TEXT: SENATOR HELMS ON JACKSON-VANIK WAIVER FOR VIETNAM
("Communist tactics have duped the U.S. repeatedly")

Washington -- "The Clinton Administration and the business community will boast that the waiver will facilitate economic reform in Vietnam, but the effect is likely to be precisely the opposite," said Senator Jesse Helms (Republican North Carolina).

Helms, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, testified before the Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade July 7 on S.J. Res. 47, a Resolution of Disapproval of the Jackson-Vanik Waiver for Vietnam.

Helms said Vietnam did not merit the Jackson-Vanik waiver to achieve most-favored-nation (MFN) status. "The Vietnam government was merely trying to curry favor with the United States to encourage the President's waiver; the Vietnamese government then reverted to form once they fooled President Clinton," Senator Helms said.

Helms said the waiver and aid that may accompany the waiver would be less than beneficial. "Rather than facilitate reform, OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) and EX-IM (Export Import Bank) financing is likely to cement this situation by encouraging business deals that otherwise would not happen. This will put a crutch under the Vietnamese government, allowing it to procrastinate on economic reform. Meanwhile, American taxpayers will be on the hook for millions, if not billions, of dollars," the Senator said.

Following is the text of Senator Helms' testimony, as prepared for delivery:

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Washington -- Statement of Senator Helms
Finance Committee, Subcommittee on International Trade
Hearing on S. J. Res. 47,
the Resolution of Disapproval of the Jackson-Vanik Waiver for Vietnam

July 7, 1998

Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for the opportunity to offer my views regarding this important legislation. I certainly commend Senator Smith for having taken the initiative regarding S. J. Res. 47, of which I am an original cosponsor and which, of course, I strongly support.

Mr. Chairman, last November, in a letter to Secretary Albright, I urged the administration not to waive the freedom of emigration requirements in the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to Vietnam. My argument was clear and simple: Vietnam did not allow free emigration, and this is still the case today, nearly four months after the President's misguided decision to waive Jackson-Vanik.

In fact, the evidence reveals clearly that the Vietnamese government slowed the emigration process in the wake of the March waiver. In the three months prior to the waiver, the Vietnamese government cleared roughly 13,000 individuals for interviews under the U.S. Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Refugees program. But, immediately following Mr. Clinton's unwise waiver, the Vietnamese government slowed the clearance process dramatically; since then, only about 1,400 people have been cleared.

Is it not clear, in the light of all this, that the Vietnamese government was merely trying to curry favor with the United States to encourage the President's waiver; the Vietnamese government then reverted to form once they fooled President Clinton. This was entirely predictable, these familiar Communist tactics which have duped the United States repeatedly.

Moreover, there has been scant progress regarding the plight of the Montagnards. More than 900 of these courageous friends of the United States, who fought so valiantly with us in the Vietnam War, are eligible for the Orderly Departure Program. But, only 14 have been cleared for interview by the Vietnamese authorities.

I am aware that Assistant Secretary Roth plans to travel to Vietnam and visit with the Montagnards, and I appreciate that. But the fact of the matter is that by President Clinton's granting this waiver, a great deal of our leverage with the Vietnamese government has been lost.

The immediate purpose of this waiver was intended to pave the way for Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Export-Import Bank financing for American investment in Vietnam. The administration and the business community will boast that the waiver will facilitate economic reform in Vietnam, but the effect is likely to be precisely the opposite.

The history of foreign aid in many instances is a disaster. Rarely, if ever, has it lifted a nation from poverty. Rarely, if ever, has it compelled countries to lower their trade barriers to U.S. products. And rarely, if ever, has it served U.S. foreign policy interests, as evidenced by the number of nations which, despite decades of receiving millions of dollars of the American taxpayers' money, consistently vote against us at the United Nations.

We must ask why trade and investment in Vietnam remains so abysmally low, four years after President Clinton lifted our embargo. The much ballyhooed Vietnamese "market" has yet to materialize because business conditions in Vietnam are, quite simply, awful.

The fundamental reason for that is the corrupt and socialist practices of the government of Vietnam. Obstacles to trade and investment appear at every turn in Vietnam. Corruption is endemic. There are still no clear property rights. There is no credible judicial system. Data on the banking and state sectors are still tightly controlled.

Rather than facilitate reform, OPIC and Ex-Im financing is likely to cement this situation by encouraging business deals that otherwise would not happen. This will put a crutch under the Vietnamese government, allowing it to procrastinate on economic reform. Meanwhile, American taxpayers will be on the hook for millions, if not billions, of dollars.

Mr. Chairman, for decades, Communists have been practicing Lenin's dictum -- if you thrust forward with your sword and find mush, move forward. If you find steel, retreat.

Let's use our leverage to goad the Vietnamese government to relax its political and economic controls on the people of Vietnam. Senator Bob Smith's resolution of disapproval is an excellent place to start and I urge the committee to report it favorably.

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