Vietnam Celebrates 30-year-old Victory Over Us With Cash Machines and Credit Cards

Vietnam looked to the future during a 30th anniversary celebration of its victory over America yesterday, with a parade in which capitalist banks were more prominent than communist tanks.

In a sign of the country's changing priorities, there was no military display of firepower. Instead many of this year's floats were commercially sponsored.

The biggest cheer was for a giant cash machine, topped by a revolving globe and flanked by a bevy of young women in green uniforms. Several floats were sponsored by local financial institutions - at least two featured the logo of a US credit card, and another showed women pushing heavily laden trolleys through a supermarket.

For today's Vietnamese, liberation now means owning a mobile phone and a moped. But the race to embrace capitalism is widening divisions between the rich and the poor. Many of the latter are former supporters of the Republic of South Vietnam whose children suffer discrimination. 'There is nothing for me to celebrate today,' said Phan Thi Hien. 'I lost everything in 1975.'