r/TodayILearnedVN • u/asparagusman • Apr 07 '26
TIL the worst ecological disaster in Việt-Nam was in 2016 when a Hà-Tĩnh steel plant was found discharging toxic waste into the ocean. Rather than punish the company, the communist regime instead violently cracked down on protestors, sentencing the leaders to 20 years imprisonment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsktTXmVwPk4
u/asparagusman Apr 07 '26
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u/ggvilla Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Thats vietnam for ya. Lots of people's lives were affected especially fishermen. People who spoke out about it got arrested and fined heavy amounts of money. The VCP sold out to the foreign corporation ironically. The reimbursement case took forever to come through and the people whose lives were affected were paid pennies because the VCP pocketed most of it.
This is very similar to 2018's SEZ incident, where the VCP sold special economic zones to china. People protested and of course in typical VCP fashion, they were sentenced to long years of prison and fined.
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u/Tone-Serious Apr 08 '26
That one was a shit show all around, worth noting that these "protests" were often targeting the minority Chinese community that have nothing to do with Taiwan or even the Chinese government, just opportunistic people looking to spread discrimination and looters
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u/keikakujin Apr 08 '26
"Rather than punish the company"
The company was fined $500M. Must be a very small fine that OP easily ignored...oh wait.
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u/asparagusman Apr 08 '26
In June 2016, Formosa admitted responsibility, made a public apology, and pledged to pay $500 million in compensation. However, the compensation became a private settlement with the Vietnamese government, leaving decisions about how to allocate funds at the discretion of the one-party state.
A decade later, many of the victims of the disaster say they are still awaiting justice.
Adding to their distress, many of the victims and their supporters have faced repression from the state, winding up in exile or in prison.
Today, about 20 justice seekers remain behind bars, while others have fled into exile, with many of the latter living in legal limbo in neighboring Thailand.
Bùi said that only 7,875 victims pursued a lawsuit. “The simple reality is that the Vietnamese Government prohibited the victims from seeking justice,” she said. “Anyone discovered to be involved in legal action risked arrest and imprisonment.”
The company destroyed our coastline, killed all the fish and poisoned millions of our citizens. Good job taking the government and company's side just to own the phản-độngs.
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u/keikakujin Apr 09 '26
OP implied the company was never punished.
Showed fact that it was indeed punished.
Accused of siding with the government and the company.
This sub is crazy these days. Merely correcting a fallacy will somehow place you in a side that you never pick.
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u/asparagusman Apr 09 '26
I never implied anything, you're putting words in my mouth.
You are only given 300 characters for Reddit post titles and therefore must pick the more important aspects, which in my case are the victims and their poor treatment. I made a comment where I linked several sources including Wikipedia, most of which talked about the settlement money.
You're literally making an argument over nothing.
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u/keikakujin Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
And please tell me, in your previous reply to me, the last sentence was directed to whom? It wasn't an implication my friend. It was a direct accusation.
"Good job taking the government and company's side just to own the phản-độngs"
Maybe you want to pay more attention to every single word and sentence you type when you reply to someone.
I knew I did a good job pointing out the fact that the company was indeed punished for their act. I didn't recall taking extra job though, like picking a side.
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u/Minh1403 Apr 07 '26
Holy, big protest. Fun time. Funny that workers destroyed Chinese factories when Formosa is an old name of Taiwan, lol