was the first British woman since Samantha Smith at Wimbledon in 1998 to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament , doing so at the 2012 US Open and the 2013 Wimbledon Championships . She won a silver medal in the mixed doubles at the 2012 London Olympics playing with Andy Murray , with whom she also reached the 2010 Hopman Cup final . At the 2012 Guangzhou Women 's Open , Robson became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1990 to reach a WTA main-tour final , where she lost to Hsieh Su-wei . Robson was named WTA Newcomer of the Year for 2012 and reached a career high singles ranking of world number 27 on 8 July 2013 .   Since then , Robson has suffered from various injuries which have caused a prolonged absence from the WTA tour . After losing in the first round of the 2013 HP Open on 7 October 2013 , she has played just 33 matches : two in 2014 , 11 in 2015 and 20 in 2016 , winning just eight of them . She dropped out of the world rankings in early 2015 , returning at 906 in July 2015 , and is currently ranked at 173 . She has a career-high doubles ranking of number 82 and is currently ranked 344 .

neg: Mark Robson (American writer) Mark Robson is a writer who was born in Scotland and who now lives in New Orleans , Louisiana . He is currently working on film projects with his production partner , Leigh Hennessy , and he also runs No Middle Name Public Relations .   Robson holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette ( formerly known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana ) and was Assistant Professor of English and Theater at Graceland University in Iowa . He was artistic director of the Eavesdrop Theater in Lafayette , Louisiana , one of the nation 's premier playwrights ' theaters of the era . As a playwright , director , and actor , he was involved in dozens of productions in Louisiana and across the United States . Several of his one-act plays were performed in Off-Off Broadway theaters in New York , including `` Home at Last , '' which won the playwriting award at the Deep South Writers Conference . He also directed and acted in Off-Off Broadway plays in New York .   In addition to his work in theater , Robson is an acclaimed expert in United States coins and stamps . He has written extensively about all aspects of coins and stamps , and from 2000 to 2003 he was a guest host on ShopNBC television coin shows , under the name of `` Dr. Mark . ''   During his years at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette , Robson played soccer and coached the men 's soccer team to its first conference championship ( Louisiana Regional Soccer League ) . He has maintained an interest in sports and enjoys long-distance running . He has completed several marathons , including the New York City Marathon and Boston Marathon , and he won the men 's race in the Marathon to Marathon Half Marathon in Iowa in 2005 .

neg: Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London , England , 9.5 mi south of Charing Cross . The principal settlement in the London Borough of Croydon , it is one of the largest commercial districts outside Central London , with an extensive shopping district and night-time economy . Its population of 52,104 at the 2011 census includes the wards of Addiscombe , Broad Green and Fairfield .   Historically part of the hundred of Wallington in the county of Surrey , at the time of the Norman conquest of England Croydon had a church , a mill , and around 365 inhabitants , as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 . Croydon expanded in the Middle Ages as a market town and a centre for charcoal production , leather tanning and brewing . The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was the world 's first public railway . Later nineteenth century railway building facilitated Croydon 's growth as a commuter town for London . By the early 20th century , Croydon was an important industrial area , known for car manufacture , metal working and Croydon Airport . In the mid 20th century these sectors were replaced by retailing and the service economy , brought about by massive redevelopment which saw the rise of office blocks and the Whitgift Centre , the largest shopping centre in London until 2008 . Croydon was amalgamated into Greater London in 1965 .   Croydon lies on a transport corridor between central London and the south coast of England , to the north of two gaps in the North Downs , one followed by the A23 Brighton Road through Purley and Merstham and the main railway line and the other by the A22 from Purley to the M25 Godstone interchange . Road traffic is diverted away from a largely pedestrianised town centre , mostly consisting of the North End . East Croydon is a major hub of the national railway transport system , with frequent fast services to central London , Brighton and the south coast . The town is unique in Greater London for its Tramlink light rail transport system .

neg: Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea , commonly referred to as simply Southend , is a town and wider unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex , England . It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary , 40 mi east of central London . It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point . It is home to the longest leisure pier in the world , Southend Pier . London Southend Airport is located 1.5 NM north of the town centre .   Southend-on-Sea originally consisted of a few poor fisherman huts and farms at the southern end of the village of Prittlewell . In the 1790s the first buildings around what was to become the High Street of Southend were completed . In the 19th century Southend 's status of a seaside resort grew after a visit from Princess Caroline of Brunswick , and Southend Pier was constructed . From the 1960s onwards the town declined as a holiday destination . Southend was reinvented as the home of the Access credit card , due to it having one of the UK 's first electronic telephone exchanges . After the 1960s much of the town centre was developed for commerce and retail , and many original structures were lost to redevelopment . An annual seafront airshow , started in 1986 when it featured a flypast by Concorde on a passenger charter flight , used to take place each May and became one of Europe 's largest free airshows . The show has not been held since 2012 due to a lack of sponsorship .

neg: .london . london is a top-level domain ( TLD ) for London , England . It was approved by ICANN as a city-level TLD on 7 June 2013 . On 29 April 2014 , the domain name went on sale for the first time . Metro Bank and Fortnum and Mason have secured addresses , with some pages already live . London and Partners , which promotes the city , said that . london would carry a premium because of its exclusivity . It costs from # 6.99 annually for each domain name .

neg: Harlow Harlow is a former Mark One New Town and local government district in the west of Essex , England . Situated on the border with Hertfordshire , it occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upper Stort Valley , which has been made navigable through other towns and features a canal section near its watermill . Old Harlow is a village-size suburb founded by the early medieval age and most of its high street buildings are early Victorian and residential , mostly protected by one of the Conservation Areas in the district . In Old Harlow is a field named Harlowbury , a de-settled monastic area which has the remains of a chapel , a scheduled ancient monument .   The M11 motorway passes through the east of the district , entirely to the east of the town . Harlow has its own commercial . and leisure economy . It is also an outer part of the London commuter belt and employment centre of the M11 corridor which includes Cambridge and London Stansted to the north . At the time of the 2011 Census , Harlow 's population was recorded at 81,944 and its district had the third-highest proportion of social housing in England , 26.9 % , a legacy of the 1947 commitment to re-house blitzed London families after World War II and provide a percentage of homes for other needy families who can not afford market rents .

neg: History of Queen Mary University of London The history of Queen Mary University of London lies in the mergers , over the years , of four older colleges : Queen Mary College , Westfield College , St Bartholomew 's Hospital Medical College and the London Hospital Medical College . In 1989 Queen Mary merged with Westfield College to form `` Queen Mary & Westfield College '' . Although teaching began at the London Hospital Medical College in 1785 , it did not become part of Queen Mary until 1995 . In that same year the two medical schools merged to form the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary & Westfield College .   In 2000 , the college adopted the working title of Queen Mary , University of London while retaining the legal name Queen Mary and Westfield College . In 2013 the legal name of the institution was changed to Queen Mary University of London .

neg: Geography of London London is the largest urban area and capital city of the United Kingdom , located in southeastern Great Britain . The London region covers an area of 1579 km2 , and had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 4,542 people per square kilometre . A larger area , referred to as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration covers an area of 8382 km2 , and had a population of 12,653,500 and a population density of 1,510 people per square kilometre . London is a port on the Thames ( see main article Port of London ) , a navigable river . The river has had a major influence on the development of the city . London began on the Thames ' north bank and for a long time the main focus of the city remained on the north side of the Thames . For many centuries London Bridge was the only bridge in or close to the city . When more bridges were built in the 18th century , the city expanded in all directions as the mostly flat or gently rolling countryside presented no obstacle to growth .

neg: Club Le Monde Club le Monde is an independent film released in 2002 and directed by Simon Rumley . It is set in 1993 and tells the story of one Saturday night in a small London nightclub . It stars Allison McKenzie , Dawn Steele & Annette Badland .

neg: MI5 The Security Service , also MI5 ( Military Intelligence , Section 5 ) , is the United Kingdom 's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service ( MI6 ) , Government Communications Headquarters ( GCHQ ) and Defence Intelligence ( DI ) . MI5 is directed by the Joint Intelligence Committee ( JIC ) , and the service is bound by the Security Service Act 1989 . The service is directed to protect British parliamentary democracy and economic interests , and counter terrorism and espionage within the UK .   Within the civil service community the service is colloquially known as Box 500 ( after its official wartime address of PO Box 500 ; its current address is PO Box 3255 , London SW1P 1AE ) .   The service has had a national headquarters at Thames House on Millbank in London since 1995 , drawing together personnel from a number of locations into a single HQ facility . Thames House was , until March 2013 , shared with the Northern Ireland Office ( NIO ) and is also home to the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre , a subordinate organisation to the Security Service . The service has offices across the United Kingdom including an HQ in Northern Ireland .   Details of the northern operations centre in Greater Manchester were revealed by the firm who built it . Plans to open the northern operations centre were reported by The Manchester Evening News in February 2005 , and plans to open a permanent Scottish office in Glasgow were reported by The Scotsman in January of that year .

neg: Samantha Sacramento Samantha Jane Sacramento is a lawyer and MP from Gibraltar and a member of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party ( GSLP ) . Before her return to The Rock , she formed part of the legal team of the Commission for Racial Equality in Cardiff . In December 2011 , she was appointed Minister for Equality and Social Services by the Chief Minister , Fabian Picardo .

neg: London Boys London Boys were a German-based English dance-pop duo composed of Edem Ephraim ( born 1 July 1959 in London , England -- 21 January 1996 ) and Dennis Fuller ( born 19 June 1959 in Jamaica -- 21 January 1996 ) . They are best remembered for the UK Top 5 hits `` Requiem '' and `` London Nights '' .   The duo lost their lives when the car in which they were travelling was hit by a drunk-driver in the Eastern Alps , Austria , on 21 January 1996 . Ephraim 's wife was also killed in the accident , leaving their three-year-old son without parents and leaving Fuller 's 10-year-old daughter without a father .

neg: London (Apologies, I Have None album) London is the debut studio album by British punk rock band Apologies , I Have None , released on 19 March 2012 . The CD was self-released , and the vinyl by Household Name Records . The album 's artwork was done by friend of the band , Emma Smith .

neg: London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( -LSB- ˈhækni -RSB- ) is a London Borough in Inner London , United Kingdom . The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street , which lies 5 mi north-east of Charing Cross .   Southern and eastern parts of the borough are popularly regarded as being part of east London , with northern and western areas belonging to north London .   The London Plan issued by the Greater London Authority assigns whole boroughs to sub-regions for statutory monitoring , engagement and resource allocation purposes . The most recent ( 2011 ) iteration of this plan assigns Hackney to the ` East ' sub-region , while the 2008 and 2004 versions assigned the borough to ` North ' and ` East ' sub-regions respectively .   The modern borough was formed 1965 by the merger of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney with the much smaller Metropolitan Boroughs of Stoke Newington and Shoreditch .   Hackney is bounded by Islington to the west , Haringey to the north , Waltham Forest to the north-east , Newham to the east , Tower Hamlets to the south-east and the City of London to the south-west .   Hackney was one of the host boroughs of the London Olympics in 2012 , with several of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park venues falling within its boundaries .

neg: Edward Robert Robson Edward Robert Robson FRIBA FSA FSI ( 2 March 1836 -- 19 January 1917 ) was an English architect famous for the progressive spirit of his London state-funded school buildings of the 1870s and early 1880s .   Born in Durham , he was the elder son of Robert Robson , a Durham Justice of the Peace . He apprenticed in Newcastle upon Tyne with John Dobson , who worked in a classicising , Italianate manner ; he then worked under Sir George Gilbert Scott ( 1854 -- 59 ) during the restoration of Durham Cathedral 's tower , taking a break in 1858 for `` extensive Continental travel '' , and went on to serve as architect in charge of the Cathedral for six years . He was also in partnership for a time prior to 20 August 1862 with John Wilson Walton ( c. 1822 -- 1910 ) . His first church , St. Cuthbert 's , Durham ( 1863 ) , was inspired in part by the plain 13th-century church at Formigny , Normandy . For some time he served as architect and surveyor to the city of Liverpool , which served to give him sufficient experience when he was the surprising choice as chief architect for the newly erected School Board of London , in 1871 . He became a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects . Under the terms of the reforming Elementary Education Act 1870 , a great number of new state-funded schools had to be built as quickly as possible , especially in the East End . Robson 's experience , for which he travelled in the Continent for the most up-to-date school-planning ideas , was encapsulated in his School Architecture ( 1874 ) . For the workload , he formed a partnership with J. J. Stevenson from 1871 until 1876 . The schools themselves were of brick and architectural terracotta in the many-gabled free Anglo-Flemish Renaissance style known at the time as `` Queen Anne style '' , which Robson chose as more suitably enlightened and secular than Gothic Revival and in which Stevenson had already shown himself proficient .   During his years with the School Board , Robson designed several hundred schools in London , and after leaving the Board in 1884 he remained as consulting architect to the Education Department .   His early connections with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood may have made him an obvious choice in 1888 for remodelling some market buildings with great dispatch for the New Gallery , Regent Street , a venue for art of the Brotherhood and other progressive arts .   Robson also built the People 's Palace , Stepney ( 1886 , now a part of Queen Mary , University of London ) as well as working on new school structures , notably Primrose Hill Infants ' School and the Cheltenham Ladies ' College ( 1896 ) and the Jews ' Free School in Spitalfields ( 1904 ) .   He is also credited with design of some residential houses . For example , Glenwood ( 99 Mycenae Road in Westcombe Park , London SE3 ) is described as `` an impressive late-Victorian red brick mansion with half-timbered gable ends , and fine joinery detailing . ''   He married Marian , daughter of Henry Longden , of Sheffield , and Who 's Who notes his recreations as `` golf , bicycling , billiards '' . At the time of his death , he was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects , the Society of Antiquaries of London , and the Chartered Surveyors ' Institution .   In his later years he worked with his son , Philip Appleby Robson . He was twice offered a knighthood , which he refused . He died in London .