By John E. Carey
June 18, 2007 (0001 GMT)
Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet will visit the United States starting on Monday June 18, 2007 in New York City. This is the first time a head of State from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has visited the U.S.
President Triet was invited to the United States by President Bush while the two were together last November during the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) in Hanoi.
Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet, pictured March 2007, is expected to get an earful of human rights complaints when he makes his maiden visit to the United States this week despite a last-minute release of a couple of imprisoned activists.(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)
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Mr Tiet will meet with President Bush in the White House on June 22. Many have been asking, what items should we expect on the agenda?
Well, in opening, there is good news and bad news about this visit. President Bush has worked to welcome Vietnam into the group of economically prosperous nations. Vietnam is now a member of the World trade Organization (WTO) and has gained Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the U.S.
But Vietnam’s record on human rights has been found troubling to Washington. Since last November Vietnam has reignited a crackdown of repression of indigenous peoples and has arrested, held speedy trials often without representation for the accused and jailed a number of high profile activists seeking greater democracy and freedom of speech in Vietnam.
Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly in a courtroom in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien Hue, Friday March 30, 2007. A Vietnamese court sentenced the dissident Catholic priest to eight years in prison for anti-government activities, after a dramatic trial Friday in which a defiant Ly shouted denunciations of the ruling Communist Party and was muzzled in court. He had no representation during his trial. He is one of several human rights prisoners the U.S. would like to see released.
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So the first, and perhaps over-riding issue for the White House is free trade and economic prosperity on behalf of both partners. The two nations currently share about $10 billion in annual trade. That number is expected to double and triple in shart order in the next few years.
The two presidents are expected to sign some form of accord, treaty or agreement on free trade on Friday.
Economic and business ties will likely dominate the discussion between the two leaders.
The second agenda item, for the United States, would seem to be human rights. Below are links to articles discussing human rights for Vietnam.
Besides closer economic ties and relationships, Vietnam is seeking some form of state and citizen reparations for damage and bodily harm caused by the defoliant chemical called “Agent Orange.”
A U.S. aircraft drops “Agent Orange”
On the Vietnamese jungle during the
war.
Agent Orange is believed to cause deformity, cancer and death in human beings. Evan at this late date after the war, Vietnam says the sites used by the United States to handle and stor Agennt Orange are stll contaminated with harmful levels of toxins.
Vietnam will likely press the United States for additional funds to allow Vietnam to clean these sites once and for all. It is also believed that Vietnam will seek payment to every Vietnamese person believed harmed by the chemical since the war ended in 1975.
Ten-year-old Pham Duc Duy is cradled in the arms of his mother, Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, 35, in their house in Hanoi June 16, 2007. Vietnamese doctors believe Duy, whose grandfather served in the Vietnam war, is a victim of exposure to dioxin or ‘agent orange’ passed down the generations. On Monday, a U.S. appeals court will hear arguments on whether Vietnamese plaintiffs may sue 32 U.S. manufacturers of ‘agent orange’ defoliant sprayed by the Americans for a decade up to 1971. Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet will arrive in the U.S. for a state visit from June 18-23. (Kham/Reuters)
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In Washington, Senators have already been heard to comment that reparations to individuakls cannot be anticipated. Vietnam is expected to raise the issue in any case.
Informed sources already are saying we expect no joint resolution or communiqué out of the Bush-Triet meeting – an indication of the depth of the U.S. disappointment in Vietnam’s human rights record.
Vietnam veteran Maj. Wayne O. Witter, of Dunwoody, Ga., holds a red rose as he touches the name of a fallen comrade at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Sunday, June 17, 2007, in Washington. Nearly 1,500 roses honoring fathers who died serving in the Vietnam and Iraq Wars were placed at the Wall as part of the annual Father’s Day Rose Remembrance. Although the war ended in 1975, both the U.S. and Vietnam carry scars.
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Links to articles on Vietnam and human rights:
Two Versions of President Triet’s Visit
(From June 26, 2007)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IF27Ae01.html
The People of Vietnam: Victims of Communism
by former Hanoi Hilton resident Mike Benge
Vietnam frees dissident ahead of president’s US visit
Hanoi, Beijing Using Executions As “Smack Down” For Cultural History of Corruption
Economic stars China and Vietnam maintain repression: Amnesty
Understanding an Arriving Visitor to America: President Triet of Vietnam
Communist Vietnam’s proven method
of silencing a prisoner.
LINK TO OUR LATEST ARTICLES:
Of two minds on Vietnam
Bush Discusses Human Rights With an “Evasive” President of Vietnam
