If the sinister forces behind the syndrome, whoever they are, were warming up in Vietnam — like Cuba, a former inveterate U.S. foe and one of the world’s few remaining Communist countries — for an attack on the Vice President, that would signify an alarming escalation in its use.
Certainly, China — like Russia, another clear suspect — didn’t want Ms Harris to go to Vietnam, its state-run media accusing her of seeking to drive a wedge between China and its South-East Asian neighbours.
And if the Havana Syndrome scare was intended to damage her visit, it worked. Ms Harris was going to Hanoi to announce, among other things, a donation of a million coronavirus vaccine doses to the pandemic-hit country. But the three-hour delay allowed China to rush its own envoy to the city and trump the Americans with a Chinese pledge of two million vaccines.
…The current consensus is that it is probably caused by microwave energy and the work of the Russians — Moscow denies this — although the Hanoi outbreak may switch attention to China.