*EPF508 07/28/00
Bill to Deny Vietnam Jackson-Vanik Waiver Defeated
(Debate pits past concerns against future potential) (1280)
By Steve La Rocque
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The resolution offered by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican of California) to deny President Clinton's request for an extension of a Trade Act waiver that gives U.S. exporters doing business in Vietnam access to U.S. trade financing programs went down to defeat July 26.

House Joint Resolution 99 (H.J. Res. 99), which would have disapproved the President's waiver of the Jackson-Vanik provisions (section 402c) of the Trade Act of 1974, garnered only 91 votes, as against 332 nays, with 11 members not voting.

The debate did not follow party lines as both Democrats and Republicans argued on either side of the issue.

Those in favor of H.J. Res. 99 to deny the President's waiver recommendation focused on the Hanoi regime's lack of cooperation with regard to the issue of Americans unaccounted for from the Vietnam War (POW/MIAs), its human rights record, and corruption.

Those against the resolution pointed to the progress made in normalizing U.S.-Vietnamese relations, increased immigration from Vietnam, and the need to continue on that path.

Vietnam's past and its possible future drove an emotional debate on how the United States should engage its one-time foe. Representative Rohrabacher argued that without the resolution, American taxpayers would be subsidizing American businessmen who "want to invest in Vietnam."

Investing in Vietnam, the California Republican stressed, "does not mean selling American products in Vietnam. That means setting up manufacturing units in Vietnam to take advantage of the fact that that country is a brutal dictatorship that does not permit unions, that does not permit strikes, and thus there is virtual slave labor there at a cheap price."

According to Rohrabacher, there has not been sufficient progress on the issue of POW/MIAs and charged that Hanoi has not released records on POWs it held during the Vietnam War.

Hanoi has "not given us those records after repeated demands," he said. "That is a sign of bad faith, and it is bad faith in the whole MIA/POW effort."

"If you want to prove good faith to us, simply release the records that you have of the prisons that you held Americans in during the war. Just give us those records," he continued.

"How about giving us the records of the facility that held our American ambassador, Pete Peterson. Just give us those records so we can examine it to see how many prisoners you really had," Rohrabacher said.

The California Republican noted that U.S. intelligence agencies had identified 400 Americans as having been alive or who had perished "under Vietnamese communist control."

The Vietnamese could "easily account for these men, but to this day, refuse to do so," he said.

Representative Phil Crane (Republican of Illinois) took the opposite side of the issue and opposed H.J. Res. 99, saying he supported Vietnam's Jackson-Vanik waiver.

Over the past decade, Crane said, the United States has taken "gradual steps to normalize our bilateral relations with Vietnam. This process has borne tangible results on the full range of issues on our bilateral agenda including increased accounting of our missing in action, MIAs; substantial progress on remaining immigration cases; and increased trade and investment opportunities for U.S. firms and workers."

On the "paramount issue in our bilateral relationship with Vietnam," the fullest possible accounting of MIAs, Crane said that since 1993, "288 sets of remains of U.S. servicemen have been repatriated and fate has been determined for all but 41 of 196 persons associated with last known-alive cases."

The central issue to the Jackson-Vanik waiver was immigration, Crane said. He noted that "more than 500,000 Vietnamese citizens have entered the United States under the orderly departure program in the past 10 to 15 years."

Hanoi, he added, "has agreed to help us reinstate a refugee program for former U.S. Government employees."

Crane said that the Clinton Administration on July 13 concluded a bilateral trade agreement with Vietnam "that will serve as the basis for a reciprocal extension of normal trade relations once it is transmitted and approved by Congress."

However, since Congress has not approved the bilateral trade agreement yet, Crane said, "the effect of the Jackson-Vanik waiver at this time is quite limited, enabling U.S. exporters doing business in Vietnam to have access to U.S. trade financing programs, provided that Vietnam meets the relevant program criteria."

Representative McNulty (Democrat of New York) said he did not oppose "the eventual normalization of relations with Vietnam, but I do oppose declaring business as usual while the remains of American servicemen are still being recovered."

Until there is a more complete accounting of America's MIAs, said McNulty who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, and its Subcommittees on Trade and Oversight, "this waiver should not be granted."

Representative Loretta Sanchez (Democrat of California), who represents the largest Vietnamese-American population in the United States in Orange County, California, said Jackson-Vanik is about immigration, and on that issue "the corrupt government of Vietnam charges bribes of about $2,000" on people seeking to come to the United States and join family members.

Approving the waiver would continue the availability of export-related financing for American businesses, said Representative Sander Levin (Democrat of Michigan).

Disapproving the waiver, he warned, would cut off that financing "with an impact on U.S. exports, our businesspeople and our workers."

Approving the waiver, Levin said, would not extend most favored nation status to goods and services from Vietnam. "Imports from Vietnam will remain subject to restrictive tariffs until the Congress approves a bilateral trade agreement."

Full normalization of relations with Vietnam, Levin said, "is a long-term task."

Representative George Miller (Democrat of California) said continued waiver of the Jackson-Vanik provisions for Vietnam "has encouraged Vietnam to implement reforms that are needed to establish the basic labor and political rights we believe are critical."

There is, he added, "still much room for improvement, to be sure, on all of these fronts, on freedom of expression, on religious freedom, on labor rights, on political rights; but the fact of the matter is progress is being made because of this engagement."

Representative Doug Bereuter (Republican of Nebraska), the chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, also urged continuation of the waiver for Vietnam.

The underlying issue, Bereuter said, is immigration. "Based on Vietnam's record of progress on immigration and its continued cooperation on U.S. refugee programs over the past year, renewal of the Jackson-Vanik waiver will continue to promote freedom of immigration."

Disapproval, he said, "would undoubtedly result in the opposite."

The Jackson-Vanik waiver, Bereuter added, symbolizes "our interest in further developing relations with Vietnam. Having lifted the trade embargo and established diplomatic relations 5 years ago, the United States has tried to work with Vietnam to normalize incrementally our bilateral, political, economic, and consular relationships."

Improving relations with Vietnam, Bereuter said, "is in America's own short-term and long-term national interests. It builds on Vietnam's own policy of political and economic reintegration into the world."

Crane said it is important for Americans to recognize that since the Vietnam War ended "a whole new Vietnam" has come into existence.

"Sixty-five percent of the people in Vietnam were not alive at the end of the Vietnam War," he said. "As this new population has taken over the country, I think it is important for us to lend our efforts in advancing the Vietnamese country and people toward those civilized values that we cherish."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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