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Albright kicks off East Asian tour with Vietnam visit

She is expected to discuss economic ties and human rights 

U
S SECRETARY of State Madeleine Albright began a visit to Vietnam 
yesterday aimed at strengthening the still complicated ties between the 
former foes. 

  <Picture: REUTER Photo>  Normalising ties: Ms Albright being greeted 
at Hanoi airport by Mr Nguyen (right) and Mr Peterson
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ms Albright was greeted on arrival at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport by 
Vice-Foreign Minister Nguyen Dinh Bin and the recently appointed US 
ambassador to Hanoi, Pete Peterson. 

>From there she was driven by motorcade past ricefields and farmers to 
her hotel in the capital, some 20 km away. Her formal agenda starts 
today. 

Ms Albright's visit is only the second by an American Secretary of State 
since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, to a country with deep historical 
significance for the US. 

Her predecessor, Warren Christopher, visited Hanoi on a breakthrough 
trip in 1995 to officiate at ceremonies marking the normalisation of 
diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the US. But relations between the 
two countries have been slow to develop since and full economic 
normalisation has yet to be achieved. 

Ms Albright is expected to discuss economic relations, human rights and 
other issues today. A recent edition of Vietnam's weekly World Affairs 
magazine quoted Mr Peterson saying Ms Albright might also discuss 
military cooperation. 

The Secretary of State's visit to Vietnam is the first leg of an East 
Asia tour scheduled to take her to Hongkong this weekend to witness the 
end of British colonial rule there. 

But a planned visit to Cambodia was cancelled because of security 
concerns. 

While in Vietnam she is expected to sign a copyright pact and meet 
senior leaders including the 74-year-old Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet and 
Communist Party chief Do Muoi, 80. ? Reuter
Hong Kong Standard
4,000 PLA troops to enter on 1 July
CHINA will move in 4,000 military personnel by land, sea and air six 
hours after recovering sovereignty over Hong Kong at midnight on Monday, 
the incoming government announced on Friday. 

In addition to the troops 21 armoured cars, six helicopters, 10 naval 
vessels and 400 other vehicles will also enter the territory as the 
People's Liberation Army (PLA) arrives to establish its garrison. 

The mass deployment would follow the arrival of another 509 armed (PLA) 
troops in 39 vehicles three hours before the handover. An advance party 
of about 200 troops has been in Hong Kong for several weeks dealing with 
the logistics of establishing the garrison. 

Governor Chris Patten sharply protested, saying armoured cars would 
enter urban areas, sending ``a very bad signal to Hong Kong and the rest 
of the world.'' 

But Bob Howlett, a spokesman for future leader Tung Chee-hwa, said the 
armoured cars would go straight to their barracks. 

An official in the incoming government, speaking on condition of 
anonymity, said the deployment was in line with past British military 
practice and suggested Mr Patten was overreacting. 

It has long been known that China will deploy up to 10,000 troops in 
Hong Kong as a symbol of its newly recovered sovereignty over what is to 
be a semiautonomous territory responsible for its own internal affairs. 

The number would roughly match British troop levels in recent years, but 
until now no announcement had been made about major troop movements on 
the day of the handover. 

Almost 200 unarmed troops of the People's Liberation Army are already in 
Hong Kong, paving the way for the main force, and 509 lightly armed 
soldiers are to drive in three hours before the handover ceremony. 

Speaking to reporters, Mr Patten said 21 armored cars would come in with 
the force at 6 am on Tuesday. He said the British had been telling China 
for weeks ``that it would be a very bad signal to Hong Kong and to the 
rest of the world to deploy armoured cars, armoured personnel carriers, 
at that time in Hong Kong, in urban areas.'' 

He suggested the force was not needed because Hong Kong was famous for 
its ``stability and harmony.'' 

``It is most unfortunate that this decision has been made,'' Mr Patten 
said. 

He said Britain would press for a reversal of the decision. 

``I think I'm right in saying the arrival of the armoured personnel 
carriers will more or less coincide with the evening network news in the 
United States of America,'' Mr Patten said. 

Mr Howlett declined to comment on Mr Patten's remarks until a full text 
was received. 

Chinese warships and fighters will be patrolling waters and airspace off 
Hong Kong in coming days as Beijing steps up security measures 
nationwide to prevent any hitches during the handover ceremony, 
according to Chinese sources. 

All three major services of the People's Liberation Army in Guangdong _ 
which borders the territory _ have been put on full alert. 

They have orders to lend assistance in the event of any crisis, the 
mainland sources say. 

Paramilitary police and other security units have been placed on 
around-the-clock duty across the border. 

There has been growing concern in Beijing that hostile overseas forces 
and anti-China organisations may be plotting to stir up trouble, using 
the historic occasion to embarrass the Chinese government. 

Officials also have misgivings about the British government's security 
arrangements for the ceremony in the territory, according to a Hong 
Kong-based Chinese official. 

Beijing has identified several mainland cities _ among them Beijing, 
Shenzhen and Shanghai _ as possible targets of a terrorist attack, a 
Chinese source says. 

The Chinese authorities believe separatists from Taiwan and the restive 
regions of Xinjiang and Tibet might stir up trouble in Hong Kong during 
the celebrations. 

Tang Shubei, secretary-general of the Association for Relations Across 
the Taiwan Straits, said Beijing had received reports that Taiwanese 
elements might be planning to create trouble next week. 

``We certainly don't wish this thing to happen,'' Mr Tang said. 

However, a senior Taiwanese official on Thursday rejected Beijing's 
claim. 

``The speculations are groundless,'' said Kao Koong-lian, vice-chairman 
of the Mainland Affairs Council. 

``Only by shaking off such speculation and suspicions can bilateral ties 
be considered from a comprehensive point of view,'' Mr Kao said. 

Meanwhile, security has been tightened in Beijing, Shenzhen and other 
major mainland cities with police setting up checkpoints at major roads 
leading to urban areas, according to Chinese witnesses. 

Police were ordered to ensure no firearms and explosives were brought 
into urban areas. 

A campaign against violent crime has been going on in major Chinese 
cities to ensure nationwide celebrations get off the ground smoothly. 

China's national police chief has ordered that no effort be spared in 
maintaining security. 

Public Security Minister Tao Siju on Wednesday inspected security units 
at a centrepiece event for the handover _ a speech and song and dance 
performance at the Workers Stadium on 1 July. 

``With Hong Kong's return only several days away, I hope everyone will 
continue to work hard and intensify security,'' Mr Tao said. 

He checked on the strength of the security detail for the event.


South China Morning Post
Democracy stand 
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Rangoon 
Aung San Suu Kyi has told a US delegation that her political party would 
only participate in a convention to frame a new Burmese constitution if 
the convention were more democratic.

Burma's official press on Tuesday said the National League for Democracy 
was sending out signals that it wanted to re-enter the convention.

The ruling junta expelled the party from the convention in late 1995 
after it launched a boycott to protest at clauses granting extraordinary 
powers to the Army.

The Straits Times
NLD RETHINK: The Myanmar government said on Wednesday that it would 
"seriously consider" allowing the party of pro-democracy leader Aung San 
Suu Kyi to rejoin a convention drafting a new constitution. 

The National League for Democracy walked out of the sessions two years 
ago saying the national convention was undemocratic. -- Reuter.

Washington Post
Albright Announces Vietnam Deal 
By George Gedda 
Associated Press Writer 
Friday, June 27, 1997; 8:12 a.m. EDT 
HO CHI MINH City, Vietnam (AP) -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright 
announced a series of agreements with Vietnam today while admonishing 
Vietnamese authorities to do more to protect human rights. 

Albright, on her first trip to Vietnam, met with senior leaders in 
Hanoi, then flew here to this bustling former South Vietnamese capital 
for talks with Communist Party leaders and local government officials. 

No American secretary of state had been here since the Vietnam war. 

In Hanoi, Albright and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam 
signed an agreement to protect intellectual property rights. She also 
announced plans to open a consulate in Ho Chi Minh City to help provide 
services to the 3,000 Americans residents in Vietnam and the 75,000 who 
visit annually. 

Albright also disclosed that Vietnam has become eligible for a program 
of U.S. assistance to companies seeking to land contracts. But a number 
of steps remain to be taken before full trade relations are restored. 

Albright also told officials in Hanoi that Vietnam must do more to allow 
its citizens greater freedom and specifically mentioned three Vietnamese 
who she said are prisoners of conscience. 

Albright also urged the Vietnamese to cooperate with the United States 
in dealing with repatriated boat people who may be eligible for refugee 
status in the United States. 

An agreement with Vietnam on this issue was reached in January but, 
officials said, implementation has been slow. 

In Hanoi, Albright received a briefing from Col. Jonathan Chase of the 
U.S. MIA office there. He credited Vietnam with a ``full faith effort'' 
to provide an accounting of Americans missing from the Vietnam war. But 
he said that bureaucratic delays and a lack of Vietnamese personnel to 
handle U.S. requests hampered the effort. 

After the briefing, Albright said, ``The message is that Vietnam is in 
fact cooperating in this project very well,'' including joint 
excavations by U.S. and Vietnamese personnel at sites where Americans 
were believed to have been killed. 

She was meeting today with U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson, a former 
Vietnam war prisoner, who presented her with a plaque attached to a 
brick from the building where many American POWs were held until their 
release in 1973. 

``It's a symbol of what we've been through and, more importantly, where 
we are going,'' Albright said. 

Some 1,000 Americans are unaccounted for in South Vietnam and 584 in 
North Vietnam, Chase said. 

He said priority is being given to cases in which the missing American 
were last seen alive. There were 196 such cases in 1992 and all but 48 
have since been accounted for, he said. 
© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press





"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



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