~ Le Vięt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

Year :      [2006]      [2005]      [2004]      [2003]      [2002]      [2001]      [2000]      [1999]      [1998]      [1997]

Detention of US citizen in Vietnam complicates trade bill ahead of Bush visit

HANOI - A U.S. senator has taken up the case of a Florida woman who has been held in a Vietnamese jail for more than a year, possibly complicating passage of a major U.S.-Vietnam trade bill before President George W. Bush visits the Southeast Asian country next month. Thuong Nguyen "Cuc" Foshee has been held without formal charges because Vietnam's communist government suspects her of terrorism, according to the woman's daughter, Liz McCausland, an attorney in Orlando, Florida, where Foshee has lived since moving to the United States from Vietnam in 1973.

She was detained during a vacation and been denied access to bail or a lawyer, McCausland said. She believes her mother fell under suspicion because she had participated in Florida events organized by the Government of Free Vietnam, a California-based group that Hanoi considers a terrorist organization. Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, is seeking Foshee's release and has raised her case with the Bush administration. The Washington Post reported Friday that Martinez is blocking consideration of a trade bill that Bush wants approved before he visits Vietnam next month for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will draw many heads of state and comes as Vietnam is on the brink of entering the World Trade Organization.

The Vietnam visit will be Bush's first major trip after the Nov. 7 midterm elections, which could tip control of Congress to the opposition Democrats. Martinez, a strong supporter of anti-communist causes, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that he was working to free Foshee. "With the power of a senator, I'm going to do all that I can," Martinez said. Vietnamese officials declined to comment on the case and would not even confirm whether Foshee had been detained. The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi confirmed that she is being held in a Ho Chi Minh City jail but declined to provide details.

The trade bill would grant permanent normal trade relations status to Vietnam, which has Asia's second-fastest growing economy after China. If it is approved, U.S. companies will be able to benefit from lower tariffs after Vietnam joins the WTO at year-end, facilitating exports to a nation of 84 million people with a fast-growing middle class. The bill is expected to be approved eventually, and would be another milestone in increasingly close relations between the two countries since the Vietnam War ended three decades ago. Bush would be the first president to visit since Bill Clinton, who normalized relations in 2000.

Foshee, 58, was jailed on Sept. 8, 2005, while visiting Vietnam as a tourist, McCausland said. Vietnamese authorities apparently believed that she and several other people were planning to take over a radio station and broadcast pro-democracy messages, McCausland said. While Foshee believes that Vietnam should allow free, democratic elections, she is opposed to the violent overthrow of its government, McCausland said. "My mother has never done anything harmful to another person," McCausland said. "For them to say that she was plotting something — that's just not her." Foshee, the first Vietnamese refugee to settle in Orlando, was active in Republican politics and Vietnamese social organizations, some of them openly opposed to Vietnam's communist government. Foshee helped recruit people to attend a Government of Free Vietnam conference, McCausland said, but she did not know whether her mother was a member of the organization.

Representatives of the Government of Free Vietnam could not be reached Saturday. Leaders of the group have been accused of plotting to plant bombs outside the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. Vietnam has also accused them of plotting to sneak bombs into the country to blow up buildings and statues of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam has come under regular criticism for human rights violations but has recently released several high-profile political prisoners in an attempt to respond to the concerns of Western governments.

Foshee's case is just one of several factors that could prevent approval of the trade bill before Bush's Nov. 18-19 visit. The U.S. Congress will be in session for just two days between the midterm elections and Bush's departure, and its calendar is likely to be crowded. If the Democrats take control of either house, the changing of the guard could delay consideration of many bills, including the Vietnam trade legislation.

The Associated Press - October 28, 2006.