Protests Greet Vietnam's Leader(Now about American POW's & MIA's)

The more than a thousand people positioned outside a Dana Point resort, awaiting President Nguyen Minh Triet, weren’t part of the welcoming committee.

The crowd made up of mostly Vietnamese-Americans spent Friday afternoon lined up across the street from the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa, hoping Triet would get an earful of their anger and frustration during his first visit to the United States.

“Go home, go home … Down with communism. Down. Down. Down,” the crowd chanted, waving American flags alongside pre-communist Vietnamese flags.

Some protesters ran into the street as Triet’s limousine whizzed by the main entrance and into a side entry about 7:45 p.m. He was set to meet a much smaller and friendlier contingent of members of the Irvine-based Vietnam Business Association and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry during an evening reception.

Bush chides Triet on oppressions

By Jon Ward and Andy Zieminski
The Washington Times
June 23, 2007

http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/06/23/bush-chides-triet-on-oppressions/

A disagreement yesterday between President Bush and his Vietnamese counterpart over Hanoi’s human rights record cast a shadow over the first visit to the White House by a leader of the communist nation since the Vietnam War.

Mr. Bush and Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet signed a trade agreement this week and emphasized the improved relations between the countries since the end of the war in 1975. However, Mr. Bush made it clear that the United States wants Vietnam to expand freedoms of speech and religion and reduce government crackdowns.

“In order for relations to grow deeper, it’s important for our friends to have a strong commitment to human rights and freedom and democracy,” he said. “I explained my strong belief that societies are enriched when people are allowed to express themselves freely or worship freely.”

Mr. Triet said he and Mr. Bush disagree on whether Vietnam has violated human rights in recent months, but added that they had a “direct and open exchange” on the matter and have agreed to talk more about it.

“Our approach is that we would increase our dialogue in order to have a better understanding of each other,” he said. “And we are also determined not to let those differences afflict our overall, larger interest.”

During the leaders’ meeting in the Oval Office, a group of several hundred Vietnamese-American protesters demonstrated across from the White House in Lafayette Park. The group was loud enough to be heard inside the White House, though reportedly the noise could not be heard in the Oval Office.

Most of the protesters wore white T-shirts showing a Vietnamese police officer with his hands over the mouth of Father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest. Mr. Ly was sentenced in March to eight years in prison for leading the pro-democracy group Bloc 8406.

The picture of Father Ly being muzzled by the plainclothes police officer at his March 30 trial has become a symbol of a recent crackdown by the Vietnamese government on religious and political dissidents.
“If they violate the laws, they will be punished,” Mr. Triet said Wednesday when a protester interrupted his meeting with business leaders in New York City. “Recently, Vietnam has dealt with these people that violated the law of Vietnam, not because of their political opinions.”

(snip)

Bush Discusses Human Rights With an “Evasive” President of Vietnam
By John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom
June 23, 2007

http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/06/23/bush-discusses-human-rights-with-an-evasive-president-of-vietnam/

Print editions of the Washington Post reported on Saturday that President Bush “chided” Vietnam’s president on that country’s record on human rights, religious repression and lack of democracy. The Post’s web site later softened the language to “prodded.” In any event, President Triet of Vietnam did not have an effortless time visiting with Congressional leaders and the President of the United States.

“I also made it very clear that, in order for relations to grow deeper, that it’s important for our friends to have a strong commitment to human rights and freedom and democracy,” Bush said with Triet at his side in the Oval Office. “I explained my strong belief that societies are enriched when people are allowed to express themselves freely or worship freely.”

On Friday, Jume 22, 2007, Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet, during an historic visit to the United States, paid a call on President Bush at the White House. This is the first time a head of state from Vietnam to visit the U.S. since the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975.

Although President Triet’s primary objectives in America included expanding business and trade opportunities with the U.S., President Bush took the opportunity to speak to President Triet about his record on human rights, religious repression and lack of democracy.

The two presidents signed a trade agreement in the White House which will pave the way for more open trade and business relationships.

Earlier, U.S. Congressional leaders also spoke to President Triet about human rights.

On Thursday President Triet met with Congressional leaders from both political parties on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers in the meeting said he was repeatedly taken to task over claims by rights groups that Vietnam has increased repression of political activists and religious leaders.

Commenting on the talks afterwards to reporters, Republican congressman Ed Royce said human rights had been “overwhelmingly the dominant issue” of the meeting.

“We’ve got to see a stop to this conduct if this relationship is going to improve,” he said, adding Triet answered questions but was “very evasive”. Members of congress have called on the US president to press Triet to end what they say are widespread human rights abuses in Vietnam. That seems to have happened on Friday in the White House.

But President Triet defended his country’s position when talking to reporters before and after the White House meeting.

Triet told reporters that he and Bush had a “direct and open exchange” on human rights but offered no indications that he intended to do anything as a result of the discussion. “We are also determined not to let those differences afflict our overall, larger interest,” he said.

President Triet reiterated that his country did not need to improve human rights.

“It’s not a question of improving or not,” Triet said in an interview with The Associated Press, hours after meeting with Bush. “Vietnam has its own legal framework, and those who violate the law will be handled.”

(snip)

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