Excerpts: House International Relations Chair Backs Vietnam Democracy
(Representative Henry Hyde urges support for HR 2833)

Representative Henry Hyde (Republican of Illinois) September 6 urged fellow lawmakers to back a bill aimed at promoting democracy in Vietnam.

Hyde, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, called for unanimous support for HR 2833, introduced by his Republican colleague, Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey.

Hyde sought to connect the need to ensure democracy in Vietnam with U.S. efforts to expand trade relations with that country.

The House that day also took up and passed House Joint Resolution 51 that approved granting nondiscriminatory treatment to products from Vietnam.

"We are all hopeful that free trade will improve the lives of the Vietnamese people and that it will eventually create irresistible domestic pressure for human rights and democracy in Vietnam," Hyde told fellow lawmakers.

"In the meantime, however, the Vietnamese Government remains one of the most repressive regimes on Earth," he said.

"Religious persecution, especially of Buddhists and of Evangelical Protestants, has taken a turn for the worse during the last year. Since February, the government has engaged in a brutal crackdown against members of the Montagnard ethnic minority groups who participated in peaceful demonstrations seeking the return of their traditional lands," Hyde said.

Following are excerpts from the September 6 speech of Representative Henry Hyde from the Congressional Record:

(begin excerpts)

Mr. HYDE. Madam Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 2833, the Viet Nam Human Rights Act.

I want to congratulate the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. SMITH), the vice chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, and other cosponsors of this comprehensive human rights legislation. Later this afternoon, the House will consider a resolution to approve the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement.

We are all hopeful that free trade will improve the lives of the Vietnamese people and that it will eventually create irresistible domestic pressure for human rights and democracy in Vietnam.

In the meantime, however, the Vietnamese Government remains one of the most repressive regimes on Earth. Religious persecution, especially of Buddhists and of Evangelical Protestants, has taken a turn for the worse during the last year. Since February, the government has engaged in a brutal crackdown against members of the Montagnard ethnic minority groups who participated in peaceful demonstrations seeking the return of their traditional lands.

I think it is important, therefore, that in expanding trade relations we avoid sending a message of approval or complacency about Hanoi's human rights record.

This bill makes clear that progress towards freedom and democracy will continue to be a central theme of U.S. foreign policy toward Vietnam.

It uses forms of leverage other than trade sanctions to promote this objective, such as conditions on nonhumanitarian foreign assistance, guarantees that U.S. educational and cultural exchange programs will be open to people who share our values, and serious efforts to overcome the jamming of Radio Free Asia.

I urge a unanimous vote in favor of this important human rights legislation.

(end excerpts)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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