Posted on 06/22/2005 1:16:26 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
President Bush yesterday opened the Oval Office to the highest-ranking official from communist Vietnam to visit since the end of the war that claimed the lives of more than 58,000 U.S. troops. Mr. Bush said he would visit Vietnam next year. The president and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai talked about the continuing search for the remains of missing American servicemen to close what Mr. Bush called a "sad chapter." But they focused their attention on Vietnam's desire to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) as well as its human-rights record, which some lawmakers say remains tainted. "The Vietnamese economy is growing quite substantially," said Mr. Bush, who announced plans to attend an Asia-Pacific economic summit next year in Hanoi. "We talked about our desire for Vietnam to join the WTO. We talked about security issues and a mutual desire to coordinate in the war on terror." The president also noted the Vietnam Religious Freedom Agreement, an accord signed in May that Mr. Bush said would make it easier for people to worship freely in Vietnam. Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican, and 44 other members of Congress sent a letter to Mr. Bush urging him to keep pressuring Vietnam to improve its human-rights record and noting that last year, for the first time, the State Department designated Vietnam a "country of particular concern" for violating religious freedom. Human Rights Watch says hundreds of dissidents have been jailed on criminal charges for advocating democratic reforms or using the Internet to disseminate proposals for human rights and religious freedom. In the House, Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican, called Mr. Khai a "master of deception" and pledged to hold hearings in Congress between now and the summit in Hanoi to see if the agreement was being implemented.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Well, it has been 30 years.
It is my understanding that the Vietnam Government has closed the highlands to any visitors, and is actively persecuting the Montagnards and preventing the entry of medications to treat leprosy and malaria and other diseases common to the area. I have read that thousands of Montagnards were killed after they held a public "Easter Service".
If there is truth in these stories Vietnam should be "quarantined" as a "diseased society" not treated as a "partner".
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