In fact, this week representatives of Vaughan-Bassett are in Vietnam meeting with Vietnamese furniture companies.

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These reach to within 37 nautical miles (68km) of Vietnam's coast, according to PetroVietnam, a Vietnamese state-owned oil firm.

ECONOMIST: The South China Sea

Many middle-class Vietnamese are feeling the pinch too after putting their savings into Vietnam's sizzling stock market last year, then watching it plummet more than 60 percent since January.

NPR: Economic Boom Makes Some Vietnamese Uneasy

During the Vietnam war, Shalikashvili served as a senior district adviser to South Vietnamese forces in 1968-69.

CNN: Former Joint Chiefs chairman: Time to include gay troops

In 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach in the highest-level contact between the former enemies since the Vietnam war.

CNN: Monday,