Catfish anti-dumping case
tests US-Vietnam trade relations. Changing the legal name of Vietnamese basa and tra
“catfish” proved to be not enough for US catfish producers, as imports
continued to rise. In a June 28 petition to the quasi-governmental
International Trade Commission (ITC), the industry association Catfish Farmers
of America call for punitive tariffs to be placed on Vietnamese fish that they
claim are being unfairly sold at below market value.
Vietnamese
exporters deny the charges, saying that Vietnam is “not rich enough to practice
dumping…We only sell in markets where we can make a profit.” Vietnamese trade
minister Vu Khoan called the petition a plot to undermine fair trade.
The
ITC will hold hearings on the complaint on July 19 and release its opinion to
the Department of Commerce a month later. The Commission must determine if fish
imports are in fact sold at less than fair prices and whether “an industry in
the United States is materially injured” as a result. An adverse ruling could
put the fast-growing trade between the US and Vietnam on ice. Meanwhile, US
international trade policy is increasingly following a pattern of enforced
“free trade” for others, but protection for domestic interests.
Proponents, opponents of
trade with Laos exchange views. Following the success of the
“National Laotian-American Symposium on US-Laos Relations” in May, momentum has
built for Congressional consideration of the bilateral trade agreement between
the two countries. In a June 14 meeting, officials of the US Trade
Representative office expressed enthusiasm for moving ahead with submission of
the agreement, signed in 1997.
Opponents
of US relations with Laos reacted with predictable dismay. A June 20 Washington Post story quoted lobbyist Philip
Smith stating that normal trade relations were “premature” since Laos had not
yet solved all of its human rights problems. Smith also lashed out at US
Ambassador Douglas Hartwick, who responded that passage of the trade agreement
had been on President Bush’s trade agenda long before his confirmation as
ambassador.
In
a June 28 letter to the Post, Andrew
Wells-Dang noted “the emerging coalition of Lao and Hmong Americans,
nongovernmental organizations, religious groups, businesses and US veterans
that support positive change in US-Lao relations” and called opponents’
obstructionism old news. In a letter to American NGOs working in Laos, FRD
Executive Director John McAuliff wrote, “We believe there are the votes in Congress
for ratification of the agreement but that it is not a certainty given the low
priority it is likely to have for many Representatives and Senators.” FRD is
happy to answer questions, provide addresses and fax numbers, and arrange
meetings in Congress on US-Laos relations; please contact washington@ffrd.org.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime
Minister visits US. Nguyen Manh Cam led a
high-level delegation of 30 Vietnamese government and business leaders to
promote trade with the US during a June 16-26 visit to Texas, Washington DC,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York. The delegation met with more than 60
US businesses, encouraging more investment in Vietnam. In Washington, Cam met
with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage, trade officials and members of Congress, as well as signed a
memorandum of understanding on bilateral technical assistance.
According
to the Vietnam News Agency, Cam also “told US officials and congressmen that
the US should be responsible for helping Vietnam overcome the consequences of
toxic chemicals sprayed by the US military during the war in Vietnam. The US
was requested to implement humanitarian programs to assist victims exposed to
toxic chemicals and deformed children whose parents had been exposed…and to
decontaminate heavily affected areas.”
President Bush re-issues
Jackson-Vanik waiver on Vietnam. On June 3, President Bush
announced (Presidential Determination No. 02-22) that continuing Vietnam’s
Jackson-Vanik waiver would “substantially promote the objectives” of US law.
The determination certifies that Vietnam remains in compliance with provisions
regarding the freedom of emigration from countries with non-market economies,
and hence eligible for annual renewal of normal trade relations (NTR).
As
he has done each year since the waiver was first granted in 1998, Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced a resolution expressing Congressional disapproval
(H.J.Res.101) on June 25. In recent years, Rohrabacher’s bill has been
dismissed in the House by a 4-to-1 margin, and this time around is not expected
to be different.
Due
to the particularities of the 1974 trade law that includes Jackson-Vanik
provisions, neither Cambodia (which received permanent NTR in 1996) nor Laos is
bound by the act.
ILO reports “signs of
improvement” in Cambodian garment industry.
The
International Labor Organization released its “Third Synthesis Report on the
Working Conditions Situation in Cambodia's Garment Sector” on July 1. In a
review of conditions in 30 factories producing for foreign export, the ILO
found no evidence of child labor, forced labor, or sexual harassment, and improvements in payment of wages, overtime
and freedom of association. Unlike in previous reports, specific factories are
mentioned in the report along with steps they took (or did not take) to comply
with ILO core labor standards and Cambodian labor laws.
The
ILO-managed project is part of a monitoring system developed in conjunction with
the 1999 US-Cambodian bilateral textile agreement. An advisory committee
representing the Cambodian government, Garment Manufacturers' Association and
trade unions endorsed the ILO report’s conclusions.
Additional views on textiles
and labor in Vietnam. A June Congressional
Research Service report, “The US-Vietnam Textile Agreement Debate: Trade
Patterns, Interests, and Labor Rights,” offers detailed analysis of Vietnam’s
textile exports to the US and Congressional politics surrounding the proposed bilateral
textile agreement. The author, Nicole Sayres, argues that “labor rights supporters point to improvements in
Cambodia’s labor system as evidence of the success of the model. However,
others have questioned the effectiveness of the incentive and the applicability
of the model to Vietnam. Some observers contend that trade policy and labor
issues should not be linked and, therefore, there should be no labor
provision…The United States potentially has significant leverage on the issue
because it could unilaterally impose quotas on the non-WTO country at any
time.”
For a copy of the report or further information, contact the author at nsayres@crs.loc.gov.
The timing of the
announcement is reminiscent of a similar Boeing sale to China during President
Clinton’s 1996 visit to China. In spite of expressed support for the value of
free trade, the first corporation to benefit directly from normal trading
relations is, ironically, a near-monopoly.
UN considers Vietnam’s
report on ICCPR. A special United Nations committee is meeting in Geneva to evaluate the
periodic reports of five state parties, including Vietnam, to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). A Vietnamese representative
will introduce the report, Vietnam’s first since 1990, and answer questions
from the 18-member committee. International human rights organizations will
also present their views to the committee.
Vietnam criticized over
restrictions on media. Two press freedom organizations, the US-based Committee to Protect
Journalists and the French Reporters Sans Frontieres, issued reports in early
July alleging a crackdown on the media and free expression in Vietnam. CPJ
cited detention of two dissident journalists, limitations on satellite and
Internet use, and instructions to curtail reporting on government corruption;
RSF gave a broader overview of the media in Vietnam, reserving its harshest
criticism for Communist Party leader Nong Duc Manh.
Such
frontal attacks are bound to go over badly in Vietnam, and both the government
and various media organs responded with vociferous and defensive reactions. The
website of the Voice of Vietnam, for instance, accused CPJ of “lending a hand
to the hostile forces against Vietnam…the organization did not understand or
chose to ignore the current development of [the] Vietnamese press.” VOV cited
the 1999 press law passed by the National Assembly, high-quality investigative
reporting on corruption, and nationwide screenings of National Assembly
sessions as examples of improvements in press freedom.
Neither
the international critics nor Vietnamese respondents mentioned several salient
facts about the media in Vietnam: first that in a highly literate society, what
reporters write really matters; second that although all media is affiliated
with a government or party organization in some way, there is a significant
degree of difference among them; and third, ironically enough, more divergent
opinions often appear in Vietnamese-language publications than in English or
French. Certain topics are still off-limits, but if critics were actually to
read or listen to Vietnamese media on a daily basis, they might be surprised.
International Criminal Court
established. Despite increasingly hard line opposition
from the Bush Administration, the treaty creating an International Criminal
Court entered into force on July 1. The Court’s authority is not retroactive,
but as one commentator (former Clinton administration official Eric Schwartz)
noted, its existence is “a living monument to the millions of victims of
killings and torture over the past several decades, from Cambodia to Congo, who
never obtained justice.” Cambodia became one of 76 countries to ratify the ICC
treaty in April. Vietnam, which has not yet signed the treaty, has joined a
chorus of international protests over US actions to “unsign” the treaty and
restrict peacekeeping operations.
Cambodian Consultative Group
pledges $600 million in aid. During the June 17-21
Consultative Group meeting in Phnom Penh, international donors agreed to
contribute $600 million over the next year, well over the $484 million the
Cambodian government had asked for and more than half the country’s annual
budget. According to the Voice of America, the US contribution is reported to
be $45 million, including $3 million from the Centers for Disease Control and
$2.5 million for demining operations.
Commerce
Minister Cham Prasidh called the result “a reward for the government’s efforts
in earlier reforms.” A World Bank statement praised Cambodia’s return to
political and economic stability, while citing gaps in environmental protection
and civil service reform.
A
thorough 77-page NGO statement to the CG, covering issues ranging from legal
reform to landmines, is available at www.ngoforum.org.kh/Woking_Group_Issues/Civilsociety/final_ngo_2002.htm.
The NGO Statement is a collaborative effort among the Cooperation Committee for
Cambodia (CCC), the NGO Forum on Cambodia, and the MEDiCAM association of NGOs
working in health, together with contributions from twenty-two sectoral or
issue-based working groups.
Nam Theun II dam workshop
held in Laos. A Lao government-organized seminar, “Nam
Theun II—Window to the Future,” was organized on July 3, with over 200
participants from embassies, international organizations, and NGOs. According
to news reports, Finance Minister Soukan Mahalath said the government was
committed to building the dam on schedule and to use income from electricity
sales for poverty reduction. The Lao government is seeking a $100 million loan
for the project, but World Bank official Jayasankar Shivakumar told the Bangkok
Nation that the Bank was deferring a
decision on a risk guarantee until the dam “receives wider support among the
international donor community and from social and environmental groups.”
Another chance for
compromise on Khmer Rouge tribunal? Following consultations with
the UN in June, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on July 2 that his
government was willing to amend a genocide law in order to reach a compromise
with the UN. Hun Sen said that talks with the UN were “moving forward…we are
working in a good atmosphere, and it is developing very well.”
Burghardt supports
constructive cooperation with Vietnam. US
Ambassador to Vietnam Raymond Burghardt told a July 4 gathering in Hanoi that
he was pleased with progress in US-Vietnamese relations, particularly on the
economic front. “My goal over the next three years is to broaden and intensify
the relationship and further normalize it across the board,” he added.
Burghardt
joined five other US ambassadors to ASEAN nations in New York and Washington
for a dialogue on economic cooperation in mid-June.
Laotian defense minister
visits MIA recovery site. Gen. Douangchay Phichit,
Deputy Foreign Minister Phongsavath Boupha, and other Laotian officials visited
a Joint Task Force-Full Accounting team in Savannakhet province on July 7. US
and Lao search and recovery teams have worked on 89 sites since 1985, resulting
in the identification of 160 MIAs out of a total of 560 Americans lost over
Laos. US Ambassador to Laos Douglas Hartwick told Agence France Presse that the
visit showed Lao government cooperation and “its humanitarian empathy with
Americans who lost loved ones.”
“Free Vietnam” leader
extradited to Thailand. Vo Van Duc, the Garden Grove, CA-based suspect in the June 2001
attempted bombing of the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok, agreed in June to be
extradited to Thailand in return for the dropping of US charges against him for
conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry has
requested that Duc also be tried in Vietnam on terrorism charges. The arrest of
Duc has cast more attention on the actions of the “Government of Free Vietnam”
group, of which Duc is acknowledged as a leader, that seeks to overthrow the
Vietnamese government.
The Washington
Indochina Update is written on a monthly basis by Andrew Wells-Dang, Washington
Representative
of the
Fund
for
Reconciliation and Development. Andrew can be reached at washington@ffrd.org.
The Update is sent free by e-mail to not-for-profit
organizations with programs in Indochina and to offices
and individuals requesting it that contribute at least $25
annually to FRD. For prior issues
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