Asia Sentinel

Asia Sentinel

Opinion

America First — But who decides what that means?

It didn’t matter what we thought 51 years earlier either

Jun 16, 2026
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By: Hà Giang

In April 1975, a small group of people sat in a closed room and decided the fate of millions of Vietnamese. No one asked for their opinion. No one told them in advance. Like so many others, I suddenly found myself boarding a ship leaving Vietnam — because of a decision made by people I had never met.

Fifty-one years later, sitting in Southern…

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