of all the state, he should go to blue state due to the Proposition 47

WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - Vietnam has been increasing its dredging and landfill work in the South China Sea, creating almost as much new land as in the previous two years combined, setting the stage for a record year of island-building, U.S. researchers said on Friday. Since November 2023, when the Washington-based think tank issued its last report, Vietnam has created 692 new acres (280 hectares) of land, compared to 404 acres created in the first 11 months of 2023 and 347 acres in 2022, the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said in a new report, opens new tab.   China, which has been building islands in the South China Sea since 2013, claims sovereignty over vast swathes of it, including the areas where Vietnam has been building up islands. The sea is one of the world's most contested waterways, where more than $3 trillion of trade passes each year. China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have lodged competing claims for some or all of the Spratly Islands. The activity has raised fears that the area is becoming a flashpoint that could yield serious consequences in global affairs.    

BANGKOK: Thailand’s lucrative durian market is currently being penetrated by a spike in imports from Vietnam that are cheaper by nearly 100 baht per kg, Intelligence Research Consultant Co Ltd (IRC) said on Friday (June 7), urging the government to support Thai farmers to prepare for future competition. Imported fruits from Vietnam incur low transport cost via Cambodia to Thailand’s eastern border, and Vietnamese durians could jolt the Thai market in the next two years, Aat Pisanwanich, a consultant at IRC, warned.   He quoted statistics from Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit) as saying that in the first four months of 2024, Thailand had imported durians worth 780 million baht from Vietnam, a jump of 82% year on year. The reason behind the sudden popularity of Vietnamese durians is that they are cheaper than Thai durians, he said. The Ri6 durians, or the so-called “Vietnamese Mon Thong”, retailed at 107-112 baht per kg, while the Thai variety cost around 150-200 baht per kg.   Aat explained a 40% decline in domestic output this year amid the increasing demand for durians in the Thai market was prompting sellers to turn to imports to fill the gap. “If the drought situation persists or worsens, in the next two years we will see more durians from Vietnam being sold in Thai markets and taking away market share from Thai producers,” he said. Aat urged the government to pre-empt such a situation by revamping water resource management to ensure that Thai durian farmers have enough water for cultivation.   “If no action is taken, Thai consumers would switch to buying cheaper durians from Vietnam, just like the current situation in which cheaper Chinese products were dominating Thai markets,” he warned. - The Nation/ANN