Transcript: Albright September 6 Hanoi Press Conference
(Albright urges movement on trade agreements)The United States and Vietnam need to work fast to complete their trade agreement, lest it become a "missed opportunity," says U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
"We must reach closure on a landmark trade agreement," Albright told reporters in a September 6 press conference in Hanoi.
The bilateral trade agreement, if approved by the U.S. Congress, would open the door to normal trade relations between the one-time adversaries, Albright said.
"After nearly four years of effort -- and in light of the Congressional calendar -- prompt action is needed if this major opportunity is not to become a missed opportunity," she stressed.
To spur overall foreign investment and trade, Albright added, "Vietnam must continue and intensify its reforms. This is also necessary to boost Vietnam's bid to join the WTO (World Trade Organization) -- which I stressed the United States supports on commercially viable terms," she said.
In her discussions with Vietnamese officials, Albright also said an Export-Import Bank framework agreement would "reinforce" Vietnam's efforts to attract American investors.
In addition, she said, a pact to enhance airline service between Vietnam and the United States "would be in Vietnam's interest by fostering people-to-people ties."
Following is the official transcript of the press conference:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Hanoi, Vietnam)For Immediate Release September 6, 1999
PRESS CONFERENCE
SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
HANOI DAEWOO HOTEL
HANOI, VIETNAM
September 6, 1999SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Good afternoon. I am pleased to be back in Vietnam. And before continuing on to Ho Chi Minh City, I wanted to say a few words about my talks today with the Prime Minister, the Vice Prime Minister, and the General Secretary.
Since my last visit two years ago, the United States and Vietnam have consolidated our progress on two key issues. Foremost, we remain grateful for Vietnam's cooperation with our effort to obtain the fullest possible accounting of Americans still missing or otherwise unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. This issue remains paramount to us.
We are proud of the efforts being made by the Joint Task Force -- the results of which I will witness in a solemn ceremony tomorrow morning. And we hope that our assistance is useful to Vietnam as it seeks to account for its own heavy losses during that tragic war.
Another stepping stone to more normal ties has been immigration. Vietnam's strong performance has permitted us to renew our Jackson-Vanik waiver and to normalize consular relations -- as signified by the new consulate I will commission tomorrow in Ho Chi Minh City. And we look forward to processing the remaining refugee resettlement cases by the end of this year.
In my talks today, however, I also emphasized that Vietnam needs to conclude a number of pending agreements that would help to revitalize growth and strengthen economic ties with the United States.
Most importantly, we must reach closure on a landmark trade agreement which -- if approved by Congress -- would open the door to normal trade relations between our countries. After nearly four years of effort -- and in light of the Congressional calendar -- prompt action is needed if this major opportunity is not to become a missed opportunity.
Second, I pointed out that an EXIMBANK framework agreement would reinforce Vietnam's efforts to attract U.S. investors.
And third, a pact to enhance airline service between our two countries would be in Vietnam's interest by fostering people-to-people ties.
Of course, Vietnam's economic development depends on far more than agreements with the United States. To spur overall foreign investment and trade, Vietnam must continue and intensify its reforms. This is also necessary to boost Vietnam's bid to join the WTO -- which I stressed the United States supports on commercially viable terms.
I also urged Vietnam's leaders to move decisively on a variety of non-economic matters that are ripe for progress. These range from stepping up our work together against narco-trafficking to concluding a pact that will facilitate joint research on a range of science and health issues.
Finally, I spoke plainly and emphatically today about several issues on which our differences with Vietnam persist. The most prominent is human rights.
We value our dialogue with Vietnam on human rights and religious freedoms, as we do see some recent signs of progress in these areas. But by not permitting more open and inclusive politics and media, Vietnam is denying itself the benefits of greater international standing -- as well as those of more productive public participation in civic and economic affairs.
Once more, I want to thank Minister Cam and his colleagues for their welcome. We've got some work left to do. But if Vietnam does its part, the United States is willing to redouble our efforts in the weeks and months to come. And now I would be pleased to answer your questions.
QUESTION: A couple of questions on East Timor. Can you tell us how the United States feels about the possibility of international intervention to end the violence in East Timor and do you feel that the Indonesian government has been remiss in providing security and will this have any affect on the multilateral aid to Indonesia in the near future?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well we are obviously very concerned about the violence that is going on in East Timor and have made clear in a variety of ways our displeasure with what is going on. We have made quite clear to the Indonesians that they should be dealing with this themselves, that they have a responsibility to make sure that this kind of violence one did not start and (two) certainly doesn't continue or they have to let the international community deal with this issue. The Security Council has deployed a team to see what further United Nations action is warranted and we're following all the events closely. We have spoken to various members of the Indonesian government in the last hours and certainly the last day. I have been in touch also with other foreign ministers of countries that have a great interest in this, which frankly is a huge number. And, we are all deploring what is going on especially after the remarkable election that took place where such huge numbers of East Timorese made known their views about their desire for independence. And, yes, I do believe that this will affect Indonesia's international standing. We have all been very hopeful about the fact that Indonesia, that is a huge country with large strategic importance, would in fact make use of this remarkable period of this opening to democracy. And be able to stride along with other countries into the 21st century in a way that puts it much more squarely into the democratic column with the free market system. So, we are concerned about what this is doing also to Indonesia's international standing but the main point here is that either the Indonesians have to take care of this violence themselves or the international community is going to or they have to let the international community in some form or another be of assistance so that this does not continue.
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, another part of the world where you just left in Israel there have been two car bomb explosions after your successful brokering or successful helping of brokering of the Israeli-Palestinian re-implementation of Wye. What's the United States reaction to this, especially given the fact that we left with such high hopes?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, obviously, I am appalled by the news of the car bombings in Israel. Coming as they do exactly a day after a breakthrough agreement that we signed at Sharm-el-Sheik. And, frankly, the purpose of those who set these car bombs off is unmistakable. And, it is these enemies of peace and, always the closer we get to peace the more likely it is that those who want to kill it come out and kill innocent civilians and we cannot and will not allow the terrorists to succeed. And they have nothing to offer the people of the Middle East except misery and hopelessness and as I have been informed that Prime Minister Barak has spoken to Chairman Arafat and that they ... these car bombings have been condemned. Our response has to be two-fold to wage peace intensively over the year until the next comprehensive agreements are reached and to wage war relentlessly against the perpetrators of violence and these acts of terrorism, and indeed, the security cooperation which is very much a part of the Wye Memorandum is the sine qua non of the peace process. And, I think that I would still say as I did when we were at Sharm-el-Sheik that we're on the brink of an opportunity to extend the benefits of peace and prosperity to all the people in the region and we will not be defeated in this effort by those who only seek to undermine it because they don't have a stake in peace, they only have a stake in mayhem.
QUESTION: The Vietnamese government has always bristled at suggestions that it does not honor basic human rights. Could you give us an idea of any specifics that you brought up today and what their reaction was to any criticism that you did have?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, we spoke generally about the importance of human rights and we spoke about the importance of the human rights dialogue that we carry on with them and the importance of pursuing it. I today raised particularly some cases of religious rights, the ability of people to worship as they see fit. And we also discussed labor rights, the ability of workers to organize freely and generally the atmosphere necessary for people to be able to assemble freely and the importance of a free media. I had gotten several letters from Members of Congress relating to a couple of specific cases and we discussed those and I asked Ambassador Peterson to follow up on them and made quite clear again that our relationship, while improving and normalizing, can never be totally normal until we feel that the human rights situation has been dealt with.
QUESTION: The Vietnamese government made quite clear its opposition to the NATO intervention in Kosovo by showing of the pictures of B52's bombing another socialist country. Did they express this displeasure to you and, if so, did they do it in the context of the human rights issue which you brought up with them?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: They never raised the issue.
QUESTION: Earlier today you said that you'd been given some very positive signals regarding the trade agreement and tonight you sort of mentioned the US needing to re-double efforts. Do you believe the agreement will be signed at APEC or are you feeling less optimistic?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, now we spent a great deal of time in all of the meetings that I had today talking about the bilateral trade agreement, and its importance to Vietnam in terms of being able to have access to our markets, and obviously also to the United States in terms of increased access. We spoke about the importance also as a result of a bilateral trade agreement of a number of measures that need to take place in terms of transparency and a variety of commercial codes that would make the investment climate in Vietnam, more salubrious to investors, all investors. And the impression I got, frankly, is that they have been working very hard to try to get the agreement into place, that there are some technical issues that still remain. But on the basis of my conversations, I would say that I'm hopeful for a signing in Auckland, but it's very hard always to predict when the problems are stated as being technical, and you never know the extent of how difficult those are to work out. But I felt pretty good about certainly the attention being paid to the BTA and their desire to get it done.
QUESTION: (in Vietnamese) I'd like to ask a question. Why do you put so much importance on the human rights issue as you just indicated, for the exchange of normalization of relations between Vietnam and the USA? As a journalist I understand that the highest value of the human rights is the right to live, which means the right to eat and to exist. And in relation to this issue, what is your opinion to the issue that FBI is suppressing the Waco organization in Texas state where more than 80 persons got killed in the accident. And what do you think about the US using force to kill civilians in the states where the economic, living conditions are much lower than in the United States and what do you think about the human rights of the aboriginal people in the USA?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, let me say that it is central to American foreign policy in countries with which we deal to have a dialogue about human rights because we believe in the sanctity of individual life, and the ability of people to live in the way that they choose, to worship God in the way that they choose, to be able to assemble and meet with people as they choose, to belong to more than one political party, or to have the possibility to live in a country that has more than one political party so they can choose their views. And clearly, it is important for there to be the full ability of people to live, that is to eat as well as to think, and so that is ... while we understand that countries have different capacities at different periods, this is not an American idea, it is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the United States supports and tries to make sure is carried out throughout the world. And, most democratic countries, support us in that effort. When we have a problem in the United States, thanks to our free media, it is totally exposed and then investigated by the appropriate authorities. And none of us make excuses for things that have gone wrong, and we all, including the Attorney General who is responsible for investigating this, saying that she wants to get to the bottom of it. As far as using force, I believe you probably are referring to Kosovo. There the United States and not alone, but with a huge, with a NATO alliance, an alliance of 19 democracies, decided that it was essential for ethnic cleansing, murderous ethnic cleansing and rape to be stopped so that the people in that area could be given the ability to live freely. And I fully believe that the civilian casualties that took place there were accidental, and that it was thanks to the leadership of President Clinton that we were able to put a stop to some of the worst ethnic cleansing that we have seen since the end of the Cold War.
QUESTION: (in Vietnamese) My further question is with the human rights standards the United States sets up. Do you rank your standards higher than the human rights in the world or what?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: As I said previously, the United States abides by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We believe that all countries should abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and wherever there are problems in the United States, there are legal authorities with the support of an ever-investigating press, I think, routs them out and deals with them legally, according to the due process of law.
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, I'd like to return briefly to your answer on the situation in the Middle East and the bombing in Israel. You said that the response must be to wage war relentlessly against terrorism. Does that imply some new action that we have not seen before, or merely in doing the same thing?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, I think that the parts of the Wye Agreement are very specific about the necessity to deal with terrorist acts and to hold those responsible for them. We have all along been working with those who believe that the situation in the Middle East can only be solved peacefully and that no one gains when terrorism is allowed to go forth. And, frankly the very sad part is, and I have now seen it myself so many times, that when we make progress on peace, the enemies of peace try to kill it. And, the main issue here is the strength of the leaders in that region who believe that all the problems can be solved through negotiations and the strength, frankly, of the Israelis and the Palestinians who believe that their future lies in peace and not in wanton terrorist acts.
(end transcript)
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