Images from Phan Van Khai's visit."
Posted on 06/20/2005 3:28:20 AM PDT by familyop
The first day of a historic U.S. visit by Vietnam's prime minister had a rocky start yesterday, as hundreds of noisy protesters lined the street outside his Seattle hotel and others heckled him at an afternoon news conference.
Images from Phan Van Khai's visit."
Phan Van Khai, the first Vietnamese prime minister to visit the United States in the 30 years since the Vietnam War ended, yesterday kicked off his weeklong, multistate tour by urging Vietnamese emigres to help strengthen relations between the two nations.
Vietnamese Americans must recognize they "have the same roots," Khai said through an interpreter. "The Vietnamese community living in the United States will be the bridge, building friendship between the two countries."
Khai, whose tour coincides with the 10th anniversary of normalized relations between the two countries, will meet today with Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and tomorrow with President Bush, who Khai hopes will help Vietnam gain admittance to the World Trade Organization.
Arriving at Sea-Tac Airport yesterday morning, Khai stopped at The Boeing Co.'s plant in Renton, where he was to oversee the purchase of four Boeing 787 jetliners by Vietnam Airlines.
He then visited a local Vietnamese family before heading to the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle.
Outside the hotel, Vietnamese American demonstrators lined University Street, waving the yellow-and-red-striped flags from pre-Communist Vietnam and holding signs likening Khai to a dictator or a terrorist.
Although trade advocates and some Vietnam veterans welcomed Khai, he remains a controversial figure for many Vietnamese Americans, who accuse him of human rights abuses, including denying free speech, freedom of religion and democratic elections.
"He always talks about unifying the country, but in practice, he never does that," said Sai Nguyen of the Vietnamese American Coalition in Northwest America, which organized a protest and rally yesterday across from Khai's hotel. "Unification means accepting everybody's different political views."
During a news conference yesterday afternoon, Khai promised to address those concerns during an "open and candid talk" with Bush.
But "despite differences on sensitive issues, it should be noted that there are no major disputes between the two states," Khai said through an interpreter.
"We have a firm foundation ... and with that, I believe we will be able to bring peace, stability and cooperation among the countries in Asia and this region."
An extensive security detail kept most of the protesters away from Khai, but two dissidents confronted him during a question-and-answer session for the news media.
Vietnamese radio talk-show host Binh Quoc Huynh demanded to know how Khai could try to build up a relationship with the United States "when you don't support democracy."
Huynh, who is also a minister, also questioned whether there was any religious freedom in Vietnam.
Khai defended the country's "progress" and said "the state does not have any policy of discrimination against any religion in Vietnam."
But midway through Khai's answer, Huynh jumped to his feet.
"You're a liar!" he said, pointing at Khai and edging away from the security guards who approached to remove him from the room. "You're a liar."
Huynh denounced the Vietnamese news corps as propagandist, accused Khai of human rights abuses and shook off guards and members of Khai's delegation who tried to usher him from the room.
"It's a free country," he said angrily as he moved toward the exit.
In his wake, Khai again tried to answer the question, but organizers halted the news conference when another woman began heckling him.
The woman, economist and human rights activist Chan Tran, held an impromptu news conference of her own after Khai was hustled from the room.
"His visit is to promote trade and fill his pockets," she said, adding that she didn't believe anything the prime minister had said about protecting human rights. "He lied through his teeth."
Outside the hotel, protest organizers bellowed through bullhorns, leading the crowd in continuous chants of "Communists, go home!" or "Phan Van Khai, go home!"
Confusion over the time of the protest led to a smaller-than-expected crowd at first, but the group swelled to about 300 people in time for a midafternoon rally and march to the Federal Building.
Some protesters had traveled from as far away as Canada and Southern California.
Dr. Hoang Co Dinh, co-founder of the TonleSap-CuuLong Committee, drove more than 14 hours straight from San Jose, Calif., with seven other members of the Vietnamese group to make it to Seattle in time.
"I'm here to protest and support my friends," Dinh said. "We know there are almost a million boat people, and for everyone at least one or two died at sea. We have a lot of victims of this government, so it's very emotional."
Dinh's own brother died in Vietnam at the hands of communist soldiers nearly 20 years ago, and others in the crowd had similar stories, he said.
But despite such strong feelings, the protest remained peaceful, and Seattle police said last night that there were no arrests.
Quyen Vuong, who at 21 was one of the younger protesters, said the demonstrations weren't simply the result of lingering bitterness among the older people who fled their homeland.
"This is about Vietnam now. It's about people being denied basic human rights," she said. "It's not about what happened 30 years ago. ... Everywhere Phan Van Khai goes, there will be a protest welcoming him, until he takes care of these human rights issues."
We betrayed a tremendous ally when we adandoned Vietnam.
Wasn't the "we" who abandoned Vietnam the Democratic-controlled Congress which stopped funding the S.V. military?
They kind of betrayed themselves...we were fighting the fight they should have been fighting for several years.
General MacArthur warned LBJ not to go into Vietnam in 1964.
Yes it was. Hope the Vietnamese understand that.
An anti-commie rally in Seattle? Wonders never cease.
Of course note that they are from another country.
Red diaper babies protest only against America.
I won't take any responsibility on my shoulders for the "WE" part. It was the leftist Senate, anti-war protestors and the lies of John kerry, and others he bribed to lie for him to a senate hearing that is responsible for that. The letist anti-war crowd, media, and Kerry are responsible for abandoning Vietnam and the following millions of deaths which were a result of that.
The South Vietnamese held on for two years after we left. The premise that we were fighting alone there is another of the lefts lies about that war.
Meanwhile those same senators and their progeny are working on a last helicopter out of Baghdad scenario.
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The Communist Prime Minister of Vietnam won't be coming to California:
GARDEN GROVE snub irks HANOI
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1135666/posts
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Communist Vietnam's Human Rights abuses:
Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education Camp
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
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I didn't say we fought alone...
The cause was noble, but the action was unwise, and MacArthur recognized this before the fact.
It's easy to recognize it after the fact.
One can win all the battles, yet lose the war.
I wasn't even alive during the Vietnam War, but I still become incensed at how our soldiers were treated, and the treason of the Left, in helping the Enemy.
Meanwhile those same senators and their progeny are working on a last helicopter out of Baghdad scenario.
Touche, Well said.
Thanks for the background and also for your service.
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