News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Relations With Vietnam

Date: March 23, 1999

For those who have yet to read this in its entirety.

United States Department Of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
FEB 4 1999

On behalf of the Secretary of State, I am transmitting to you a report on United States relations with Vietnam as required by Section 2805 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, as contained in the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (Pub.L. No. 105-277). The report addresses the extent to which:

1) the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is cooperating in providing the fullest possible accounting of all unresolved cases of prisoners of war (POWs) or persons missing-in-action (MIAs) through the provision of records and the unilateral and joint recovery and repatriation of American remains;

2) the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has made progress towards the release of all political and religious prisoners, including Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist clergy;

3) the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is cooperating with requests by the United States to obtain full and free access to persons of humanitarian interest to the United States for interviews under the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) and Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Refugees (ROVR) programs, and providing exit visas for such persons;

4) the Government of the socialist Republic of Vietnam has taken vigorous action to end extortion, bribery, and other corrupt practices in connection with such exit visas; and

The Honorable
Benjamin A. Gilman,
Chairman, Committee on International Relations,
House of Representatives.

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5) the Government of the United States is making vigorous efforts to interview and resettle former reeducation camp victims, their immediate families including unmarried sons and daughters, former United States employees and other persons eligible for the ODP program, and to give such persons the full benefit of all applicable United States laws was including section 599 D and 599 E of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriation Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-167).

Please let us know we can provide any further information on this or any other matter.

Sincerely,

Barbara Larkin
Assistant secretary
Legislative Affairs

Enclosure: As stated.

(End of Page 2.)

Section 2805, Pub. L. No. 105-277
Report On Relations with Vietnam

"In order to provide Congress would be necessary information by which to evaluate the relationship between the United States and Vietnam, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees, not later than or then 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act and every 180 days thereafter during the period ending September 30, 1999, on the extent to which --

(1) The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is cooperating with the United States in providing the fullest possible accounting of all unresolved cases of prisoners of war (POWs) or persons missing-in-action (MIAs) through the provision of records and the unilateral and joint recovery and repatriation of American remains;

(2) the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has made progress towards the release of all political am religious prisoners, including Catholic, Protestant, and Buddhist clergy;

(3) the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is cooperating with request by the United States to obtain full and free access to persons on humanitarian interest to the United States for interviews under the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) and Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Refugees (ROVR) programs, and in providing exit visas for such persons; and

(4) the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has taken vigorous action to end extortion with such exit visas; and

(5) the Government of the United States is making vigorous efforts to interview and resettle former reeducation camp victims, their immediate families including unmarried sons and daughters, former United States Government employees, and other persons eligible for the ODP program, and to give such persons the full benefit of all applicable United States laws including sections 599D and 599E of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-167)."

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INTRODUCTION

President Clinton's decision to normalize relations with Vietnam in July 1995 has opened the way for progress and cooperation on areas of priority interest to be United States. These include those areas cited by Congress and which are the subject of this report: accounting for POW/MIA, human rights and emigration.

Normal relations with Vietnam have the resulted in a sustained high level of cooperation in our efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting of POWs and MIAs, our highest priority in the relationship. In another important priority, that of resolving humanitarian issues stemming from the Vietnam war, normalization is allowing us to conclude our ODP AND ROVR programs, facilitating the establishment of regular visa processing. Normal relations have encouraged progress on human rights. Although Vietnam's 1998 releases of prisoners of conscience have been widely welcome, we continue to be concerned with Vietnam's overall human rights record.

Finally, we continue to work towards economic normalization in the near future. Negotiations continue on a Bilateral Trade Agreement which is a prerequisite for granting normal trade relations (formerly Most Favored Nation) status. A copyright agreement entered into force in December 1998 and will provided important protection to U.S. businesses and other copyright owners. An OPIC investment guarantee agreement was concluded in March 1998, paving away for the provision by that agency of investment support programs for U.S. business operating in Vietnam.

(1) Cooperation on POW/MIA

Vietnamese cooperation with our efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting of our missing from the Vietnam War, provided the basis for the decision to normalize diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995. The Vietnamese understand that POW/MIA accounting remains out highest priority in bilateral relations and that our ability to normalize in other areas of importance has been predicated on a continued high level of cooperation on this issue. As a consequence, Vietnam has maintained a high level of cooperation with the United States since normalization; and its level of cooperation has remained high since the

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President's last determination on this subject in March 1998.

The key judgments from the April 1998 National Intelligence Estimate on Vietnamese Intentions, Capabilities and Performance concerning the POW/MIA Issue cites evidence of increased Vietnamese cooperation. Since the early 1990s, this car cooperation has been evident in strengthening staffing, increased responsiveness and growing professionalization of the Vietnamese organizations that deal with this issue. In the intelligence community's view, Hanoi judges that closer ties to the United States are in Vietnam's own security and economic development interests, and that normalization requires progress on the POW/MIA issue. Moreover, U.S. financial support for cooperative action and willingness to agree to reciprocity on Vietnamese humanitarian concerns also encourage cooperation.

Section 609 of the FY-99 Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, Public Law 105-277 requires that the President certify that the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is fully cooperating in good with the United States in the following four areas related to achieving the fullest possible accounting for Americans unaccounted for as a result of the Vietnam War:

´ resulting discrepancy cases and live sightings, as well as conducting field activities;

´ recovering and repatriation American remains;

´ accelerating efforts to provide documents that will help lead to the fullest possible accounting of POW/MIAs; and

´ providing further assistance in implementing trilateral investigations with Laos.

This determination reflects a full range of ongoing accounting activities in Vietnam, including joint and unilateral Vietnamese efforts, and the concrete results we have attained as a result. Without Vietnam's cooperation, none of these accomplishments would have been possible. Reflecting the results of our efforts as of December 9, 1998, the following examples are illustrative of the depth

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of cooperative activities completed and accomplishments since January 1993:

´ What he beginning of field investigations (1988) in Vietnam, 196 individual servicemen who could "possibly have become a captive" was selected to make up the list of Priority Discrepancy (Last Known Alive or LKA) cases. Prior investigations having confirmed the deaths of 61of these men, at the beginning of the Clinton Administration in January 1993, 135 individual cases remained active. By the end of 1998, the fate's of 43 individuals remain unknown. Of the 153 LKAs whose fate has been determined, we have recovered and identified the remains of 34 individuals. Eleven were identified during the past five years.

´ We have conducted 53 Joint Field Activities in Vietnam, including five in 1998. Altogether since the end of the Vietnam War, remains possibly associated with a total of 767 individuals have been repatriated from Vietnam. Of these, the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, has identified 378 individuals. From January 1993 to December 9, 1998, during the Clinton Administration, the number of remains recovered jointly and turnover unilaterally stood at 260. Twenty-nine remains were repatriated in 1998. Fifteen individuals were identified in 1998.

´ Vietnam's cooperative activities including fielding unilateral investigative teams to address or uncover leads for which we have determined that Vietnamese direct intervention represents the most effective next step toward arriving at an accounting. As of the December 9, 1998, the Vietnamese have conducted 160 unilateral investigations of 134 cases involving 197 individuals. Their investigations have included witness interviews as well as archival research, and are now regularly undertaken during specific times of the year. Vietnam's unilateral efforts has been particularly supportive of a U.S. study evaluating the Vietnam government's official efforts to recover American remains immediately after the war. Although the questions we have asked in support of this study have been difficult to answer, the responses we have received have reflected extensive research and investigative activity. In one instance, the results of Vietnam's investigation contributed to the identification of remains.

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Vietnam also supports an oral history program, which has helped expand and clarify our understanding of Vietnamese policies and practices for handling U.S. POW's and MIAs. To date, 245 cadre have been interviewed.

´ Since reaching a December 1994 agreement on a mechanism for trilateral operations, 29 Vietnamese witnesses have participated in trilateral field activities in Laos. Vietnamese witnesses have provided information leading to the recovery and repatriation from Laos of remains associated with cases involving 12 on account-for Americans.

In addressing Section 609, Subsection B's requirement that the President certify that appropriate analysis of "remains, artifacts, eyewitness accounts, archival material, and other evidence" is continuing, we submit that the following U.S. Government agencies support collection or analysis on this issue on a full time or, at the very least, a priority bases:

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA)
Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CIL-HI)
defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
Air Force Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory (LSEL)
Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL)
The cases of all Americans been unaccounted for in Vietnam are subject to collection, investigation and analysis to the fullest extent possible by professionals associated with these agencies. Because of the access we are now afforded in Vietnam, we are able to pursue case investigations more thoroughly and with greater regularity. Vietnam's cooperation has resulted in the quantum increase in investigation activity as well as in information collected. Numerous excavations and investigations are carried out both jointly and unilaterally during five joint and two unilateral investigation periods per year, and the information or material evidence collected is analyzed by all or several of the above agencies. To date 2,067 cases (including 53rd Joint Field Activity) have been investigated jointly, and 134 cases have been investigated by the Vietnamese unilaterally. Remains possibly associated with 767 missing Americans have been repatriated, and 378 have been identified.

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Vietnam's policy regarding the investigation of live-sighting reports supports out need to investigate each report in a timely manner. Our investigators have been permitted to visit whatever area, village, prison or reeducation camp we have identified for investigation. To date we have conducted 97 live- sighting investigations; not have uncovered any evidence of an American POW remaining in Vietnam.

In 1998, over 26,000 documents regarding over 500 cases were declassified or otherwise made available to immediate family members of missing Americans.

POW/MIA analysts are clearly meeting the standard of "thorough" analysis in subsection (B), as well as other responsibilities indicated in that subsection. The sustained level of cooperation provided by the Vietnamese government to our efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting of Vietnam War missing, the greatest such effort in history, is clearly sufficient to meet the standard of "fully cooperating in good faith" set by the Congress in section 609, subsection (A).

(2) Release of Political and Religious Prisoners

The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) has made significant progress toward the release of the country's political and religious prisoners, though persons continue to be held for the exercise of their political and religious beliefs. The Vietnamese assert that these individuals violated Vietnamese Laws, but it is clear these "criminal activities" were largely related to freedom of expression in either a political or religious context.

In September 1998, the Vietnamese government granted a large-scale amnesty of prisoners, most of them convicted criminals, and followed this with a second amnesty two months later. In these amnesties, two dozen political and religious prisoners were released, including many of the country's most prominent imprisoned human rights activists such as Doan Viet Hoat, Nguyen Dan Que, Dong Tuy, Nguyen Van Bien, Pham Tuong, Bui Kim Dinh and Nguyen Van Thuan. Also released were a large number of prominent religious prisoners including Buddhists Thich Quang Do, Thich Tri Sieu, Thich Tue Sy, Thich Nhat Banh and Thich Kong Thanh,

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all of the unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV); Hoa Hao Buddhist Tran Huu Duyen; and Catholic priests Dinh Viet Hieu and Nguyen Chau Dat, both of the order of the Mother Co-Redemptrix. These releases constitute a very positive step by the Vietnamese government and have been applauded by the international community.

Despite these high-profile releases, other prisoners of conscience continue to be held, although we in human rights organizations do not know precisely how many. Our Embassy in Hanoi estimates that there are 50-150 persons held solely for the free expression and exercise of their political or religious beliefs. The wide range of this estimate is due to the difficulty of verifying reports of detentions and the refusal of the Vietnamese authorities to publish a list of those released or still imprisoned.

Among those persons we believe are still being held for political and religious activities are a number of Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) monks such as Thich Thien Minh, Thich Hue Dang and Thich Thanh Tinh; Catholic priests Mai Duc Chuong, Nguyen Thien Phung and Pham Ngoc Lien; and democracy activists Nyuyen Dinh Huy, Nguyen Ngoc Tan, Nguyen Van Chau and Pham Tran Anh. Outside observers say UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang is prevented from leaving an isolated town in Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam, and no visitors have been able to confirm anything different. We have received credible reports that up to 30 H'Mong Christians in the northwest provinces of the country may be imprisoned and that two Assemblies of God pastors, Lo Van Hen and Nguyen Van Vuong,, are incarcerated in Son La Province.

Our Embassy in Hanoi and our Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City regularly raise the issue of individual prisoners with the Vietnamese authorities to strongly urged the immediate, unconditional release of those held for political and religious expression and activities.

(3) Access to ODP and ROVR Applicants

The SRV has been cooperating with the United States Government to clear for interview ROVR (Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returns) and Orderly Departure Program (ODP) applicants who appear eligible for

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consideration for admission to the United States as refugees. The SRV is issuing passports and exit permits to Vietnamese approved for admission to the United States by officers of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and in the case of ROVR applicants, by expediting the departure clearance process. The majority of approved ROVR cases depart within eighty days of INS approval. As of January 4, 1999, the SRV had cleared for interview 95 percent of the ROVR-eligible applicants -- 19,926 individuals. Of this number, 14,222 have been approved for admission to the United States by INS officers of which 11,089 have departed for the United States. INS has interviewed and denied 1,907 individuals. In addition, INS has determined that 1,435 were not, in fact, qualified for interview and closed their cases. Finally, the SRV has informed the United States that 524 cases, representing 820 people, have not yet been cleared for interview, the majority of whom the Vietnamese authorities had been unable to locate or the individual who had previously been contacted by SRV authorities had not appeared for his/her SRV clearance appointment. Working from 0DP files and new information provided by the applicants or relatives/friends in United States, we continue to provide new contact information to the SRV for many of these applicants. We are confident that a significant portion of these individuals will eventually be located and cleared for ROVR interviews.

Overall, Vietnam's emigration policy has dramatically liberalized over the past 10-15 years. Vietnam has a solid record of cooperation with the United States in permitting Vietnamese to emigrate via ODP. Nearly 500,000 Vietnamese have emigrated as refugees or immigrants to the United States under ODP, and only a small number of refugee applicants remain to be processed.

In April 1998, Vietnam initiated a clearance procedure similar to the ROVR clearance processed for other ODP applicants, including Montagnards and the unmarried adult children of reeducation detained eligible for consideration under provisions of the McCain Amendment. Since early July, a SRV officials have cleared for interview 234 cases representing 1,544 people in these categories. We currently anticipate completing ROVR interviews in February 1999 and expect that the pace of clearances for the few remaining ODP cases will increase as the SRV

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completes its clearance processing for ROVR applicants -- the major focus of both the United States and the SRV during the past year.

(4) Corrupt Practices Pertaining to Exit Documents

We are aware of allegations that applicants have been forced to pay brides in exchange for required documents, clearances and exit permits. We strongly condemn such practices and have separately raised concerns about reports of corruption with the Vietnamese authorities. The transfer of the clearance process from provincial and local governments to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) last October was in large part an effort to address this problem. ODP reports that the MPS office in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) appears to have crackdown on such corruption, and all but a few of the prospective applicants on U.S. lists have been cleared by MPS for processing. However, corruption continues at the local level across the regulatory spectrum, including in refugee and immigrant visa processing. We will continue to encourage the SRV to take steps to protect against these abuses. At the same time, our program officers in Vietnam are making efforts to raise the awareness of ROVR and other ODP applicants about corruption problems.

(5) Interviewing and Resettling Former Reeducation Camp Detainees

Completing the processing of former re-education center detainees and their eligible family members, including "McCain Cases" (adult unmarried sons and daughters), and others who have been determined by United States to be eligible for refugee consideration under ODP criteria, is a high priority of the USG. We continue to work with Vietnamese authorities to ensure that all interview-eligible ODP refugees applicants are afforded the opportunity to have their claim reviewed. All interview-cleared ODP-eligible refugee applicants who establish their eligibility for refugee interviews are afforded the full benefit of all U.S. laws applicable in their cases. This includes Section 599D of Public Law 101-167. Vietnamese applicants are eligible for interview under the standards established by this section of law if the applicants establish that they are a member of one of the categories described in the 1983 INS Guidelines for Overseas Processing.

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Concerning the processing of applicants under the ODP sub-program for former U.S. Government employees, eligibility for a refugee interview under this program was available to individuals who could demonstrate that they had been direct-hire employees of the USG for a minimum of five years prior to 1975. In November 1996 the SRV informed us that it was no longer going to issue exit permits to applicants in this ODP sub-program because of the low INS approval rate. (At that time, the INS approval rate was less than five percent, but this included many applicants who should have been determined "not qualified for interview" since they lacked the requisite five years of employment.) The USG then suspended processing of these cases. In late 1998, a review of the 1996 decision to suspend further processing was undertaken. The review was recently completed, and we have authorized the resumption of processing for interview-eligible applicants. Since a significant number of the 2,180 remaining non-interviewed applicants have not submitted documentation to establish five years of USG employment, the first in determining interview eligibility would be to verify the applicant's employment claims.