By Andrew Warshaw
June 21 – Arsenal’s problematic pre-season tour of Vietnam, the first to the country by an English Premier League side, will go ahead despite another dispute – this time over a promotional video.
Earlier this month, a row broke out over organisers of the July 17 fixture between Arsenal and Vietnam’s national team hiking up their fees to stage what will be a huge public relations boost for the Asian country where English football is hugely followed.
That was seemingly resolved but according to reports, the Vietnam Football Federation is now upset with Arsenal over a promotional video map which accidentally did not show the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands as belonging to Vietnam.
The Spratly Islands are also claimed by China, while the Paracel Islands are claimed by six countries in the region.
In a statement, Arsenal said that it regretted any offence caused. “We have a great working relationship with the Vietnamese Football Federation, who brought to our attention that the map of Vietnam in one of our promotional videos for our forthcoming visit did not include the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands,” the Arsenal statement said.
“Arsenal Football Club does not sympathise with any political issue and consequently there has been absolutely no intention to cause offence to any country or political cause.”
Vietnam is especially sensitive about the disputed islands. According to some reports, it has even refused to stamp new Chinese passports bearing a map that laid claim to them.
