Bush supports Vietnam in WTO, urges reforms
WASHINGTON - President Bush told Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on Tuesday that he supported Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organization, and urged more reforms on human rights and religious freedoms.
The meeting marked 10 years since diplomatic ties resumed between the two former foes and it was the first visit by a Vietnamese prime minister since the war ended 30 years ago.
Bush said he would visit Vietnam in 2006 when it hosts the annual summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
"We talked about our desire for Vietnam to join the WTO," Bush told reporters in an Oval Office picture-taking session after their talks.
Vietnam has set a goal of joining the WTO at the trade organization's next ministerial meeting in December in Hong Kong. The U.S. Congress would have to vote on any deal to allow Vietnam to join the WTO, as it did with China in 2000.
Khai said his visit "shows that Vietnam-U.S. relations have in fact entered a new stage of development."
Throngs of protesters outside the White House gate waved signs like "Vietnam: Stop Religious Freedom Repression" and flew the yellow and red-striped flag of former South Vietnam, chanting "VC (Viet Cong) go home" and "No money for Communists."
The raucous protest could be heard in the White House Rose Garden outside the Oval Office where Bush met Khai. Protesters burned a Vietnam flag and hung a life-sized mannequin of communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in effigy.
Bush and Khai discussed human rights and religious freedoms in Vietnam. "The president welcomed Vietnam's efforts to date and encouraged further progress," a joint statement said.
Bush noted that a "landmark agreement" was signed with Vietnam to make it easier for people to worship freely there.
The May 5 agreement commits Vietnam to implement new legislation on religious practice, allow churches to open, and end the detention of religious leaders.
"There remain differences between our two countries due to the different conditions that we have, the different histories and cultures," Khai said. But they agreed to work together to reduce those differences to improve relations, he said.
Steps taken
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Vietnam had taken some steps recently to allow more churches to open and people to worship more freely.
"And the president, one of the points he made to the prime minister was that 'as you continue to move forward on improving human rights and expanding religious freedom, you will only realize better relations with the United States and with the international community'," McClellan said.
Bush and Khai also talked about efforts to account for Americans missing from the Vietnam war.
Bush thanked Khai for the Vietnamese government's willingness to find the remains of missing Americans from the war. "It's very comforting to many families here in America to understand that the government is providing information to help close a sad chapter in their lives," Bush said.
Since the United States and Vietnam restored diplomatic ties, two-way trade has risen to $6.4 billion in 2004 from $451 million in 1995. After a bilateral trade pact in 2001, the United States has emerged as Vietnam's key commercial partner.
Khai planned to meet Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss improving security ties. Military relations have advanced cautiously but steadily in the past decade.
By Tabassum Zakaria - Reuters - June 21, 2005.
Vietnam leader visits White House for first time since war
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, whose visit to the White House today was the first by a Vietnamese leader since the end of the Vietnam War, said relations between the two nations have "entered a new stage of development."
Mr. Khai and President Bush announced at the meeting that Mr. Bush will visit Vietnam next year, making him only the second American president, after Bill Clinton, to visit the country since the end of the war in 1975.
The prime minister's meeting with the president marked the 10th anniversary of normalized relations between the longtime combatants. The United States has become Vietnam's biggest trading partner, with $6.4 billion worth of goods traded in 2004.
"We believe that America can find in Vietnam a potential cooperation partner," Mr. Khai, 71, said through an interpreter. "We have a population of 80 million people, which means a huge market for American businesses, and these people are also very hard-working, creative and dynamic. And they are now working very hard to achieve the goal of building Vietnam into a strong country with wealthy people and a democratic and advanced society."
The two leaders announced that their nations had signed a treaty that will make it easier for Vietnamese to worship freely. Vietnam is seeking to join the World Trade Organization, a move supported by Mr. Bush.
"We discussed a wide range of subjects," Mr. Bush said. "We discussed our economic relations. And I noted that the Vietnamese economy is growing quite substantially. We talked about our desire for Vietnam's to join the W.T.O. We talked about security issues and the mutual desire to coordinate in the war on terror."
The two leaders also discussed efforts to fight the spread of AIDS in Vietnam and efforts to help find the remains of American service members who died during the war.
"It's very comforting to many families here in America to understand that the government is providing information to close a sad chapter in their lives," said Mr. Bush.
Mr. Khai said the leaders agreed to disagree on some topics as well, though he did not go into detail. But Senator John McCain, among others, have called for Vietnam to hold fair democratic elections. Mr. McCain was a prisoner of war in Hanoi for more than five years.
And during Mr. Khai's visit this morning, about 200 people protested outside the White House about the lack of democracy and freedom in Vietnam.
"Mr. President and I also agreed that there remain differences between our two countries due to the different conditions that we have, the different histories and cultures, but we also agreed that we should work together through constructive dialogue based upon mutual respect," said Mr. Khai.
By Timothy Williams - The New York Times - June 21, 2005.
Bush to visit Vietnam next year
Announcement comes after historic meeting between vietnamese leader and Bush
President Bush, speaking after an historic meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai at the White House today, announced he will visit Vietnam in 2006 on the invitation of the communist leader.
Bush also said he backs Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organization, an important U.S. announcement for Hanoi. Getting Washington's support for WTO membership was one of Khai's key goals for his U.S. visit.
The symbolic White House meeting, scheduled to mark the 10th anniversary of normalized relations between the United States and Vietnam, marked the first trip to the United States by a Vietnamese Communist leader. Khai, 71, said the visit showed Vietnam and the United States, once bitter enemies, had "entered a new stage of development."
As the two leaders met, scores of protesters, mostly Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans, demonstrated across the street from the White House, calling for religious freedom and respect for human rights in the Southeast Asian country. The protesters chanted "VC (Viet Cong) go home" and "No money for Communists."
Bush called the meeting a "constructive visit" during which the two leaders discussed a wide range of subjects, including Vietnam's willingness to continue looking for the remains of Americans killed during the Vietnam War and security issues related to counter-terrorism efforts. He said the two also discussed Vietnam's WTO bid, the country's progress on the fight against HIV/AIDS and the healthy growth of the Vietnamese economy.
On the eve of his trip, Khai said in an interview with The Washington Post that Vietnam and the United States will now cooperate in the exchange of intelligence on terrorism and transnational crime. Analysts said Khai's U.S. trip is a milestone, a signal that a mature relationship based on mutual interests in security and trade is starting to take shape.
Since the United States and Vietnam restored diplomatic ties a decade ago, trade between the two former combatants has risen steadily, reaching $6.4 billion in 2004. The United States is now Vietnam's biggest trading partner.
After the meeting, Bush said that the two countries had also signed a "landmark agreement that will make it easier for people to worship freely in Vietnam." No details about the agreement were immediately released. Bush and Khai had been expected to address U.S. concerns about human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam. But no further mention of the concerns were made.
Khai said he and Bush agreed that "there remain differences between our two countries due to the different conditions that we have, the different histories and cultures, but we also agreed that we should work together through a constructive dialogue based upon mutual respect to reduce those difficulties."
About his upcoming Vietnam trip, Bush said: "The Prime Minister graciously invited me to Vietnam. I will be going in 2006. I'm looking forward to my trip." Bush's visit will coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi in late 2006, which Vietnam is hosting. Former President Bill Clinton visited Vietnam in 2000, the first visit by an American president to Vietnam since the war.
Khai, an economic modernizer, is on a week-long visit to the United States, during which he will meet with business leaders on both coasts. He will be ringing the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange later this week, a symbol of Vietnam's recent economic progress.
He was also meeting with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday.
Khai arrived in the United States on Sunday and visited Boeing Co.'s plant south of Seattle to check on the purchase of four Boeing airliners by Vietnam Airlines. On Monday, he met with Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
In Seattle, Khai was greeted by demonstrators shouting "Down with Communists" and calling for an end to political and religious persecution in the country. The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says it has documented cases of human rights abuses by Vietnam's communist government, including the arrests of dissidents promoting human rights.
Khai's trip is part of a wider effort by Vietnam to establish stronger relations globally, and analysts say the trip's success is crucial if economic reforms are to continue to flourish.
Khai was a member of Vietnam's revolutionary youth group in 1947, served as a government planner during the Vietnam War and was chosen prime minister by the country's Communist-governed National Assembly in 1997.
By Daniela Deane - The Washington Post - June 21, 2005.
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