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PRESIDENT CLINTON TO VISIT HANOI |
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t last, the White House has officially announced that President Bill Clinton plans to visit Hanoi in mid-November.Naturally, the planned trip is facing protests from Americans who do not believe that the Vietnam Communist Party and its government are honest in dealing with issues of the Americans’ concerns. The most crucial of these issues has long been the full accounting of the POW/MIA's.
American Legion, the largest veteran's association with 2.8 million members and 700,000 of them are Vietnam veterans, has voiced its concerns. The association criticized the visit, saying that it would focus on building "economic ties" at the expense of other concerns. American Legion also said in its statement that "Trade ought to be subordinate to the 2,005 US servicemen who remain unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War."
American Legion spokesman Steve Thomas said that during his visit to Hanoi, Clinton would have "a tremendous opportunity to elevate the full accounting of the POW-MIA's from the Vietnam War. We would hope that he wouldn't miss that opportunity."
Most people in the Vietnamese American community in the United States are feeling offended by, and even hostile to the visit. They do understand that the United States government has to act for the interests of the American people, that includes Vietnamese Americans. In the last 6 years, the Clinton government with supports from the Congress has gradually established better relations with the VCP regime, most recently was the bilateral normal trade relation agreement. Clinton’s visit to Hanoi is appropriate to the process that was carefully studied and planned by the government. The Vietnamese community is not strong enough to stop Clinton from going on with his plan.However, the anti-Communist Vietnamese are concerned for the ways the visiting plan is implemented.
The most important matter must be the dignity and honor of the United States, the world super power. There is a possibility that Hanoi leaders would lure the visiting Americans - Clinton and any one in his suite - into circumstances that could be used for propaganda.
It is certain that the VCP propaganda system would utilize every trivial gaffe done by any American - true or made up - to show its party members and the people how stupid the Americans are or to ridicule the American government in internal propaganda and in political indoctrination courses.
The first thing President Clinton must not do is to visit Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Such action will be taken as his unconditional surrender to the Vietnamese Communists.Mr. Clinton and US officials accompanying him should not receive any thing as souvenir unless it has been previously agreed to after meticulous examination about the meaning of the present. In the past few years, the VCP has presented pieces of brick from Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton) to some Americans who had spent years as POWs in this notorious prison camp. To the Vietnamese sense of humor, the bricks serve as reminders to the American pilots once locked up in Hoa Lo that they have been inmates of Hanoi prisons.If President Clinton is determined and brave enough in talks with VCP leaders, he should directly and seriously raise the issues of the world's greatest concerns such as human rights violation, religious intolerance, and apply appropriate pressure to have Hanoi respect the international human rights declaration and release all political prisoners.
He should demand Hanoi to allow freedom of the press and uncensored Internet communication. He should meet with some well-known dissidents at his will, not just to see ones selected by Hanoi leaders, and not meeting with the real dissidents under supervision of Hanoi officials.
The VCP and its government is preparing for Clinton's visit. There will be pompous ceremonies, banquets and colorful presentations to welcome the American president. Besides, there will be security campaign like one Beijing often launched before similar visits. Some dissidents will be isolated or temporarily detained somewhere outside Hanoi. But at the same time, Hanoi may release some dissidents from jail to claim that it is having better human rights records.
The preparation also includes propaganda schemes, primarily targeted at the Party members and the Vietnamese population. State-controlled media in Hanoi began to publish reports on war victims, Agent Orange victims, Communist disabled veterans, who complain about their rights to be compensated by Washington. Besides, in some conferences, high ranking Communist officials once again loudly praised the Communist victories over the "Imperialist Aggressors" - American military is included.
If he wants to show to the world that the United States is deeply concerned about human rights, democracy and liberty as much as any other country, he should do something similar to the late France president, Mr. Francois Mitterrand. While Mitterrand was visiting Hanoi in the early 1990's, Hanoi had to allow him to deliver a speech about democracy and freedom (in French with its translation) which was broadcast on Hanoi Radio. With what the American government would do to help Hanoi, Mr. Clinton has to act more than the French did for the Vietnamese people's liberty and democracy.
The US President shouldn't visit any location reminiscent of war that tacitly connotes the war protesting movement that he was a member, or the sites of American's defeated battles. He shouldn't pay a visit to any place like My Lai if he does not make trip to mass graves around Hue City. If he does not plan a visit to the South Vietnamese National Cemetery, he should turn his face away from it in case he may travel on the Saigon-Bien Hoa Highway.
President Clinton's visit takes place at the time when the Communist regime is in a lot of trouble. The VCP is holding a series of anniversaries, commemorations, festivals, sports events... to calm down the Vietnamese public. Clinton's visit would be regarded by Hanoi as the biggest event among them.
The Vietnamese anti-Communist émigrés wish that President Clinton would always remember that he shouldn't do anything just to consolidate the Communist Party in Vietnam. He could become a Communists' friend, but he must avoid being against the ultimate interests of the majority of the Vietnamese people.
In the related matter, Senator McCain acted properly when he refused to join Clinton on the visit, though he has been supporting complete normalization with Hanoi.
Mr. Clinton might have watched Russian President Putin's in an interview with CNN on September 8, 2000 Larry King Live. To the question about Chechnya, Mr. Putin said (through translator):
"And Russia, finding itself in a similar situation like America found itself in the wake of the Vietnam War, did not respond to it at the time, and naturally that promoted, in a way, those international terrorists who swept -- who had their cradle now in this area, their nest was set up there, and it resulted in the direct attack on Afghanistan, on Dagestan last year, armed-land direct attack, coupled with destruction of a shelter, property and death of people. And Russia had to react to protect its people and its territory," according to the transcript on <www.cnn.com> (Sept. 8, 2000)
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A visit by the president of the United States is the greatest favor ever done to Hanoi. Mr. Clinton should not waste the American generosity for anything that's not worth the effort. He must be prepared to face the Communist obstinacy in talks with Hanoi leaders.