Controversy Arises as Australia Releases Vietnam War Commemorative Coins with South Vietnamese Regime Flag

Jakarta –

The Vietnamese government was furious with Australia’s move to release war commemorative coins. This is because the flag was engraved there when the South Vietnamese regime was in power.

The Royal Australian Mint is known to have released 85,000 sets of gold and silver coins worth $2 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of Australian troops from South Vietnam. However, the release of this coin made Vietnam furious because of the flag of the regime that had been overthrown in 1975.

Reported from BBC, Deputy Spokesperson for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pham Thu Hang, asked the Australian government to stop the production of the coin.

“We regret and strongly protest the Royal Australian Mint and Australia Post for releasing items bearing the yellow flag of the regime which no longer exists,” he said on Thursday (4/5/2023).

Yes, Australia and Vietnam intended to move from a bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during the National Assembly in Canberra last November, when chairman Vuong Dinh Hue visited the Australian capital.

Unfortunately, according to Hang, the release of these coins is not at all in line with the good development trend. This was then responded to by the Royal Australian Mint. According to them, the yellow flag with red stripes on the coin was just a misunderstanding.

“The design of the coin reflects the ribbon color of the service medals awarded to Australians serving in Vietnam, including the Vietnam Service medal, which was introduced in 1968,” the Mint said in a statement to AFP.

“The Australian government does not recognize the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam,” he added.

For your information, the Vietnam War was the longest war involving Australia in the 20th century and became increasingly unpopular as thousands of people protested the country’s role in the conflict in the early 1970s.

Australian war memorial sites say more than 60,000 Australian soldiers served in the Vietnam War. Of these, 523 people were killed and nearly 2,400 people were injured in the fighting. Then Australian troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973.

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