TEXT: AMB. PETERSON TESTIMONY ON VIETNAM TRADE STATUS
(Integration gives Vietnam greater global stake)Washington -- A prosperous Vietnam integrated into world markets and regional organizations will contribute to regional stability, according to Douglas "Pete" Peterson, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam.
Extending the Jackson-Vanik waiver to the Trade Act of 1974, which renews Vietnams normal trade status with the United States, and taking other steps along the path of normalization, will encourage Vietnam's on-going transition, he said.
In testimony before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade June 17, Peterson said: "The U.S. seeks to encourage Vietnam along the path of reform so that as it enters the 21st century, it will become a reliable and peaceful regional and international player. The best way to achieve this is to work with other nations to increase trade, the free flow of information and know-how, and people-to-people exchanges with Vietnam."
As Vietnam increasingly integrates itself into regional organizations like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Peterson said, it gains a greater stake in being a constructive world player.
"Vietnam," he emphasized, "has also placed high priority on improving relations with the United States. It is in our national interest to respond positively to these overtures."
Peterson dismissed critics of U.S. policy who advocate cutting off contact with the country and its communist regime. "To do so would be to deny ourselves the most effective tool we have to encourage the process of change in Vietnam," he said. "As Vietnam has opened to the world, permitting foreign goods, ideas, people and investment to enter its borders, tangible change has occurred."
Vietnam will evolve into a more open society, Peterson said. "But change comes in increments."
Following is the text of Peterson's testimony, as prepared for delivery:
(begin text)
TESTIMONY OF
DOUGLAS "PETE" PETERSON
U.S. AMBASSADOR TO VIETNAM
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRADE
JUNE 17, 1999
Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for once again inviting me to consult with you about the President's decision to discuss Vietnam's Jackson-Vanik waiver for another year. Last year, I told you that U.S. engagement with Vietnam had produced progress on top-priority U.S. foreign policy goals in Vietnam. This year, too, has been marked by progress in the effort to account for our missing from the Vietnam War (MIA issue), freedom of emigration, improving respect for human rights, promoting regional stability and opening markets for U.S. business. Since it was first granted in March 1998, the Jackson-Vanik waiver has been an essential component our policy of engagement and has directly furthered progress with Vietnam on these and other U.S. policy goals. I am confident that extension of the waiver this year will continue to advance U.S. national interests in Vietnam.
In June 1998, when we asked Congress to support the waiver, we had only a very short track record to judge the impact of the Jackson-Vanik waiver in achieving the results it was intended to achieve. We had more hopes than we had evidence. We promised then to review our achievements after one year. Now, a year later, clearer evidence is in, and overall our hopes have been well-rewarded. The results have been very positive. We have made good progress on emigration issues and expect imminent completion of a number of special refugee programs in Vietnam. The waiver, itself, has substantially promoted greater freedom of emigration from Vietnam, the primary objective of the Jackson-Vanik amendment. The waiver has helped the U.S. government influence Vietnam's progress toward an open, market-oriented economy. It has also benefited U.S. business by making available a number of U.S. government trade promotion and investment support programs that enhance their ability to compete in this potentially important market. At the same time, Vietnam has continued to work with us closely on the MIA issue where we are moving from cooperation to what we hope will be a partnership. The U.S. policy of engagement has built on Vietnam's own policy of political and economic reintegration with the rest of the world which led most recently to Vietnam's admission to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. We also have seen some improvements in Vietnam's human rights performance, although the picture there is still mixed.
President Clinton decided on June 3 to extend Vietnam's Jackson-Vanik waiver because he determined that doing so would substantially promote greater freedom of emigration in the future in Vietnam. He based this determination on the country's record of progress on emigration and on Vietnam's continued and intensified cooperation on U.S. refugee programs. Overall Vietnam's emigration policy has opened considerably in the last decade and a half. As a consequence, over 500,000 Vietnamese have emigrated as refugees or immigrants to the United States under the Orderly Departure Program (ODP), and only a small number of refugee applications remain.
Thousands of Vietnamese have left Vietnam and gained admission to the United States under our immigration laws. In 1998, 9,742 immigrant visas were issued to Vietnamese under ODP. The Department of State expects that over 25,000 Vietnamese will apply for immigrant visas in this fiscal year and projects that number to rise to 30,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2000.
Understandably, greater scrutiny has been given to Vietnam's performance on those special refugee programs established by the United States as part of our humanitarian response to the consequences of the war including the program for Former Re-education Camp Detainees ("HO") and the Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees (ROVR). I am pleased to be able to inform you that Vietnam's cooperation has intensified in the last year, in large part as result of the Jackson-Vanik waiver. Consequently, we anticipate that we will complete processing of nearly all the current ODP caseloads, including ROVR, before the end of this fiscal year. Vietnam has pledged to take all necessary steps to meet this goal. Moreover, the Vietnamese government recently agreed to help implement our decision to resume the ODP program for former U.S. government employees that we suspended in 1996.
After getting off to a disappointing start, ROVR processing accelerated dramatically in 1998 and is nearly completed. As of June 1, 1999, the Government of Vietnam (GVN) had cleared for interview 19,975 individuals, or 96 percent of the ROVR applicants. By contrast, at this time last year, the GVN had cleared 78 percent of applicants. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has approved 15,833 ROVR applicants for admission to the United States as refugees, 14,715 of whom have departed Vietnam.
At the end of May 1998, the GVN had not yet taken action on 1,353 ROVR cases. By June 1 of this year, the GVN reduced that number to 79 cases. Likewise, progress has been made on cases initially denied clearance for interview by the GVN. As of May 1998, 776 cases were listed by the Vietnamese as having been denied clearance for interview. Most were denied because of incorrect addresses or the failure of individuals eligible for ROVR to attend a clearance interview. ODP provided updated information to the GVN, and as result, many denials were reversed and the number of cases denied clearance fell to 422 cases by the beginning of this month.
ODP has given particular attention to completion of the HO program for applicants detained for at least three years in a re-education camp because of their association with the USG. As of the end of May, there were only 287 HO cases involving 1,480 individuals who had not yet been interviewed by the INS. A sub-group of the HO program consists of applicants covered by the "McCain amendment," which includes eligible sons and daughters of former re-education camp detainees who were approved for entry into the United States as refugees before April 1, 1995. At the end of May, there were only 558 cases remaining. The primary obstacle to processing the remaining HO and McCain Amendment case loads is failure of the applicants to apply to the GVN for exit permission, a factor beyond the control of either the Vietnamese or the U.S. governments.
As these programs draw to a close, U.S. officials will work closely with the Vietnamese to ensure that all interested applicants have the opportunity to be interviewed, and if qualified, emigrate to the United States. Completion of ODP and ROVR programs will not mean the end of U.S. refugee processing in Vietnam. We are designing a new program to address the rescue needs of individuals who have suffered recent persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. In sum, I expect Vietnam's cooperation on immigration will continue and be reinforced with the extension of the Jackson-Vanik waiver.
Whenever consideration is given to taking any action with respect to the normalization of our bilateral relationship with Vietnam, we must review progress on obtaining the "fullest possible accounting" for our missing from the Vietnam War. This remains our highest priority with Vietnam, one of great personal interest to me. Here, I am pleased to be able to say Vietnam's cooperation on obtaining the fullest possible accounting of our missing from the Vietnam war continues to be excellent. As a result, the President once again issued, on February 3, a determination that Vietnam is "fully cooperating in good faith with the United States." Since the President made his annual review for this determination, the United States and Vietnam have conducted three Joint Field Activities; we have repatriated six remains and identified remains of nine individuals representing eight cases; and Vietnamese teams have provided reports regarding their unilateral investigations of 38 cases. In addition, the Vietnamese recently provided 12 documents in two separate turnovers to support a U.S. study of Vietnam's collection and repatriation of American remains. Also, since December 1, 1998, Vietnam has identified eight witnesses for participation in future trilateral investigations in Laos.
The Administration remains very concerned about Vietnam's performance on human rights. Vietnam continues to deny or curtail basic freedoms to its citizens. The government maintains an autocratic one-party state that tolerates no organized opposition. A number of people remain in jail or under house arrest for the peaceful expression of their political or religious views. And, the country's labor practices fall short of international standards.
Nonetheless, we have seen some improvements which we believe can be attributed to deepening U.S. engagement with Vietnam as well as to Vietnam's increased contact with the outside world. In recent years, increased citizen-to-citizen contacts through the media, internet, trade and investment, travel and cultural and educational exchanges have exposed the Vietnamese people to international standards and values.
Let me tell you about several important gains that have been made. Last fall, as part of two large amnesties of prisoners, the GVN released a number of prisoners of conscience, including several leading dissidents such as Doan Viet Hoat, Nguyen Dan Que and Thich Quang Do.
The conditions for individual religious observance also have improved recently. Worshippers associated with officially-recognized sects practice their religion with few restrictions. Places of worship are being repaired and renovated, often with funding from abroad. Attendance at regularly scheduled and holiday services is high and in many cases growing. However, restrictions on religious institutions themselves remain in place, including on clerical appointments, seminary activity and transfers of clergy.
Vietnam also is making progress in the area of worker rights. In 1998, 60 independently organized strikes protesting unfair wages and working conditions occurred. That these strikes were unofficially supported at local and provincial levels by the Vietnamese General Confederation of Labor, the party-dominated umbrella labor organization, suggests perceptible progress in the regime's attitude toward independent worker activities. The GVN is currently drafting legislation on freedom of association. Improvements are also being made in collective bargaining. Multi-year contacts are increasingly being negotiated. And, labor leaders are more responsive to worker concerns in selecting the issues to address in contracts.
We have both ongoing and regularly scheduled dialogues with Vietnam on the issue of human rights. These discussions offer a constructive forum where the U.S. government can inform Vietnam of U.S. views and concerns and to press for progress. The next human rights dialogue is scheduled for July 12-14. We will raise freedom of speech, association and religion, Vietnam's administrative detention decree, prison conditions, labor rights, information on former prisoners of conscience, as well as specific detention cases of concern.
Between rounds, the pressure on the Vietnamese does not abate. My staff and I, as well as State Department officials here in Washington, raise human rights concerns at every opportunity and at the highest levels. Secretary Albright discussed human rights with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam when he met with her last October. Ambassador for Religious Affairs Robert Seiple plans to visit Vietnam next month. The objective of all of these encounters is to engage the Vietnamese and persuade them to make positive changes. The more we engage, the greater opportunity we have to urge greater respect for human rights.
Vietnam faces many serious economic issues as it enters the 21st century, ones with significant social and political ramifications. It must cope with globalization by integrating into the regional and world economy. It must promote development of the private sector to increase economic productivity and sufficient growth to meet the aspirations of a young and growing population. It must develop a transparent, predictable business climate based on the rule of law. And it must complete the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. The Vietnamese leadership has recognized the need to pursue these goals, and gradually, progress is being made.
U.S. business still finds Vietnam a tough place to operate. Reform has not progressed at the pace that many had hoped. Nonetheless, U.S. businesses continue to view this nation of nearly 78 million as an important, potentially lucrative market. They believe that the U.S. government has an important role to play in encouraging the GVN to accelerate and broaden its program of economic reform. For business too, the answer is engagement not isolation.
Bilateral trade negotiations and WTO accession provide additional leverage, holding out the prospect of normal trade relations. These processes provide us with the opportunity to obtain from the Vietnamese commitments to undertake necessary economic reforms and to make changes to their trade and investment regimes that will directly benefit U.S. businesses. This week in Washington, another round of negotiations on the bilateral trade agreement is taking place, and I feel that an agreement may be within reach in the coming weeks. This agreement is necessary if we are to fully normalize our bilateral relationship extending normal trade relations to the country. It also will act as a catalyst to simulate fundamental and far-reaching economic reforms improving the transparency and predictability of its business regime and moving Vietnam significantly closer to WTO and other international economic standards. In fact, prominent dissident Nguyen Dan Que, in a June 13 communique, announced his support for a bilateral trade agreement based on his belief that the agreement would be a force for change in Vietnam. And it will be open up Vietnam's economy creating new, commercially meaningful opportunities for U.S. firms. Withdrawal of the waiver at this time would certainly derail these negotiations at a critical juncture.
U.S. business also benefits from continued access to U.S. government export promotion and investment support programs such as those offered by the Export-Import Bank (EXIM), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Trade and Development Agency (TDA). U.S. manufacturers, farmers and workers stand to gain significant opportunities from these programs, including opportunities that lead to the development of jobs in the U.S. OPIC financing and insurance programs are available for U.S. investors and several potential projects are currently in the pipeline. EXIM is putting the finishing touches on agreements which will allow it to make a range of export support programs available to U.S. exporters. USDA also has made available grants and credit guarantees that will open the Vietnamese market to increased U.S. agricultural exports. TDA has made numerous grants for feasibility studies that will give U.S. companies the leg up to win project bid. These programs have just begun operating since last year as a result of the Jackson-Vanik waiver, and we now stand poised to reap the considerable benefits they have to offer. Withdrawal of the waiver would end the availability of these programs to our businesses operating in Vietnam, restricting their ability to compete on a level playing field with Asian and European competitors who have access to similar programs.
A prosperous Vietnam integrated into world markets and regional organizations will contribute to regional stability. The U.S. seeks to encourage Vietnam along the path of reform so that as it enters the 21st century, it will become a reliable and peaceful regional and international player. The best way to achieve this is to work with other nations to increase trade, the free flow of information and know-how, and people-to-people exchanges with Vietnam. Vietnam itself decided over a decade ago to embark on an economic reform program, known as doi moi, and a policy of political and economic reintegration with the world. Already a member of ASEAN since 1995, Vietnam took another step forward when it joined APEC in November 1998. As Vietnam increasingly integrates itself into these regional organizations and the rest of the international community, it gains a greater stake in being a constructive world player. Vietnam has also placed high priority on improving relations with the United States. It is in our national interest to respond positively to these overtures.
To those who would argue that rather than incrementally normalizing our relationship with Vietnam, we should eschew further contact with the country and its communist regime and withdraw the Jackson-Vanik waiver from Vietnam, I would reply that to do so would be to deny ourselves the most effective tool we have to encourage the process of change in Vietnam. As Vietnam has opened to the world, permitting foreign goods, ideas, people and investment to enter its borders, tangible change has occurred. Vietnamese society in 1999 bears little resemblance to the isolated, bankrupt and tightly-controlled society of a decade ago. With continued opening of the economy, the middle class will grow, the population will become more educated and exposed to more ideas, and Vietnam will continue to evolve to become a more open society. But change comes in increments. By extending the Jackson-Vanik waiver and taking other steps along the path of normalization, including extension of normal trade relations, the U.S. will advance our interest in encouraging Vietnam's on-going transition.
(end text)
Return to U.S.-Vietnam Relations.Return to IIP Home Page.