Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
June 19, 1996
U.S. Policy Toward Vietnam and the POW/MIA Issue
Thank you Mr. Chairman. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you once again about our policy regarding Vietnam and the POW/MIA issue and the recent Presidential Determination on this issue.
Obtaining the fullest possible accounting for our POW and MIAs has been and remains this Administration's highest priority with respect to Vietnam. By any measure, this Administration has fulfilled its promise to advance in an aggressive and determined way efforts to make progress toward this goal. U.S.-Vietnam relations are expanding into new areas, but this has not reduced in the slightest the centrality of POW/MIA accounting in our bilateral relationship.
As Ambassador Lord and I have testified previously, our policy has been to take carefully phased, incremental steps forward in U.S.-Vietnamese relations as we achieve tangible progress toward our POW/MIA accounting goal. Before each of these steps, the President carefully reviewed the progress that had been achieved and determined further tangible progress could best be promoted through these measured steps toward closer bilateral ties. In each and every case the decision to move forward was carefully examined by each U.S. government element charged with responsibility for this issue, including the Departments of State and Defense, and followed close consultations with the families of POWs and MIAs, interested veterans and the Congress.
In July 1993, the President set forth four specific areas on which decisions concerning further improvement in our relations with Vietnam would be based: -- First, the recovery and repatriation of remains of our POWs and MIAs; -- Second, the continued resolution of discrepancy cases, and continued live sighting investigations and field activities; -- Third, further assistance in implementing trilateral investigations with Laos; and -- Fourth, accelerated efforts to provide all relevant POW/MIA related documents.
All of the actions we have taken in the almost three years since then have been based on tangible progress in these fundamental areas and on our best judgments as to what we could do to continue and accelerate this progress. As an integral part of this process, Vietnam's cooperation has been under constant review.
Mr. Chairman, this does not mean we have passively taken at face value Vietnamese assurances that they have done everything they can in a given area. Far from it. In the past three and one-half years we have continually and successfully pushed Vietnam to step up its efforts, both unilaterally and in the context of our joint activities. In addition to the ongoing technical-level work being done by Joint Task Force--Full Accounting with its Vietnamese counterparts, we have made full use of high level contacts with Vietnamese officials as well as the four Presidential Delegations on POW/MIAs that have visited Vietnam. Indeed, when Secretary Christopher visited Hanoi last August, he underscored our commitment to further progress by presiding over a remains repatriation ceremony, visiting Joint Task Force--Full Accounting Detachment 2, and stressing to Vietnamese leaders that "this will remain the number one priority on our agenda with Vietnam."
Along with Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Hershel Gober and General Wold, I was a co-leader of the most recent Presidential Delegation this past March. This was the first Delegation since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Vietnam and the first since the completion of the Defense Department's Comprehensive Review of POW/MIA cases. Representatives of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia and five U.S. Veterans service organizations participated.
As you will know, Mr. Chairman, from having received the Delegation's trip report, we had meetings at the highest levels of the Vietnamese leadership, including with General Secretary Do Muoi, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, and Foreign Minister Nguyen Many Cam, as well as with representatives of each of the ministries involved in the POW/MIA issue. In these meetings, we emphasized the importance of the Comprehensive Review as a critical tool for identifying unilateral and joint actions needed to move cases toward resolution. The Vietnamese leaders reiterated their commitment to sustained cooperation on accounting efforts and their readiness to take the steps identified through the comprehensive review.
As a result of the March Delegation visit, we concluded that the establishment of diplomatic relations and the prospect of expanded economic relations has strengthened Vietnam's pursuit of joint and unilateral accounting efforts. We believe the POW/MIA issue is firmly established as the keystone of our relations with Vietnam, and that both sides have the commitment and the institutional mechanisms in place to achieve the fullest possible accounting. We are, of course, closely monitoring the progress that is made and continuing to build upon the strong base established over the past three and one-half years of effort.
After three and one-half years of personal involvement in the Administration's work on this issue, I can tell you that this approach is working. I will cite just a few examples of what we have achieved. At our request, Vietnam set up special research teams within the Ministries of Defense and Interior, teams that are locating and turning over documents with information concerning unaccounted for Americans. We have also established with Vietnam and Laos a mechanism for bringing Vietnamese witnesses to that country to help us locate crash and grave sites. In January, this procedure resulted in the recovery and repatriation of remains associated with a case involving eight unaccounted for Americans. General Wold will provide you with a great deal of additional information on what has been accomplished in the four key areas.
Mr. Chairman, I believe it is absolutely essential that we stick with the carefully considered approach that has brought us this progress. The May 29 Presidential Determination (Presidential Determination 96-28) on Vietnam should be seen in the context of this policy of measured steps in U.S.-Vietnam relations coupled with aggressive pursuit of a fullest possible accounting I have outlined above. I must note that the certification requirement of section 609 of the Fiscal Year 1996 Omnibus Appropriations Act has been determined by the Department of Justice to be unconstitutional, and the President therefore provided the determination as a matter of comity while reserving his position that the condition enacted in section 609 is unconstitutional.
Nevertheless, the President viewed the determination as an occasion for him to reinforce his unwavering commitment to the pursuit of the fullest possible accounting as the guiding principle of U.S. policy toward Vietnam. In keeping with that commitment, I can state without hesitation that we will persevere in this task.